Unit Policy
Title
Adams School of Dentistry: Post-Tenure Review Policy
Introduction
Purpose
Post-tenure review is a systematic process for the periodic, comprehensive review of the performance of all faculty members having permanent tenure and whose primary duties are teaching, research and service. The goals of post-tenure review are to promote faculty development, ensure faculty productivity, provide accountability, recognize and reward exemplary performance and provide for the imposition of appropriate sanctions when faculty members do not meet the goals established in a faculty success plan. The post-tenure review process should respect the basic principles of academic freedom. Post-tenure review does not abrogate, in any way, the due process criteria or procedures for dismissal or other disciplinary action established under the Trustee Policies and Regulations Governing Academic Tenure.
https://academicpersonnel.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1069/2020/02/UNC-Chapel-Hill-Tenure-Policies-and-Procedures.pdf
The UNC policies and procedures for post-tenure review may be found at https://academicpersonnel.unc.edu/policies-and-procedures/faculty-reviews/post-tenure-review-policy/
More specifically, in the Adams School of Dentistry (ASoD), post-tenure review process serves as an additional means of fostering the School's mission of excellence in teaching, research, service and patient care. To achieve this purpose, the review process assists individual faculty members in their ongoing professional development as they strive to enhance their skills as teachers, their accomplishments as scholars, and their contributions to the profession and the public. The review process is intended to foster constructive dialogue between colleagues that will be characterized by fairness, mutual respect, a desire to learn, open-mindedness, and appreciation for the importance of academic freedom. The process of review also will serve to enhance a sense of accountability within the ASoD and the University.
Scope
This policy applies to all tenured faculty members whose primary responsibilities are teaching, research/creative activity, and service.
Background
The Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina approved a Policy for Review of Tenured Faculty that became effective 1 September 1998. Subsequently, each constituent campus developed its own policy for review of tenured faculty that was consistent with the Trustee Policy. The units within each campus developed applicable policies.
Policy
Each tenured faculty member is subject to a post-tenure review no less often than every five years following the conferral of permanent tenure. If a faculty member is reassigned to other duties for .50 FTE or more or is occupying a leave-earning position, that faculty member shall not be required to undergo post-tenure review until having completed a five-year cycle following the reassignment. Reviews must examine all aspects of a faculty member's academic performance and should be flexible enough to acknowledge different expectations in various disciplines and changing expectations at different stages of faculty careers. Comprehensive evaluations conducted for other purposes, such as a review for promotion, may be substituted for, or combined with, post-tenure review. A faculty member may request to delay a scheduled post-tenure review for compelling reasons. The request for postponement must be in writing and approved by the Provost. Human Resources shall provide information to the Dean regarding faculty members due for a post-tenure review during the upcoming year and the Dean's office shall notify a faculty member at least six months in advance of an upcoming post-tenure review.
Principles
The faculty believes that the post-tenure review process should be as simple, straightforward, fair, functional and flexible as possible, so that the purposes of the review process are achieved in both an effective and time-efficient fashion. All matters relating to post-tenure review will be regarded as confidential to the extent of the law and policy. All faculty members who participate as members of the Post-Tenure Review Committee or otherwise advise on individual cases will take seriously their obligation to abide by this requirement. Each faculty member who is to undergo review in a given year will take an active role in the post-tenure review process by assisting with planning, preparing relevant background information, engaging in constructive dialogue with colleagues and the Dean, and if needed, undertaking a faculty success plan to address deficiencies in performance. The Post-Tenure Review Committee of the ASoD will consist of three faculty members appointed by the Dean (or his/her designee) for a three-year term, one of whom will serve as Chair. All members must be tenured faculty holding the same or higher academic rank as the faculty member under review. Members should have familiarity with the performance expectations and standards of the discipline and rank of the faculty member being reviewed and should not have conflicts of interest or close personal/professional relationships with the faculty member under review. The Committee shall serve in an advisory capacity to the Dean.
The system of post-tenure review will complement other systems of review, including those relating to tenure and promotion, annual feedback in years prior to tenure, appointment to distinguished chairs, salary determinations, yearly evaluations, or personnel actions taken pursuant to University policies on promotion and tenure and other matters relating to faculty conduct and performance. To eliminate redundancy of effort, post-tenure review will be waived in cases when the review is concomitant with a scheduled review for promotion to Associate Professor or Professor, or with an administrative review for reappointment of an administrator.
Departmental Guidelines
- Effective upon the award of tenure, and coincident with the start of each post-tenure review cycle, faculty should develop, in consultation with their department chairs, long-term work plans that are aligned with annual performance evaluations and consistent with the expectations of the department/school. These long-term work plans will cover the five years of the post-tenure cycle.
