Part III

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING A THIRD-YEAR DOSSIER

The progress toward tenure of tenure-track faculty will be evaluated in the Spring of their third year at Wesleyan. They should submit a dossier to the Dean of the College by February 1 which should include the following:

A statement of teaching philosophy, discussing pedagogical methods and the special role of the faculty at a small liberal arts college;
Evidence to allow an assessment of teaching competence, which might include course evaluations by students, letters from faculty peers, report or reports of classroom observation by a faculty member, and syllabi;
Two annual self-evaluations; and
A vita updated to the end of the fall term of the third year.

PREPARING A TENURE, AND PROMOTION DOSSIER

The College seeks to build a Faculty that is committed to its mission of teaching excellence, service to students and the community, and professional integrity. Faculty members serve the College in many ways: teaching; work on committees; participation on panels and forums; scholarship; and involvement in civic, church, and community affairs. A church-related college whose curriculum is founded in the liberal arts, North Carolina Wesleyan College retains and rewards professors whose work and bearing are commensurate with its mission. Full-time faculty members who apply for promotion and tenure should provide the best possible evidence that they understand these ideals, and have sought to address them.

Criteria discussed below provide a guide only; not all are relevant to every candidate, and other criteria not stated may be as (or even more) applicable in certain situations. Candidates should consult the Regulations on Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Due Process. (See Appendix 4.)

Calendar

Not later than May 1st of the year preceding a candidate's review for promotion and tenure, the Dean of the College sends the candidate, the appropriate division chair, and the chair of the Personnel Committee, the calendar they must follow for submitting the various required materials. Adherence to this calendar is essential.

The following is an example of such a calendar, the given dates representing deadlines:

REVIEW YEAR FOR THE CANDIDATE:

First Monday in October:	Candidate submits such materials as are required by the Personnel Committee to the chair of that committee, and has arranged for all letters of recommendation to be received by the chair by this date.
First Wed. in October:	The candidate’s division chair submits a written evaluation of the candidate’s work and qualifications, but not a recommendation, to the Chair of the Personnel Committee.
Last Monday in November:	The Personnel Committee submits a written recommendation to the Dean. It will have passed on all materials to the candidate’s division chair as soon as it has finished with them.
Second Friday in December:	The candidate’s division chair submits a written recommendation to the Dean, together with all the materials used to reach that decision.
Third Monday in January:	The Dean submits a written recommendation and all materials to the president. The Dean may meet with the candidate, the chair of the Personnel Committee, the Committee as a whole, the division chair, and/or others in formulating his recommendation.
February:	On the president’s authority, the Dean submits the College’s recommendation to the Education Committee of the Board of Trustees. If such recommendation is favorable and the Committee concurs, then the recommendation is presented to the Board of Trustees for final disposition.

If the College’s recommendation is not favorable, then the decision is final, subject only to the appeals process outlined in the Faculty Constitution.

The Dossier

A dossier is a compilation of written materials providing detailed support of a candidate's request for promotion and tenure. It is put together by the candidate and must address his or her teaching service to the College and community, and scholarship.

Dossiers should be specific to the candidate's discipline, and, therefore, they will vary one from another. However, all dossiers should be set up as follows, and should fulfill these criteria:

I. Table of Contents

II. Statement of Educational Philosophy

(This is a formal statement of some 250-500 words.)

III. Curriculum Vitae, including:

1. Name, rank, division, and area

2. Education and teaching experience

3. All courses taught

4. Research and scholarship, including that relevant to teaching course revisions and development for example)

5. Publications

6. Grants received (and proposed)

7. Honors

8. Service to the College (committees, for the division, etc.)

9. Membership in professional organizations

10. Community service

IV. Evidence of scholarship, including off-prints or reprints, summaries of grant proposals, copies of speeches or lectures, etc.

