QUESTION: FacultyB1

The department provides faculty up to $2,000 per year to travel to conferences to present papers.  

The Anthropology Department seeks to provide a wide range of opportunities for faculty development by supporting the diverse interests, expertise and goals of each member of the department.  The Personnel Committee guides this process and prepares its recommendations for discussion and consideration by the Committee of the Whole.  To the extent possible, resources at the disposal of the department are used to help faculty develop the programs, research initiatives, and instructional efforts that will help them make their best contribution in all areas.  Often this includes seed, travel, or supplementary funds.

Faculty who are preparing for tenure review are invited to participate in a pre-tenure review by the department.  Each faculty member who chooses this process is asked to prepare responses to a series of questions, discusses these in an open meeting with faculty.  The Chair prepares a written summary of this discussion for the use of the faculty member who is preparing for promotion.  This covers instruction, teaching and service and the balance of them over the period under review.

Instruction:  Department faculty share their concerns, challenges and accomplishments in teaching informally and through department meetings.  Publications disseminated from the Dean’s office are circulated to faculty as are national union publications which are read and discussed among faculty.  Development days provided at the beginning of each quarter address teaching and learning issues at University, College and Department levels.  Department retreats are occasions to share accomplishments and concerns.  

Annual peer review of instruction includes formative and summative reviews of individual courses, SEOI review and discussion.  Reappointment, promotion and tenure, and post-tenure review include evaluation of instruction and faculty are invited to reflect on accomplishments and challenges.  Chair review SEOI’s quarterly and discusses any issues raised, but more frequently faculty bring any issues to the Chair’s attention and they are considered collaboratively and a plan developed.

Instruction is also enhanced by extracurricular efforts that in turn help faculty maintain currency in the discipline.  Among these efforts are the annual Margaret Mead Festival, developed by Prof. Lene Pedersen, the REM Roundtable in resource management issues developed by Prof. Steve Hackenberger, service learning and Study abroad opportunities, developed by Profs. Lori Sheeran, Loran Cutsinger, Steve Hackenberger, W. Warner Wood, guest speakers and presentations such as the Lewis and Clark bicentennial and Native American Basketmakers workshop organized by Prof. Tracy Andrews.  

Scholarship:  Anthropology faculty actively develop their research through conferences (local, national and regional), field schools, field research, and publication.  Of great importance is the scholarship of teaching, which is, however, under-recognized in the faculty review process.  Much effort is given to research involving students, both undergraduate and graduate, and this work is often funded through contracts with government agencies.  The lead time to develop scholarly peer-reviewed publications from these contracts is longer than independent research leading directly to publication.  Granting agencies require extensive reports on contracts, and in order to fund the next field school these reports need to be produced in a timely way.  Although faculty are strongly encouraged to develop these opportunities for students and the funding must come from outside sources, there is not adequate recognition of this scholarship of teaching.  It is often lost in the interstices of NSF model scientific scholarship and classroom instruction.  Faculty development currently occurs to a significant degree in areas that cannot be adequately recognized by the three categories of instruction, scholarship and service.  

Service:  Our faculty undertake service activities to support student learning, the integration of learning across programs and participation in the wider community.  Part of the annual workload planning process is to maintain these commitments at manageable levels that enable departmental representation in the college, university and community.  It is both a strength and a liability that our talented faculty have many creative and meaningful ways to serve these communities.  

Guidelines developed from our recent program review. Quarter research leave and department support for sabbaticals. Department funded faculty development for exhibiting opportunities and travel and grant writing support. Periodic curricular review by department personnel committee.

Faculty attend and participate in UAA, ISAP, CAA, NWASED, and airline/Industry conferences/workshops.  They participate in yearly training in FAA requirements for 14CFR FAR 141 flight school certification and TSA recurrency.  Faculty must also complete FAA CFI recertification every two years.  Faculty train at Horizon on specific aircraft and procedures courses.  Faculty participate in ASL Faculty fellows sphere of distinction activities.