- The long-term work plan can be modified annually by the faculty member in consultation with their department chair. Plan modifications must be approved by the unit head. The unit head shall notify a faculty member at least six months in advance of an upcoming post-tenure review.
- The long-term work plan shall correspond with the annual work plan and evaluation required by the University Policy on Faculty Workload. While annual evaluations may inform the process, they are not a substitute for a periodic, comprehensive post-tenure review. The finalized long-term work plan must be approved by the college/school dean or designee. Comprehensive evaluations conducted for other purposes, such as a review for promotion, may be substituted for or combined with post-tenure review.
UNC Chapel Hill shall provide ongoing support and training for all post-tenure review evaluators, including peer review committee members, department chairs or academic unit heads, and deans. The UNC System Office will provide digital training modules that focus on basic state personnel policies and regulations; preparing for and conducting a thorough review; and the essentials of managing a meaningful review process.
Expectations of Faculty Member Being Reviewed
In September of each year, the Dean (or his/her designee) will communicate to the Chair of the Post-Tenure Review Committee the names of the faculty to be reviewed. The Dean's designee will then contact the faculty member(s) and inform them of the process. The review process will be conducted in a way that provides the faculty member being reviewed, the Dean, and the members of the Post-Tenure Review Committee with relevant information concerning the faculty member's accomplishments and plans in the areas of teaching, research, service and patient care. Information to be considered will include, but not be limited to, the following:
- Self-Assessment by Faculty Member. The faculty member being reviewed will prepare a brief written self-assessment using the tool provided by the ASOD Office of Faculty Affairs and Leadership Development and is available on their website on the ASOD intranet.
- Background Information. The faculty member also will prepare a file that includes a current curriculum vitae and a summary of teaching evaluations (that have been maintained on file by both the faculty member and the Office of Academic Affairs). In some cases, additional information may be requested for documentation of effort including a "teaching portfolio", scholarly work completed since the last review (with an indication of the three most important works); information concerning significant professional and public service; and other relevant materials. Additional information is not required for all reviews and will only be requested if questions exist in one or more areas of effort.
Post-Tenure Review Committee
The Post-Tenure Review Committee will constitute at least three faculty peers. The faculty member being reviewed shall not participate in the selection of members of the Post-Tenure Review Committee. Peer assessments should occur during the third year after being granted tenure. Similarly, peer assessments should occur during the third year after a post-tenure review is conducted as outline in the UNC Evaluating Faculty Teaching Effectiveness Policy.
Consultation Between Faculty Member Being Reviewed and the Post-Tenure Review Committee
A brief interview with the Post-Tenure Review Committee will be scheduled with the faculty member being reviewed. This meeting is intended to allow the faculty member to discuss accomplishments in teaching, research, service, and patient care. Additionally, it affords the faculty the opportunity to comment on workload, and other factors or circumstances that may have had a bearing on performance. It also allows the faculty an opportunity to express their thoughts on ways in which the School could assist them in their professional development.
Consultation Between the Chair or Administrative Supervisor of the Faculty Member Being Reviewed and the Post-Tenure Review Committee
A brief interview with the Post-Tenure Review Committee will be scheduled with the faculty member's Division Chair or Administrative Supervisor. The intent of this interview is to allow the Chair or Supervisor to provide salient insights into the faculty member's performance and any recommendations for a faculty success plan, should one be indicated. In the case of joint appointments, both supervising Chairs and administrators will be invited to provide input.
Determination of Overall Performance
The Post-Tenure Review Committee will advise the faculty member being reviewed and the Dean whether it believes that the faculty member's performance exceeds expectations, meets expectations, or does not meet expectations by drafting a written rationale for each assessment in at least three relevant categories – teaching, research, service, or patient care.
Recognition of Outstanding Performance
In instances in which the faculty member being reviewed is found to have exceeded expectations, the Post-Tenure Review Committee will include a statement about how the individual exceeded assigned duties and goals. The Dean will endeavor to recognize that performance through appropriate forms of positive recognition, including but not limited to nominations for awards.
For faculty members whose overall performance does not meet expectations, the report of the Post-Tenure Review Committee shall include a statement of the faculty member's primary responsibilities, directional goals established, specific descriptions of shortcomings as they relate to the faculty member's assigned duties, and a more comprehensive plan for improvement (a faculty success plan) should be recommended. The Dean will share this information with the faculty member's Chair or Administrative supervisor. The Post-Tenure Review Committee also may provide informal peer advice and recommendations to the faculty member being reviewed and the Dean. The Dean also will provide an evaluation of the faculty member.
Prior to the reviews of the post-tenure review committee and department chair/unit head proceeding to the dean, the faculty member shall have no less than fourteen (14) calendar days from receiving the documents to provide a written response. If the faculty member disagrees with the review, the response shall offer evidence in support of a different assessment. The response shall become part of the permanent record of the post-tenure review moving forward.