V. Letters of Endorsement. A minimum of 3 letters from College personnel familiar with the candidate's work and at least one letter from another scholar in the candidate's field outside the College are required. No more than 5 letters total may be submitted. Division colleagues and other members of the Faculty typically provide the in-house letters. Students may also submit letters. All Letters of Endorsement must be sent directly to the Dean of the College by their author. Neither the Personnel Committee nor the College will consider any letter forwarded by a candidate or another person.

VI. Summary of course evaluations and any other evidence of teaching effectiveness

VII. Any other relevant and useful documentation.

Suggestions

Candidates for promotion and tenure are advised to prepare themselves for consideration well in advance of any stipulated deadlines, and, as a matter of course, to define their career at the College with this purpose in mind. In addition, as the time for their review approaches, they should consider, for example, the following:

Talk with other faculty members who have recently earned tenure and/or promotion, and ask to see their dossiers;
Consult frequently with the division chair and other division colleagues, addressing specifically matters concerning teaching, and ask their suggestions for professional improvement;
Discuss the dossier with the division chair, involving him or her in its actual preparation, and requesting a critical analysis of the complete draft well before any deadline for submission;
Consider the relationship between their educational philosophy and the College's mission and Institutional Purpose, keeping such relationship in mind as they write their formal statement;
Make sure that the dossier is clearly organized and well written;
Confine Letters of Endorsement to professional assessments from persons who write from actual and close knowledge, omitting general testimonials which can have little, if any, impact;
Avoid submitting reams of material, especially that which is duplicative or repetitious.

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING A POST-TENURE REVIEW DOSSIER

Tenured faculty will undergo post-tenure review in the Spring of the fifth year since their last review (whether tenure, promotion, or post-tenure). They should submit a dossier to the Chair of the Faculty Personnel Committee by February 1 that includes the following:

An updated vita
A 250-word self-evaluation of one's own teaching;
Two annual self-evaluations, one from the second year after the most recent review and the most recent one.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND

The purpose of the Professional Development Fund is to support the professional development of full-time members of the Faculty by providing financial assistance for such activities as, for example, travel and accommodations for scholarly conferences, research, teaching, and the like. It is administered by the Professional Development Committee under the auspices of the Dean of the College and the President.

Two categories of funds are available: Basic Grants and Special Funds. Recipients must provide original receipts for all expenses claimed.

In addition, the Committee considers applications and makes nominations course-load reductions, sabbaticals, and two endowed grants, the Leslie H. and Evelyn G. Garner Faculty Leadership Award and the Frank Smith Wilkinson Lectureship Award.

Basic Grants

Each full-time member of the Faculty may apply for a Basic Grant of $500.00 each academic year.

Applicants obtain a Grant Proposal Form from the chair of the Professional Development Committee, complete it, and return it to the Committee, which then, after consideration, notifies them in writing of the amount granted. The deadline for all such requests is January 31. Grants must be spent (and any unspent funds reimbursed) during the same fiscal year they were obtained. The College fiscal year begins June 1 and ends May 31.

Course-Load Reductions

In addition to Basic Grants and Special Funds, the Professional Development Committee considers applications for course-load reductions. A full-time member of the Faculty may apply for a one semester, one course-load reduction in order to devote more time to curriculum development, teaching and learning enhancement, or other activity conducive to professional improvement.

The following criteria apply:

Recipients will be eligible to apply during their second year of teaching at the College. Preference will be given to those who have completed two or more years of teaching at the College;
Proposals must provide a detailed description of the project;
Proposals must be submitted by January 15 of the year preceding the term for which the release-time is requested;
All requests for course-load reductions must be accompanied by a written statement from the division chair.

The Committee, upon consideration, forwards its recommendation(s) to the Dean of the College for final disposition.

Proposals for course-load reductions should include the following:

Project Summary: A one-page statement that defines the project and its purpose;
Audience: A statement providing explicit information about the persons or group(s) the project is designed to benefit, providing specific numbers, where possible;
Participation: A description of those involved in the project, their roles, the reason for their inclusion, etc. (Examples: students, community members, colleagues in the discipline, others);
Need: A clear statement of why this project is worth supporting, given the College's Institutional Purpose;
Objectives: A statement setting forth anticipated goals and outcomes;
Methodology: A statement describing how these objectives will be met;
Evaluation: A statement describing how such objectives will be measured, naming the specific evaluation instruments and evaluation procedures to be used;
Time: A definition of the specific period of time necessary for completing the project.

