History Department Faculty Manual
For the complete University Faculty Manual, please visit: http://www.sfsu.edu/~acaffrs/faculty_.manual/welcome.htm
Table of Contents
By-Laws (with amendments approved by the Department
in May 1989)
I. Organization of the Department
III. Selection Process for Department
Chair.
IV. Amendment. These by-laws may be amended by a majority of
the faculty at a departmental meeting.
A Guide
to Standards for Tenure and Promotion in the History Department
IV. Professional Achievement and
Growth
V. Contributions to Campus and Community
Policy
And Procedures For Evaluation Of Tenured Faculty
History
Department Policy On Evaluation Of Lecturers
Guidelines
For Credit By Examination
Policy On
Use Of Paid Graduate And Student Assistants As Graders
Policy on Cheating and Plagiarism
By-Laws
(with
amendments approved by the Department in May 1989)
I. Organization
of the Department
A.
The Faculty of
the Department have ultimate responsibility for the curriculum and for making
recommendations regarding hiring, retention, tenure, and promotion.
B.
Membership and
Voting Rights
1.
All tenured and
tenure track faculty in the department, regardless of their time-base, shall be
entitled to full participation in all departmental voting and meetings.
2.
All faculty on early retirement, regardless of their time-base,
shall be entitled to full participation in all departmental voting and
meetings, consistent with University policy.
3.
Lecturers shall
be entitled to pro rata participation in all departmental voting and meetings,
consistent with University and Trustee policy.
4.
In the event that
University policies should conflict with theses provisions, University policies
shall take precedence.
C.
Meetings. Meetings of the Faculty of the Department
shall be held at least twice each semester.
1.
Meetings shall
ordinarily be scheduled and called by the Department Chair.
2.
Meetings may be
called upon the request on the one-third of the members of the Department.
3.
Meetings shall be
conducted with Robert’s Rules of Order as a guide.
A.
Curriculum
Committee
1.
Responsibility. The Curriculum Committee shall:
a.
review and recommend to the department any changes in
requirements for undergraduate programs, including majors, minors, and the
subject matter competency program for credential candidates.
b.
review and recommend to the department regarding all changes
in courses offered by the department, proposals for new courses, or deletion of
existing courses. The Committee may
delegate to the Department Chair the approval of variants of generic courses.
c.
advise the Department Chair regarding all aspects of the
undergraduate program, including advising and recruiting of students.
d.
advise the chair and the department regarding departmental
participation in curricular matters outside the department, including general
education and other all-university requirements.
e.
prepare an annual report summarizing the work of the semester
and indicating items for the committee’s attention during the following year.
2.
Membership. The Curriculum Committee consists of five members:
a.
three elected by
the faculty as a whole, for three year, overlapping terms,
b.
one member
appointed by the Department Chair, and
c.
The Department
Chair.
d.
The committee
elects its own chair.
B.
Elections
Committee.
1.
Responsibility:
to supervise the conduct of all departmental elections.
2.
Membership: three
members appointed by the Department Chair.
C.
Graduate
Committee.
1.
Responsibility. The Graduate Committee shall:
a.
review and recommend to the department regarding all aspects
of the graduate curriculum of the department.
b.
advise the Department Chair and the Graduate Coordinator
regarding all aspects of the graduate program, including advising and
recruiting of students.
c.
prepare and annual report summarizing the work of the
semester and indicating items for the committee’s attention during the
following year.
2.
Membership.
a.
The Graduate
Committee shall consist of five members:
(1)
The Graduate
Coordinator.
(2)
The faculty
member normally responsible for teaching History 700.
(3)
The Department
Chair.
(4)
Tow faculty
members appointed by the Department Chair, in consultation with the Graduate
Coordinator. Terms of appointed members
shall be for three years.
(5)
Ordinarily,
committee members should be drawn from different fields of specialization.
b.
The Graduate
Coordinator shall serve as chair for the Graduate Committee.
D.
Hiring Committee.
1.
Membership.
a.
the Hiring Committee shall consist of all tenured members
of the History faculty.
2.