Role of the Department Chair/Unit Head
The department chair/unit head shall review the Post-Tenure Review Committee's report, including any written response provided by the faculty member. The unit head shall provide a separate written review of the faculty member that clearly states points of concurrence or points of variation from the post-tenure review committee. Any recommendation for a faculty success plan or for recognition of performance that exceeds expectations shall include a specific rationale for the recommendation.
When the unit head is being reviewed, the administrative officer at the next higher level assumes the function of the unit head in the review process and the report of the Post-Tenure Review Committee and any response shall be reviewed by the administrative officer to whom that individual reports.
Approval Process
The faculty member's materials including the department chair/unit head's review, the post-tenure review committee report, and any written response from the faculty member shall be provided to the dean/administrative officer to whom the unit head reports. The dean/administrative officer shall also conduct a written evaluative review of the information received.
- A faculty member whose PTR results in an overall rating of exceeds expectations shall have completed the post-tenure review process and will be recognized by the institution for their performance.
- A faculty member whose PTR results in an overall rating of meets expectations shall have completed the post-tenure review process.
- A faculty member whose PTR results in an overall rating of does not meet expectations shall be subject to a faculty success plan.
Establishing and Monitoring of Faculty Success Plans
In the event that the Post-Tenure Review Committee concludes that the faculty member does not meet expectations and has recommended the establishment of a faculty success plan, the Department Chair/Unit Head and the faculty member being reviewed will meet to generate a faculty success plan designed to assist the faculty member in eliminating deficiencies in performance.
This plan will be formulated in consultation with the faculty member's Chair or Administrative supervisor. The faculty success plan will identify clear goals, indicators of goal attainment, a clear and reasonable time frame for the completion of goals, any resources or support needed to facilitate the plan, and a statement of consequences if the goals are not reached. The performance of a faculty member who has been found to have substantial deficiencies in overall performance and who is working on the completion of a faculty success plan will be reviewed Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Leadership Development in consultation with the faculty member's Chair or Administrative supervisor on an annual basis for a period of up to three years or until such time as substantial deficiencies have been remedied.
- Faculty success plans shall be formative, developed in cooperation with the faculty member, and include specific steps for improvement.
- In most situations, Faculty success plans shall be capable of being completed within one year from date of issuance. Plan timelines may be longer than one year, at the discretion of the unit head based on the matters included in such plan.
- Peer mentoring is encouraged as part of the faculty success plan.
- Progress meetings shall occur on a regular basis between the faculty member and department chair/unit head during the duration of the faculty success plan.
- *The Faculty Success Plan Template for PTR can be accessed here: https://facultyaffairs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1353/2024/12/Post-Tenure-Review_Faculty-Success-Plan-TEMPLATE.pdf
In the event that substantial deficiencies in performance continue to exist at the end of the three-year period, Department Chair/Unit Head will consider whether action should be initiated pursuant to the Trustee Policies and Regulations Governing Academic Tenure or other steps taken to address the substantial deficiencies in performance.
Workload Allocation
In consultation with the dean/administrative head, the Department Chair/Unit Head may redefine faculty workloads and distribution of teaching, research/creative activity, and service when a faculty member's PTR results in an overall rating of does not meet expectations.
Maintenance of Confidential Written Record
The Post-Tenure Review Committee will develop a brief written summary of the Committee's conclusions and will share that summary with the Dean and the faculty member being reviewed for comment. The faculty member being reviewed may submit written comments to the Committee and the Dean in response to the written summary. The Dean will maintain the Committee's written summary and the response, if any, by the faculty member being reviewed as part of that faculty member's confidential personnel file, along with all background information and other materials used in connection with the review.
Appeal Process
Appeals of Finding of Substantial Deficiencies and Faculty Success Plans
Faculty members found by the Post-Tenure Review Committee and the Dean to have substantial deficiencies in performance and for whom a faculty success plan is established may appeal the finding within 30 days of receiving a final letter from the Dean including such findings. Appeal rights are as provided for in the University's policy on post-tenure review.
Reports to the Provost
Annual Reports Filed with Provost
As provided in the University policy on post-tenure review the Dean will file annual reports with the Office of the Provost specifying the names of faculty members reviewed during the previous year, the names of faculty members for whom a faculty success plan was recommended and established, and the names of faculty members who were subject to review in that year but for whom a delay was requested (along with the reasons for delay).
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Jennifer L. Brame, EdD, MS
Professor, Assistant Dean for Faculty Development
Adams School of Dentistry
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Email: Jennifer_Brame@unc.edu
Phone: 919-537-3168