The department devotes summer revenues to professional development.  The revenues are divided equally among the faculty.  Typically faculty use this money for travel to professional meetings especially as match to the Graduate Office support for presentations at professional meetings.  Other uses include books and memberships in professional organizations.  For example, faculty have presented at the American Chemical Society National Meeting, the Northwest Regional American Chemical Society Meeting, Pacific Northwest Association of Toxicologists (PANWAT) Regional Meeting, National Science Teachers Association Annual Meeting, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, among many others.

Chemistry faculty participate in many development activities including grant writing workshops, advising workshops, information technology workshops (e.g Blackboard, LiveText, Dreamweaver), and effective communication workshops.  Department chairs have attended both internal and external chair traingings. Each faculty member participates in peer review of their teaching and is required to submit a self-reflection each review period that demonstrates how the results of the peer review (and SEOI) have been addressed.  As of this date all faculty members have taken part in development opportunities because they are personally interested in improving themselves in all three areas of faculty work.  No faculty member has been asked to participate in development activities as a result of identified deficiencies.     

Each faculty member ( tenured, tenure-track, and FT annual contract) receives funding for one conference of their choice.  Additional funds are provided on a case by case basis for faculty to improve their skills, remain current in their field, or make connections with professionals in their field.  

Tenure track and beginning FT annual contract faculty are provided mentors to assist them in establishing an academic career in the department. Tenure-track faculty are given a reduced teaching load of one course to allow for development of a scholarly agenda.

Faculty with identified deficiencies (low SEOIs, low scholarly or creative productivity) are asked to create an improvement plan with the chair.  Mentors may be assigned as well.

January, 2008
Development Funding and Activities

Program review and continuing assessment have demonstratied that the deaprtment has a competent, vital faculty.  The department  has been successful in providing faculty resources for development.  Currently faculty members are provided a minimum of $2150 for development activities.  This support comes from the Provost's Office, the Dean's Office, the Office of Research and Graduate programs and the department.  Development activities include conference attendance for presentation, workshops, and educational opportunities.  Development funds have also been used to equip research labs. The department has also recently put together a plan that has allowed our faculty to take sabbatical for the first time (this had proved to be a difficult dilemma given a small faculty with a program that demands a large variety of courses annually).

Remediating Deficiencies:

First the department attempts to be proactive faculty address teaching, scholarship and service expectations.  Faculty arriving in the Computer Science Department are assigned a mentor (or perhaps several mentors in each of the traditional areas of evaluation) through out the pre-tenure period.  While we have been generally pleased with the results, it is not surprisingly uniformly successful.  It is perhaps easiest to describe our policy by relating a recent case.  In this case, our annual peer-review indicated that one of the tenure-track faculty members was not meeting departmental goals for teaching effectiveness.  The department (through the chair) set up a program to help the faculty member improve performance.  The department worked with the Dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) to generate a program with specific goals for the faculty member in question.  Also in conjunction with the Dean of CEPS, two mentors (one an expert in teaching technology-based subject matter and the other an expert in connecting with students) were chosen to work with the faculty member.  It is the belief of the department that this would have formed an effective program for dealing with this concern.  In this case, the solution was not fully tested as the faculty member resigned shortly after the program was put together.

To support their teaching missions, all members of the Economics faculty are engaged in research and publication. Attending professional meetings, and presenting research at these meetings, is part of our reasearch agenda.

The Department of Education uses several means for maintaining and/or enhancing the competence and vitality of faculty members. New faculty are provided mentors who assist them in the early stages of professional development. Training with technology is offered on a regular basis. When a potential deficiency is identified, a course of action is developed which includes resources available to assist faculty members. 

Professional Development funding provided by the Provost, CEPS, and the Department of Education provide faculty members with professional opportunities. Faculty members are encouraged to use such funds in such a way that it will strengthen their professional abilities. 