Responsibilities. Responsibilities of the Hiring Committee:
a.
review and recommend to the Department Chair and Dean
regarding the hiring of tenure-track faculty.
b.
advise the Department Chair regarding all other hiring
matters.
c.
comply with all University policies and with all provisions
of the collective bargaining agreement.
3.
To facilitate
theses tasks the department shall elect a Hiring Subcommittee to make
recommendations on all the above matters.
a.
in addition to
the above tasks, the Subcommittee shall:
(1)
Periodically
review the department’s hiring priorities, and make recommendations on them to
the department.
(2)
Prepare and
annual report summarizing their work and indicating the items for the
committee’s attention during the following year.
b.
Membership of
Subcommittee.
(1)
The Hiring
Subcommittee shall consist of five members.
(a)
At least 3
members of the tenured faculty, elected by the tenured faculty, tenure-track
faculty, and lecturers on a pro rata basis, to three-year, overlapping terms.
(b)
One member of the
committee may be a tenure-track faculty member.
(c)
The Department
Chair.
(2)
The Hiring
Subcommittee shall elect its chair from among its members.
E.
Retention, Tenure
and Promotion Committee.
1.
Membership.
a.
The RTP Committee
shall consist of all tenured members of the History faculty.
2.
Responsibilities
a.
review and recommend to the Department Chair and Dean
regarding retention and tenure of probationary faculty.
b.
review and recommend to the Department Chair and Dean
regarding promotion of tenure-track faculty.
c.
advise the Department Chair regarding all other personnel
matters.
d.
comply fully with all University policies and with all
provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.
3.
To facilitate
these tasks the Department shall elect and RTP subcommittee to make
recommendations on the above matters.
a.
in addition to
the above tasks the Subcommittee shall:
(1)
Prepare an annual
report summarizing the work of the semester and indicating terms for the
committee’s attention during the following year.
(2)
Review and
recommend to the Department Chair regarding the hiring and re-hiring of
temporary faculty. The Subcommittee may
delegate this responsibility to the Chair at times when the University is not
in session.
(3)
Carry out
mandated reviews of tenured faculty.
(4)
Advise the
Department Chair regarding all other personnel matters.
(5)
Comply fully with
all University policies and with all provisions of the collective bargaining
agreement.
b.
Membership of
Subcommittee
(1)
The RTP
Subcommittee shall consist of five members of the tenured faculty, elected by
the tenured and tenure-track faculty, to three-year overlapping terms.
(2)
The RTP
Subcommittee shall elect its chair from among its members.
III.
Selection Process
for Department Chair.
A.
Voting Rights.
1.
All tenured and
tenure track faculty members shall be entitled to one full vote, regardless of
their time-base during the semester of the selection process.
2.
Faculty on the
early retirement shall be entitled to one full vote, regardless of their
time-base during the semester of the selection process.
3.
Lecturers shall
be entitled to a fractional vote, equivalent to their time-base during the
semester of the selection process.
B.
Nominating
Process.
1.
A call for
nominations shall go out to all faculty, permanent and
temporary.
2.
The Elections
Committee shall serve as a nominating committee, to receive the nominations and
to determine who is willing to stand for election.
3.
Ballots shall be
distributed to all tenured faculty, whether or not in
residence, and to all other faculty eligible to vote.
4.
If no candidate
receives a majority of the votes cast, the candidate with the lowest number of
votes shall be dropped form the ballot and another vote taken, until one
candidate receives a majority of the votes cast.
IV.
Amendment. These by-laws may be amended by a majority of
the faculty at a departmental meeting.
(Adopted May 2, 1991; Last updated September 2005)
Requirements for retention, tenure, and promotion are set out in a series of policies adopted by the Academic Senate and approved by the President. As required by University Policy on Retention and Tenure (S88-120 and S94-120), probationary faculty members in the History Department will be evaluated in each of the following categories: teaching effectiveness; professional achievement and growth, which includes research, publication, and curricular development; community service, including professional societies and other professional activities; university non-teaching activities; personal collegial relationships; and the future needs of the department.