Endowed Grants

The Professional Development Committee considers applications and makes nominations for two endowed awards provided by the College: the Leslie H. and Evelyn G. Gamer Faculty Leadership Award and the Frank Smith Wilkinson Lectureship Award.

The Leslie H. and Evelyn G. Garner Faculty Leadership Award This award supports members of the Faculty who seek to renew, strengthen, or extend their skills and capacity for leadership, thus enhancing their effectiveness as a teacher and member of the College community. The stipend awarded is not determined by any costs required for the completion of the recipient's project; however, applicants must provide a detailed statement of anticipated expenses, if any. Proposals should center upon one or more of the following areas:

Course Development: The design of a new course or the substantive development of an existing one, either for content or methodology. Innovative approaches to teaching or the design of interdisciplinary courses or the incorporation of new and emerging technologies into classroom instruction are all appropriate for consideration. Routine updating of courses or majors, on the other hand, is not.

Research: Study or research activity clearly designed to enhance a professor's usual teaching or that involves the training of students in research methods is the purpose here. For example, students and professors recently have undertaken research into ecological models that might deepen our understanding of environmental management in Eastern North Carolina.

Public Service: Either the College community or the wider public community may be the subject here. Proposals should address a need or concern and suggest an outcome reasonably related to stated methods and goals. The community should be well served by the fulfillment of the project. Examples include performances, lectures, civic and professional leadership, public symposia, and the like.

Proposals for The Leslie H. and Evelyn G. Garner Faculty Leadership Award must be submitted to the Committee no later than November 15. The Committee then, upon due consideration, submits its recommendations to the Dean of the College by December 15, together with its rationale and rankings. The Dean announces the award(s) at the January faculty meeting.

Proposals include the following:

Project Summary: A brief statement defining the project;
Audience: The specific group(s) the project is meant to benefit;
Participation: The persons involved and their specific roles;
Need: Why the project is worth supporting, specifically in terms of the College's Institutional Purpose;
Objectives: The goals of the project and anticipated outcomes;
Methodology: How, specifically, such goals will be met, being as detailed as possible;
Evaluation: How, specifically, objectives and outcomes will be measured, naming the evaluation procedures and instruments to be used;
Time: The specific period necessary for completing the project;
Budget: A line-item estimated budget for completing the project.

The Frank Smith Wilkinson Lectureship Award

This annual award supports study and travel necessary for the Wilkinson lecturer to prepare a series of talks designed to enable students, the College community, and the wider public to live and work in a global economy.

Any full-time faculty member may apply. Proposals for the Wilkinson Award must be submitted to the Professional Development Committee no later than November 15th. The Committee than, upon due consideration, submits its recommendations to the Dean of the College by December 15th, together with its rationale and rankings. They must specify how the proposed study and travel contribute significantly to the particular lecture topics and must be accompanied by a detailed budget. The total amount requested should not exceed $7,500. The Professional Development Committee and the Vice President for Academic Affairs may nominate as many as three candidates for the President's consideration. The Dean announces the award at the January faculty meeting.

Study and travel should be designed to enhance our understanding of the global economy by broadening our perspective of other cultures, and by deepening our knowledge of how persons, firms, and communities may deal more effectively across national and cultural boundaries.

Upon return to the College, the Wilkinson Lecturer meets with classes, provides at least one seminar for Faculty and staff, and speaks to civic and other community groups. He or she may also now be in a position to contribute more meaningfully to curricular development, depending upon the particular experience, and thus make a lasting difference to the education of the community-at-large.