In addition to travel funds provided by the CBA and those available from the college and graduate school, the department maintains individual development accounts that can be used for unreimbursed travel expenses, equipment, or other research expenses.  Funds are available for NTT faculty as well.  New faculty are assigned mentors, and annual peer reviews are conducted for each TT faculty member. We have a dedicated mentor for NTT faculty.  We also organize discussion groups on pedagogy and workshops on instructional technology.

Because we have considerable turnover among part-time NTT faculty, we have begun offering an annual orientation for new NTT Faculty that covers department policies, course outcomes, sample syllabi, and sample assignments.  We will also be offering a grading workshop this year.

The FCS department provides professional development travel support for all tenure track faculty.  Peer evaluation and SEOI evaluation results are used as a basis for developing annual professional growth plans.

Tenure track faculty are expected to meet AACSB standards and be academically qualified.  At present we have two faculty who are not AQ.  One of these faculty is not tenured and his tenure-track contract as an Assistant Professor will not be renewed.  I hope to use this faculty as a Lecturer while we conduct a faculty search Fall quarter 2008.

The second faculty member who is not AQ is tenured.  Both the Chair and various department members are providing encouragement and support to help this individual get AQ.

A Dept goal is to be 100% of our faculty academically qualified in 2-3 years.  If faculty meet AACSB standards they will have achieved a high level of performance.

As language instructors, we are keenly aware of the constantly changing and shifting nature of living languages. All department faculty avail themselves of various media — both printed and electronic — and travel to countries where our instructed languages are spoken in order to assure that the material we teach is reflected in the respective native cultures and languages of our programs. 

Also, almost all of our faculty have been able to maintain an active schedule of conference attendance and research presentation.

First of all, there are explicit expectations set forth by the union’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), by the College of the Sciences (COTS) Policy Manual, and by the department’s own formal standards, that each faculty member will maintain active involvement in conducting and presenting research at local, regional, and national conferences, as well as continually act to disseminate the findings of such research through publication outlets. Research collaboration between faculty and student is one of the hallmarks of the Geography and Land Studies department.  With more than 70 graduate students in the Resource Management program, many of the geography faculty are often involved with their students in presenting research at conferences or submitting manuscripts to journals and writing up reports for public agencies under contract.  The department is one of the preeminent participants in the Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE) on campus.  It also continues to be a strong tradition for the members of this department to be involved with public service opportunities, and we likewise encourage our students to do the same. 
We are encouraged to make use of faculty development funds to attend regional and national meetings for our discipline’s organizations: the Association of American Geographers (AAG); the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG); and the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG).  There exists a mutually supportive culture within this department that entails testing out notions about both teaching and research, and consequently there is testing out notions about both teaching and research, and consequently there is likewise a strong undercurrent of peer pressure among all of us to incorporate students in our research activities.  As a result of meeting the expectations of a high demand program, an increasing number of graduate research assistants from the Resource Management program have become available for collaborative research efforts with department faculty.

UPDATED JULY 2008
Competence and vitality of faculty are encouraged in the following ways: (1) The department provides funding and encouragement to faculty who attend disciplinary and curriculum development meetings at the local, regional, national and international level. (2) The department also supports faculty who are invited to participate in externally funded panel meetings and as members of regional, national or international committees. (3) We have a speaker series each year. Typically, 3-4 speakers are invited per quarter to give disciplinary talks in area of interest to faculty, scientific staff and students. This series forges links with other members of the geological community. (4)  The chair provides notification of development opportunities within the profession and within the university. (5) During personnel review, the chair provides feedback to each faculty member and discusses with him or her opportunities for continued development.  In cases where funding is an issue, the chair seeks to find funding to pay for or assist with associated costs.    

Professional development plans are functionally developed via the work plan process.  Faculty in conjunction with the needs of the department (teaching load) establish what level of time to devote to scholarship, service and teaching.  If a faculty member is deficient in a specific category of teaching, service or scholarship additional time may be allowed for professional development in this area.  The department requires faculty to reflect on each class taught and annually reflect on teaching.  The reflection is part of our continuous improvement process.  

