Update on Working Group on Faculty Evaluation Policies and Practices
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TO: |
Vice Presidents, Deans, Department Heads, Directors, and Faculty |
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FROM: |
S. Jack Hu, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost |
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DATE: |
February 23, 2022 |
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RE: |
Update on Working Group on Faculty Evaluation Policies and Practices |
This message provides an update on the Working Group on Faculty Evaluation Policies and Practices (FEPP) that was initially charged on November 5, 2021 with helping develop revisions to the University’s policies and practices on faculty promotion and tenure, annual evaluation, and post-tenure review. The Working Group was appointed in response to revisions to University System of Georgia (USG) policies on annual and post-tenure reviews that were approved by the Board of Regents on October 13, 2021.
The University System of Georgia (USG) issued more detailed guidelines in the form of revisions to the USG Academic and Student Affairs Handbook. The Handbook provisions were finalized earlier this month and can be found at the links below:
In light of the final guidelines, and to facilitate moving the work of the FEPP forward according to the USG timelines, I expanded the FEPP Working Group to include 11 additional members, for a total of 25, and recharged the working group on February 14, 2022. The new members represent five schools and colleges that were not represented previously and include representation for non-tenure track faculty and additional members of the Faculty Affairs and Executive Committees of University Council. The additional members allow the working group to proceed in parallel on five critical tasks necessitated by the BOR policies and USG Handbook. The five subgroups are charged with focusing on (1) Annual evaluations, (2) Post-tenure review, (3) Review of administrators, (4) Promotion and tenure guidelines, and (5) Due process.
Additional information on the FEPP Working Group and its members is available at https://provost.uga.edu/faculty_working_group/. Draft policies will be shared on the site as they become available and will be reviewed through the established UGA process of faculty governance, including the Faculty Affairs Committee, University Council Executive Committee, and University Council.
The Working Group and its subgroups have made significant progress that has resulted in two draft policies and associated guidance, all of which are currently available for review on the site:
- UGA Academic Affairs Policy Manual, Section 1.10-10, Student Success Activities(approved by the Faculty Affairs Committee of University Council on January 7, 2022)
- Student Success Activity Examples(guidance to be posted on the Office of Faculty Affairs website and reviewed by the Faculty Affairs Committee of University Council on January 7, 2022)
- UGA Academic Affairs Policy Manual, Section 1.06-1, Written Annual Evaluation (approved by the FEPP Working Group on February 21, 2022)
I appreciate the dedication of the faculty and academic leaders who are serving on the FEPP Working Group. You can provide feedback and suggestions to the FEPP Working Group on the policies and guidance above or on any other related matters via the feedback form.
