Academic Affairs
At Union, we aim to give faculty frequent and thoughtful feedback, and we encourage faculty to reflect periodically throughout the arc of their careers. For example, at the conclusion of formal reviews, faculty receive a letter with comments and advice from the Faculty Review Board. And department chairs perform a first year developmental review, which offers recent hires insights and an opportunity to reflect on their initial three terms of teaching, scholarship, service, and/or co-curricular activities. This review is purely for the information, growth, and support of the faculty member; it plays no role in other formal review processes.
Moreover, we aim to prepare faculty for upcoming reviews by offering campus-wide information sessions and statement-writing workshops, where colleagues who have recently been through a review share their suggestions and experiences. And we hold gatherings for middle-stage faculty to reflect on possible directions for their careers, whether that might include promotion review or not.
In the last few years, we have also engaged in campus-wide discussions about the shortcomings of student evaluation forms, about the importance of thoughtful peer observation, and about the criteria we use to evaluate teaching. Moreover, our multi-year HHMI Inclusive Excellence grant tasks us with ensuring that our review processes take into account faculty efforts to create a welcoming atmosphere for students of every background. These and other discussions and initiatives reflect our campus-wide commitment not only to good teaching, but also to its careful, contextual evaluation.
If you have questions about any faculty review process, please reach out to the Director of Faculty Development at facdev@union.edu, or the Dean of Academic Departments and Programs at dadp@union.edu. For more information about inclusion, contact the Chief Diversity Officer at deanofdei@union.edu. For the official language describing each review process, please consult the Faculty Manual. Guidelines for specific review processes can be found on the Academic Affairs Policies and Forms webpage.