The field of information technology is ever changing and faculty members are constantly assessing their own knowledge and skills.  As a result, faculty members incorporate various avenues for retraining.  To keep current with technology, resources are updated as often as can be with limited dollars.

The faculty within the ITAM Department exhibit a high degree of commitment to teaching, research and scholarly activities, and professional service activities. The faculty are highly involved in their teaching and related activities that enhance their classroom teaching.  Several faculty members involve their students in research projects—at local, state, national, and international levels.  Faculty regularly publish in academic and trade journals.  All department members provide community and professional service to various organizations by serving as members and officers, making presentations, providing in-service training, and performing consulting.

Two faculty members received one-year retraining leaves to address two problem areas in our curriculum - Project Management and Web technologies. The faculty member who retrained in Web technologies moved from the ITAM Department to the Education department before she could provide teaching service to the department.

Other faculty members, through coursework and/or workshops, have retrained in wireless communication, networking, e-commerce, and databases. Course that have been enhanced or developed through these activities include IT 374 Project Management, IT 361 Wireless Communication, IT 468 Projects in Database, IT 469 SQL, IT 470 Database and the Web, and ME 486 E-Commerce.

Besides SEOI’s, the syllabi of all instructors is analyzed yearly based upon specific criteria. This provides further evidence of the effectiveness of instruction. Also, all instructors, full-time and part-time, undergo periodic assessment of their teaching via reappointment, tenure, promotion and post-tenure review. At these stages there is a systematic evaluation of their teaching, including, but not limited to, the SEOI scores.
Traditional and Innovative instructional methods are evident. There is much collaborative research between faculty and students. Students are very involved in service learning, as evidenced by student enrollment in cooperative education. Field experiences such as court room visits, visits to correctional institutions, among others are conducted in many of our classes. Many classes involve group projects/learning while others are more based on classic lectures, plus guided discussion. The teaching methodology to produce student learning may vary quite dramatically from Correctional Counseling and Mediation to Legal Writing and Legal Research, to Crime in America. The case method approach is used in all of the law related classes. Nearly all courses now incorporate a Blackboard component, while the use of distance education technology is quite prevalent.
The community service of faculty includes university, state and professional committees, plus local Ellensburg community services. The faculty average during the 2007-2008 academic year was service on six committees for each faculty.
Faculty scholarship has been fostered by more emphasis on research. In 2007-2008 the average number of conference presentations/publication was three for tenured/tenure track faculty. This has been facilitated by increased use of departmental summer profits for travel/professional activities and support from the Provost and Graduate Studies.

The department provides funding for travel to conferences and workshops.

The department has been involved in curricular change and has a high profile among the nascent Quantitative Literacy movement.

To provide a nurturing, supportive working environment.  Weekly department meetings, led by the chair, offer opportunities for faculty to express concerns and other items for department action or consideration. Above all, it is understood that art is at its best when produced in an environment that encourages rather than criticizes. Open-door policies by department administration also contributes to this goal.  Although heavy instructional loads make consistent mentoring difficult, the collaborative and collegial nature of the faculty tends to mitigate the lack of directed mentoring that is an acknowledged weakness in the department.

Various faculty members have received university level grants. A few have received national grants for research and service activities. Most faculty are active in publishing their abstracts and papers in conference proceedings, journals, magazines, or online sources. Similarly, faculty are active in making presentations to a variety of audiences from national or international meetings to local service organizations. 

Faculty visit one another’s classrooms, review syllabi and discuss our various approaches to teaching. All senior theses are also made available for faculty review. Faculty present at professional conferences and publish in professional journals regularly. Faculty also help each other in order to fulfill their responsibilities in teaching, scholarship, and service. 

The Physics Department seeks to provide a wide range of opportunities for faculty development by supporting the diverse interests, expertise and goals of each member of the Department.  To the extent possible, resources at the disposal of the Department Chair are used to help faculty develop the programs, research initiatives, and instructional efforts that will help them make their best contribution in all areas.  Often this includes seed, travel, or supplementary funds.

