Post Tenure Review Proposal, January 23, 2006

Principles:

1. The primary purpose of Lincoln's Post Tenure Review (PTR) process is to ensure faculty development in the following three areas: teaching and advising, scholarship and keeping abreast of the one's academic field, and service. In keeping with that objective, PTR provides a documented basis for faculty development programs and allocation of resources.

2. Every faculty member is expected to meet the universal requirement of effective teaching and advising students, keeping abreast of one's academic field, and doing one's fair share of University service work. In order to best utilize the varied talents of tenured faculty, faculty members are permitted--and expected-- to specialize in some areas of teaching, service, or scholarship, but not required to emphasize all areas. The emphasis chosen may change over the course of their career as faculty develop new interests and departments experience new needs.

3. Academic tenure requires that dismissals of tenured professors shall occur solely on the basis of adequate cause or bona fide financial exigency as specified in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and Faculty Bylaws. This PTR agreement does not introduce new grounds of adequate cause in addition to those already specified in Section 10.01 of the Faculty Bylaws, nor does it seek to undermine Academic Freedom.

4. Post-tenure review shall not change the conditions of employment of tenured faculty members, nor to shift to the individual faculty member the burden of proof of demonstrating meeting minimal conditions of tenured employment. The PTR guidelines are subject to the approval of the Lincoln Chapter of the AAUP.

Procedure:

1. PTR Committee. A Post Tenure Review Committee will be established as a Faculty Standing Committee. It will consist of three tenured full professors, one from each school, and two tenured faculty members, one of whom is a member of the Graduate faculty. Each member will serve three years with the terms staggered.

2. Frequency of Review. Post tenure review shall occur every fifth year of the tenured faculty member's employment. The Office for Academic Affairs shall submit a list, based on Order of Review (see #3 below), of which tenured faculty members are to be reviewed each academic year to the PTR Committee by September 30. A faculty member may, at his or her discretion, elect to be reviewed in any academic year.

3. Order of Review. The initiation of the program of post tenure review shall start with the review of tenured faculty members with the greatest seniority at Lincoln, and move to review those faculty members with the least seniority. Seniority will be measured by years of full time service. Thereafter, post tenure review of newly tenured faculty members shall occur in the fifth year after achieving tenure. Approximately one-fifth of tenured faculty will be reviewed each year with the block of faculty reviewed staggered over a five-year period for the first five years.

4. Self-Evaluation. Each member up for review shall submit a self-evaluation portfolio consisting of a list of achievements in teaching, service, and scholarship over the previous five years, and a narrative which will include strengths, areas for development, and plans and goals for the next five years. This five-year plan will also include a detailed description of any specific projects the faculty member plans to undertake in during the five-year period following review.

5. Other Sources of Review. The department chair will compile a list of achievements of each member of their faculty, including tenured faculty, on an annual basis, and will submit these to the dean of their school in their annual report. In the year of a faculty member's review, the dean of the faculty member's school will forward these chair reports, unedited, along with all student evaluations, to the PTR committee.

6. Deadlines. The deadline for submission of self-evaluations and forwarding reports to the PTR Committee shall be October 31, or the next business day following October 31. The Committee will compile its feedback report and submit it to the faculty member by March 1 of the year of review. It will be the discretion of the faculty member to respond within one month of receipt of the report to the PTR Committee with explanations, revisions in the five-year plan, or disagreement with Committee's strengths and weaknesses analysis.

7. Type of Review. The PTR Committee will do a "strengths and weaknesses" analysis of each member under review and submit the results of the analysis to the faculty member, together with recommendations, if any. If necessary or appropriate, the Committee may solicit advice from an outside expert in the faculty member's discipline.

8. Faculty members judged to have performed in an exemplary manner in one or all of the three areas of teaching, scholarship or service will be eligible to serve for a semester or a year as TLC fellows in Lincoln's Teaching /Learning Center, which is still to be established. This fellowship will carry with it $1000 in faculty development funds for the faculty member's use (travel, purchase of educational materials, etc.). As fellows, faculty will be available for mentoring assistance in their areas of strength and for working on projects of their own interest.

9. Faculty members judged to need improvement in one or more of the three areas of teaching, scholarship or service will be expected to develop and complete a three-year plan of development that will address identified areas in need of improvement. The plan, which may be developed in consultation with the faculty member's chairperson or dean, will include a time line and measurable goals, and must be approved by the Committee. The Committee will monitor progress towards those goals and provide an annual written evaluation to the faculty member of progress made and progress needed. If, after three years, little or no progress has been made in meeting the goals of the three-year plan and/or if the faculty member's performance does rise to the level of adequate cause, as defined in Section 10.01 of the Faculty By-Laws, then the Committee will submit a report detailing the Committee's position to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

10. Document Disposition. For faculty members whose review does not result in the development of a three-year plan, all documents submitted by the faculty member will be returned to the faculty member, and all documents from the Dean's Office will be returned to the Dean. If a three-year plan is initiated, the PTR Committee will retain all documents until the successful completion of the plan, at which time they will be returned as above.

11. Aggregate Report. By April 1 of each academic year, the PTR Committee shall submit an aggregate report consisting of descriptions of overall strengths and weaknesses, and needs, of the block of faculty reviewed, and recommendations for faculty development, to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs with copies to the deans, but shall not submit a report on each individual faculty member

12. Process Review. The entire process of post tenure review will be reviewed and evaluated after three years. The primary purpose of the review is to determine if PTR is meeting the goal of the continuing development of tenured faculty.