Annual Report of the Faculty Personnel Committee 1997/98

The Committee members for 1997/8 were D. Blandy, B. Branchaud, V. Cartwright, J. Fracchia, H. Gernon, P. Gilkey (Chair), L. Harris, T. Kealy (student participant), J. Stockard, D. Trombley, and J. Weiss. The returning committee members will be D. Blandy, L. Harris, J. Stockard (chair elect), D. Trombley. The chair would like to take this opportunity to express the chair's real gratitude to all the committee members for their devotion to duty, and the real wisdom they brought to the consideration of the many cases we dealt with. The University of Oregon has a long tradition of shared governance and the participation of faculty and students on such committees is an important part of University life. The FPC made 3 specific recommendations which are provided in this report:

1) Recommendation concerning departmental statements of criteria for promotion and tenure 2) Providing title of thesis and name of thesis advisor if appropriate 3) Revision to the charge of the FPC. The FPC met 21 times during academic 1997/8. A complete listing of the minutes of the FPC meeting for the academic year can be found on the University Senate web site at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~uosenate/dirsen989/fpcreport98.html.

Departmental Statements of Criteria for Promotion and Tenure

The following document was sent to the Provost: During the deliberations on several cases in the 1996-97 academic year, the Faculty Personnel Committee was obliged to request, from various departments, further information and clarification of departmental criteria for promotion and/or tenure, and statements of the degree to which the candidate had met those criteria. Different fields have different accepted venues for the dissemination of research. In fact, the very nature of what constitutes research varies significantly across the university. Expectations of teaching also vary within the university. This makes evaluation by a committee with university-wide representation difficult. FPC procedure requires that any FPC members from the candidates department excuse themselves from deliberations about that candidate. Without someone from the candidate's field to explain accepted norms, the remaining FPC members can not be expected to figure out what does or does not meet the criteria. It is therefore essential that each department's criteria be stated clearly and in detail, and that the departmental evaluation of the candidate's performance in view of those criteria be discussed clearly and specifically. We wish to be very clear about this. The FPC is not accusing departments of neglect. In virtually every case a statement of departmental criteria was included in the file. The problem is that though those statements of criteria may be perfectly clear to people within a given field, they often are not clear to those outside the field, as FPC members must be. To give but one example: in some fields publications of a paper delivered at a conference in the conference proceedings is one of the main ways of disseminating research results and is thus a respected accomplishment; whereas in other fields such a publication is not accorded the same high value. This is the kind of fine point that the FPC needs to understand to reach a conclusion in its evaluations. Explicit and detailed discussion of these issues resulting in a clearly articulated document at the departmental level would not only facilitate and expedite the FPC's deliberations, but it would also be in the best interests of the candidate, the department, and the university. The FPC therefore asks the Provost to communicate the FPC's concerns and make this request to the Deans, Department Heads and departmental tenure committees.

Regarding the Title of Thesis and Name of Thesis Advisor

The following motion was sent to the Provost: The FPC respectfully requests that in future years for cases which involve the granting of tenure at the rank of Associate Professor that all files shall contain, if applicable, both the title of the thesis and the name of the thesis advisor if the candidate has been awarded a doctoral degree. Furthermore, the file should contain a discussion, if appropriate, of the extent, if at all, to which articles and/or books on the same topic as that of the dissertation represent new scholarship. The FPC notes that in certain areas it is entirely appropriate to include material from the thesis in later articles and/or books. But it is useful to know the extent, if at all, to which this material has been reworked, revised, and extended from the material originally present in the thesis.

Revised Charge to the Faculty Personnel Committee

1.Charge: The purpose of the FPC is to advise the Provost on all tenure and promotion cases. 2) Membership: The FPC shall consist of ten (10) members who are elected to staggered two-year terms. No person may serve two consecutive terms. Five (5) of the members shall hold appointments in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). Five of the members shall hold appointments in the Professional Schools and Colleges. Only regular tenured Officers of Instruction with academic departmental, school, or college appointments of .5 FTE or greater are eligible to serve on the FPC. The word `regular' excludes adjunct, visiting, and courtesy appointments. The President, Vice-Presidents, Provost, Vice-Provost, Associate or Assistant Provosts, Dean or Associate Deans are ineligible to serve on the FPC. Department heads in the CAS are ineligible to serve on the FPC. No individual may serve on the FPC during a year when his or her promotion case will come before the FPC and must resign from the FPC if this happens. No more than one person from the same department in any School or College with departments shall serve at the same time on the FPC; no more than one person from any School or College without Departments may serve at the same time on the FPC. 3) Election of members of the FPC: Only members of the voting faculty who are Officers of Instruction with tenure or in tenure track positions shall be eligible to vote for elections to the FPC. The Secretary of the Faculty, with the help of the University Senate, shall ensure that the number of candidates nominated shall be be at least one more than the number of open positions in both the College of Arts and Sciences and in the Professional Schools and Colleges. Candidates for the FPC may be nominated by any person who is eligible to vote in the election for that position. Except in instances of self-nomination, the nomination must be accompanied by evidence that the person nominated is willing to serve in the position. Separate ballots shall be prepared for the candidates from CAS and the Professional Schools and Colleges. Both ballots shall be circulated to all eligible voting Officers of Instruction. All members shall be elected for two-year terms, except for those filling vacancies in unexpired terms. Elections for the FPC shall be held in the spring quarter. 4) Student participation: Two University students, nominated by the appropriate procedures within the ASUO and appointed by the President, shall serve as non-voting participants in the deliberations of the committee. The student participants are to abide by the usual regulations adopted by the committee for its members. 5) Selection of the Chair: The FPC shall meet in the spring quarter subsequent to the election of the new members. The continuing members and the new members shall elect a chair for the following year. 6) Resignations: A member of the FPC who does not serve out his or her full term will be replaced by the normal election process if possible, and if not, the person who received the next highest vote in most recent election for the position will be appointed to serve out that term. 7) This supercedes previous legislation regarding the FPC and takes effect June 1, 1998.