Development Funding and Activities
Program review and continuing assessment have demonstrated that the Department has a competent, vital faculty.  The Department has been successful in providing faculty resources for development.  Currently faculty members are provided $700 for development activities from the Provost’s Office.  Support for conference travel (with the requirement of a presentation) can be acquired from the Dean’s Office and the Office of Research and Graduate Programs (on the order of $650).  There are very limited resources available to the Department to supplement faculty travel.  Development activities include but are not limited to conference attendance for presentation, workshops, and educational opportunities as well as research lab equipment. 

Remediating Deficiencies
The Physics Department makes every attempt to be proactive; encouraging faculty to address teaching, scholarship and service expectations.  Formally, deficiencies are addressed during annual reviews for tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty and during post-tenure review for tenured faculty.  Informally, deficiencies are discussed when faculty meet individually with the Department Chair to discuss workload plans and activity reports.

The Department does not conduct faculty development activities per se, though it does attempt to make resources available for faculty to do so, though are extremely limited by the department budget.  Residual revenues from summer session classes - after a large University and College "tax" -are used to supplement the amounts the University and College provides. The University now (as of 2006-07) $700 to all tenured/track faculty for development activities, and the Dean of the College of the Sciences provides $300 additional.  These funds can be used for professional travel for teaching or research conferences, research, and the like, but are rather meager though somewhat of an improvement from the past. Matching funds can be found from other sources depending on the use the faculty member wants to put the money to.  The Department on average has been able to fund another $300 on its own.

The Department tries to support faculty in sabbatical or research leaves as best it can, given replacement difficulties.

There are also faculty "development days" once each quarter before finals meet, though they are taken up by University or College activities which may or may not contribute to faculty development, depending on topic. The Department is given one day (before Spring finals), but this is usually utilized for end-of-the-year meetings or business.  

The Department does try to encourage faculty, following performance reviews, to improve their performance in the relevant category(ies), but beyond the funding, and informal advice, etc. There has been talk of a University "Teacher/Scholar Center," but nothing has come of it, and as cynical political scientists, we fear it will be another case of hiring an administrator at an exorbitant salary to make a symbolic gesture that the administration is doing something, wasting valuable resources in the process.
Jan. 08

(January 2008)
The department’s faculty development activities are mediated through informal peer support, an annual assessment day, and faculty development funds provided by summer session revenues and the faculty development fund granted to each faculty member by our contract. 

Our department has a tradition of mutual support among faculty members. We seek and give advice and expertise freely. Our annual assessment day is a formal occasion for such peer review and guidance. On this day we each bring materials for one class to be reviewed by our colleagues. A benefit of this occasion is that instructors tend to converge on a common syllabus for a given course. 

Faculty members may seek funds for faculty development from several sources. The department chair always supports applications for university and external funding. Internally, the department has funds from summer session revenues for equipment purchases and travel. Each faculty member also has a personal development fund, currently $700/year. These funds typically support travel to a professional meeting, although they also are used for book and equipment purchases, professional licensure fees, and continuing education classes. The college dean and associate vice-president for graduate studies also provide some funds to attend conferences.

Our department faculty are immersed in a culture of teaching; we talk to each other about instructional pedagogy, we share instructional resources (books, manuscripts, websites, films, etc.) and ideas.  Summer school profits are distributed to full-time faculty for the purposes of professional development.  A majority of these funds have been spent on instructional and scholarly pursuits. 

Faculty provides their expertise to KCACTF/NWDC and USITT as, respondents, judges, committee members, and regional selection team members.  Faculty have presented papers and workshops at regional conferences, published articles and textbook reviews in regional and national publications, both electronic and print, and recently published a significant book in the field. A majority of the faculty have continued professional experiences in their fields at regional theatres. Recently faculty have been involved in teaching and scholarship opportunities nationally as well as internationally.