7.6 Post-Tenure Review

Adopted by Faculty Senate 1/20/17 
Adopted by President 6/17/17 

Policy Criteria 

East Georgia State College has adopted the following policy for Post-Tenure Review in accordance with section 4.6 of the Board of Regents Academic and Student Affairs Handbook and section 8.3.5.4 of the Board of Regents Policy Manual. In keeping with the mission of East Georgia State College, each faculty member will be evaluated according to the following criteria: 

        1. Teaching 
        2. Service to the Institution and Community 
        3. Professional Growth and Development. 

Post-tenure dossiers must demonstrate noteworthy achievement in teaching and at least one other of the three criteria; activity in all three areas is required. 

Frequency 

According to policies of the Board of Regents, faculty will undergo review every five years after being granted tenure. Deans will inform faculty members that they are beginning their year of review by the start of the fall semester. When a faculty member submits a promotion dossier, the promotion dossier takes the place of the post-tenure review, so that the post-tenure timeline is restarted; no tenured faculty member will be required to submit two dossiers within five years, excepting faculty members who fail to pass post-tenure review. Faculty members who refuse to submit a post-tenure review dossier must submit a signed letter of intent to retire or resign within two years. Upon the withdrawal of the letter of intent to retire or resign, the post-tenure timeline will be re-established as without interruption. 

Post-Tenure Review Committee

Post-tenure review dossiers will be reviewed by all the tenured faculty of the school (excluding the Dean and the faculty member being reviewed) in which reviewed faculty serves. The Dean shall convene the committee; the committee will elect its chair. Review committees must have a minimum of three members; if the school has fewer than three tenured faculty, the committee will be expanded to three according to the rules expressed in section 7.5, Review Committees for Promotion/Tenure. Faculty may be excused from serving on a post-tenure review committee at the discretion of the Dean for reasons including but not limited to a heavy teaching load, service on one or more simultaneous review committees, or a conflict of interest. 

Administration/Dossier 

Post–tenure dossiers are due by March 1 of the review year; they are to be submitted to the chair of the review committee. 

Faculty members who have received at least four satisfactory supervisory evaluations over the five-year review period will submit an abbreviated dossier composed of a letter from their supervisor attesting to their professional performance over the past five years, a current curriculum vitae, and a two-year development plan.

Faculty members who have received at least two unsatisfactory supervisory evaluations over the five-year review period will submit a full dossier composed of the following items: 

        1. A letter of evaluation from the immediate supervisor. 
        2. A current curriculum vitae. 
        3. A summary of student evaluations from one class per year for the past five years. 
        4. Annual reports for the past five years. 
        5. A copy of evaluations from the division chair for the past five years. 
        6. A thorough two-year professional development and growth plan that addresses each of the three criteria for post-tenure review with attention to areas of identified weakness. 
        7. Any additional information that is cogent to the post-tenure review. 

If, after examining the dossier, the review committee feels there are significant omissions, the faculty member will be informed and given the opportunity to fill in the missing data. By majority vote, the review committee will determine whether the faculty member’s performance is satisfactory or unsatisfactory. 

Outcomes 

At the conclusion of the review, the review committee will report its decision to the vice president for academic affairs. If the vice president for academic affairs agrees with the decision of the review committee, he/she will notify the faculty member, the Dean, the department chair (if any), and the president that the review has been successfully completed. 

If the vice president for academic affairs does not agree with the decision of the review committee, he/she will give his/her points of disagreement to the review committee in writing and ask that they reconsider the faculty member's dossier. The final decision will rest with the review committee. The review committee will notify the faculty member, the Dean, the department chair (if any), vice president for academic affairs, and president of the final decision no later than the last day of the spring semester during which the dossier was submitted. 

If performance is deemed to be unsatisfactory, “the faculty member’s supervisor(s) and faculty member will work together to develop a formal plan for faculty development that includes clearly defined and specific goals or outcomes, an outline of activities to be undertaken, a timetable, and an agreed-upon monitoring strategy. If, after three years, the faculty member has not been successful with remedying the identified deficiencies, he or she may be subject to dismissal for cause (regular, independent dismissal processes will apply)” (BoR Academic & Student Affairs Handbook 4.6). 

Appeals 

A faculty member has the right to appeal the decision of the review committee to the Post-Tenure Review Board, which is composed of all tenured faculty members (who are not being reviewed) from each school. The appeal may encompass any action, review, or evaluation that is relevant to the post-tenure review. The appellant will submit a letter of appeal along with his/her post-tenure review dossier to the president of the faculty senate who will make the appeal materials available to members of the Post-Tenure Review Board. The faculty senate will conduct a vote of the Post-Tenure Review Board no later than thirty days after the appeal is submitted to the faculty senate; a two-thirds vote of the Post-Tenure Review Board will be required for an appeal to succeed. 

The faculty senate president will inform the college president of the result of the vote. The college president shall review the decision by the Post-Tenure Review Board and inform the appellant and the appellant’s supervisor of his/her final decision within fifteen days of receiving the post-tenure review board’s vote. In accordance with Board of Regents policy, any employee in the University System aggrieved by a final decision of the president of an institution may apply to the Board’s Office of Legal Affairs for a review of the decision (BoR Policy Manual 8.6). 

Rewards

Faculty who pass post-tenure review should be rewarded in the form of merit pay increases and priority consideration for development opportunities.