SABBATICALS

The purpose of a Sabbatical is to support a professor's scholarly and pedagogical development. It is a way to broaden and deepen knowledge, to define and explore new research and teaching interests, perhaps to rejuvenate oneself intellectually. Routine curricular development or other customary academic business is not its purpose. Sabbaticals enrich faculty members such that they may make a more meaningful contribution to the College.

A full-time member of the Faculty may receive a Sabbatical once every seven years, beginning in the seventh year of continuous full-time employment, or one year after receiving tenure, whichever is later. Sabbaticals may be for two semesters, in which instance they are funded at 75% of the recipient's annual salary, or for one semester, in which case they are funded at full salary. The former is encouraged.

Sabbaticals are not automatic. The application and award procedures are as follows:

Sabbatical requests (not the formal proposal) are submitted to the Dean of the College no later than November 15th.
The applicant must also ask his or her division chair to submit a letter of recommendation to the Dean and the PDC Chair by November 15th. The division chair's letter addresses how the proposed activity benefits the division and College (or does not, if the chair cannot endorse the request).
Detailed proposals are due to the PDC Chair and the Dean by December 1st of the year prior to proposed period of Sabbatical. Detailed proposals should follow the same guidelines as stated above for other awards: Project Summary, Audience, Participation, Need, Objectives, Methodology, Evaluation, and Time.
The professional Development Committee sends its recommendations to the Dean of the College by January 15th, providing both a ranking of candidates and a rationale.
The President must approve any awards made, and announces the award at the February faculty meeting.

Where credentials, experience, perceived value of the proposed activity to the College, and other relevant considerations are considered comparable, seniority at the College is likely to determine the rank of candidates.

The College assumes that, except in unusual circumstances, recipients will not be employed elsewhere, or in other capacities, during the period of their Sabbatical. The College assumes also that, in accepting a Sabbatical, a recipient is committed to returning to the College for at least one additional year of teaching.

Persons returning from sabbaticals submit a brief written report to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, as well as find a way (or ways) to make their research and experience known to the larger College community. Perhaps they give a Colloquium, meet with a class (or classes), or speak to another group.

THE JEFFERSON-PILOT PROFESSORSHIP

The Jefferson-Pilot Professorship is funded by the Jefferson-Pilot Life Insurance Company and may be awarded annually. It is considered the College's highest honor for a member of the Faculty and is given in recognition of scholarship, teaching, and community service. Appointment is by the President upon consideration of recommendations from the Jefferson-Pilot Nominating Committee.

The Jefferson-Pilot Nominating Committee is comprised of as many as three of the most recent Jefferson-Pilot professors and two non-tenured members of the Faculty, appointed annually by Faculty Council. Its charge is to select at least two and no more than three nominees. Only tenured faculty members are eligible for nomination, and it is understood that in any given year there may be no nominees. The Committee is in place by November 1 of each year and nominations are sent to the President directly by February 1.

The Dean of the College may, upon invitation, sit with the Committee from time to time or for the proceedings entire, as a non-voting consultant.

EXEMPLARY TEACHER AWARD

Each year at the Spring Commencement, the College, in association with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church and the Alumni Association of the College, presents this award to a full-time faculty member at North Carolina Wesleyan College.

This award is made to recognize excellence in teaching and promotion of student learning, civility and concern for students and colleagues, commitment to value-centered education, service to students beyond the classroom, and service to the larger community beyond the campus.

Nominations with supporting documentation for this award should be sent to the Chair of the Professional Development Committee. The Dean of the College provides the Selection Committee with such additional information about each nominee as may be relevant and helpful.

Members of the Selection Committee include the President of the SGA, the Chairman of the Professional Development Committee, the Chair of the Faculty, the President of the Alumni Association, and the Dean of the College. This committee presents the name of the nominee to the President for approval.

The award comes with a cash award and a certificate. The award reflects contributions from the United Methodist Church and the Alumni Association of North Carolina Wesleyan College.

	FACULTY HANDBOOK July 15, 2007
	[Foreword] [Contents] [Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Part IV] [Part V] [Part VI] [Appendices]