The candidate should prepare a CV and submit
supplementary information (publications, outside reviews of work, course
materials) for the use of the committee each probationary year. The department chair will maintain examples.
A Ph.D. in history is necessary for tenure or
promotion in the History Department.
Under unusual circumstances the department might consider a Ph.D. in
another field or some equivalent to the Ph.D. if there is a demonstration of an
appropriate background in historical analysis.
A. The primary mission of
1. Course materials. Syllabi,
bibliographies, reading lists, and examinations are used by the RTP committee
as evidence of course and class organization, the level at which the course is
taught, and the expectation of student learning.
2. Student evaluations.
Probationary faculty are required to submit
evaluation questionnaires to the students in two courses each semester. The RTP committee regards these surveys as
important because they provide a large representative sample of student
reactions. Scores of below 1.5 on the
critical questions of the survey instrument suggest “superior” teaching. Scores of 2.0 or higher suggest a need for
improvement.
3. Signed written comments from students are taken seriously, but
because they usually represent a small sample, they are not regarded as highly
as classroom surveys.
4. Peer class visitations.
Class visitations by fellow faculty members are vital for assessing the
level of the professor’s presentation and expectations. They serve as a check on student evaluations,
which can be affected by class demands and grades. Probationary faculty
receive at least two visitations each year, one from the chair and one
from an RTP committee member or designee.
5. Advising. The candidate
must be effective in advising and willing to confer with students.
B. Although Student Evaluation Scores are suggestive of whether or
not a faculty member is teaching at a superior, significant, or not significant
level, the final determination will be based on the RTP Committee evaluations
of all of the above factors.
C. The RTP committee will arrange with new faculty who are
inexperienced in teaching or with probationary faculty having difficulties in
their teaching for a peer mentor to provide direct assistance.
IV. Professional
Achievement and Growth:
A. The University and the Department of History maintain that faculty professional achievements and intellectual growth enhance the lives of students, the department, and the university itself. Thus the department expects that the pattern of intellectual activity and growth established during the probationary period would extend beyond tenure itself. We have established the following guidelines for assessing these achievements and growth at various points in a faculty member’s professional career.
1. Retention and Tenure:
The Department of History expects candidates for retention and tenure to exhibit a pattern of professional achievement and scholarly growth during their probationary period. Unless otherwise specified at the time of hiring, this means that probationary faculty members are expected to make scholarly contributions to the field, and to continue to grow intellectually within their given areas of expertise. Scholarly activities that would constitute such a pattern are enumerated in section IV.B of our departmental policy (see below). The department’s Retention, Tenure, and Promotions Committee would include in its report for tenure an assessment of the quality of the candidate’s work in this area.
2. Promotions:
Following University policy (Academic Policy S94-28 and F04-28) candidates who are up for promotion will be evaluated on all criteria set out in that policy, Teaching Performance, Professional Achievement and Growth, and Contributions to Campus and Community. The Department of History expects its members to continue to be actively engaged in the intellectual concerns of the profession during their probationary period and beyond their tenure year, and the department’s Retention, Tenure, and Promotions Committee will evaluate the work of the candidate in this area.
B. The usual evidence of Professional Achievement and Growth in the Department of History include the following:
1.
Books that are published by reputable publishers
and reviewed in appropriate professional journals. (This includes textbooks).
2. Articles in refereed journals.
3.
Other articles (such as anthologies, chapters of
books, articles for popular audiences derived from one’s specialization, and
those in an electronic format).
4. Edited and translated works.
5.
Unpublished manuscripts that have been reviewed
and commented on by appropriate objective experts.
6. Oral and written presentations of research to professional meetings and audiences.
7. Book reviews in scholarly historical journals or internet sites.
8.
Recognition of professional achievement in the
form of honors, appointments, and grants.
9. Senior editor to a major journal in the profession.
10.
Grant writing for federal and other funding for
scholarly research, summer institutes, and secondary and community college
instructors’ professional development and preparation.
11. Project
leader, director, or participant in summer institutes and other similar
activities designed or the professional development of secondary teachers and
community college instructors.
12. Electronic
contributions to scholarly and educational enterprises.
C. Because opportunities for publication and forms of presentation of
research vary within the fields of history and because the Department of
History wishes to emphasize quality rather than quantity of work, it is not
desirable to set a numerical quota of publications and presentations necessary
for tenure or promotion. But as a general guide, the HRT committee would expect
a candidate for tenure or promotion to have published or submitted for critical
outside review a major manuscript or several lesser manuscripts representing
significant research and analysis, to have made several presentations to
professional audiences, and to have reviewed several books.
V. Contributions
to Campus and Community
A. Campus Service
1. Candidates for tenure and promotion to Associate
Professor should have made important contributions on Departmental committees
and, as appropriate, in curriculum development in History and/or General
Education and/or departments teaching in related fields.
2. Candidates for promotion to Professor should have made
some contributions at the School and/or Campus and/or System as well as
Department level.
3. Candidates will be credited for contributions to
interdisciplinary programs, General Education, and the like as well as
contribution within the History Department itself.
B. Community
and Professional Service
1.
For historians,
it is likely that many of their opportunities for applying professional
expertise to community endeavors will take place in the form of contributions
to professional organizations. This might mean chairing or commenting at
sessions of professional; organizations, helping with local arrangements for
professional meetings, and serving on professional committees or as elected
officials in professional societies.
(There might be some crossover between these activities and those
reflecting Professional Achievement and growth if these activities or offices
involve direct editorial work or confer significant honor for past professional
achievement.)
2.
Another venue for
contributions to the community would be presentations to professional groups
like the Docent Council of the Fine Arts Museums of
3.
Historians also
provide service by applying their professional expertise in the community at
large by giving lectures in non-professional audiences, supplying background
information on topical news to the media, or involvement in the teaching of
history in the schools.
4.
Historians also
serve the larger community by consulting on and reviewing textbooks and other
course materials for middle schools, high schools, and colleges and
universities.
5.
While the
participation in summer institutes and other similar activities is primarily an
intellectual activity, it also constitutes a service to the community. Other similar activities would include the
reading of Advanced Placement exams and the preparation of teaching materials
for secondary and tertiary schools.
6.
Moderating an
H-Net List or other scholarly electronic lists also constitute a service to the
wider academic and educational community.
Policy
And Procedures For Evaluation Of Tenured
Faculty
Adopted October 10/997
(Post-Tenure Review)
I.
The evaluation of
tenured faculty in the Department of History will be the responsibility of the
Retention, Tenure, and Promotion Subcommittee.
II.
Tenured faculty
members will be evaluated at least every five years. That evaluation will take the form of either
an evaluation for promotion or, once the rank of full professor ahs been
reached, a post-tenure review that evaluates two things: teaching effectiveness
and currency in the field.
III.
The teaching
evaluation will be based on accumulated student evaluations, at least one peer
visitations report, and evaluation of course syllabi. Currency in the field will be based on
evaluations of publications, CV, course syllabi, and any unpublished
manuscripts supplied by the professor to the RTP subcommittee.
IV.
The RTP
Subcommittee will submit the attached letter to each faculty member scheduled
for post-tenure review in that calendar year.
The faculty member
will submit to the RTP committee at a minimum the following items:
A.
An up-to-date
curriculum vita, with emphasis upon activities and accomplishments during the
past five years or since the last review.
B.
Syllabi for at
least two courses per year for the past five years, and others if they are
available and the professor wishes them considered.
C.
Student
evaluations of at least two courses per year for the past five years, and
others if they are available and the professor wishes them considered.
V.
The RTP
Subcommittee will designate one of its members or, if necessary, another
tenured faculty member, to visit the professor’s class and draft a report on
that class visitation and on the professor’s overall teaching and currency in
the field for submission to the RTP Subcommittee. The RTP Subcommittee will then be responsible
for the final evaluation and report.
VI.
The RTP
Subcommittee Chair will provide a copy of the evaluation to the professor
before the report is forwarded and will discuss the professor’s strengths and
weaknesses along with suggestions for improvement. The faculty member will have a chance to
respond in writing and to have that response carried forward with the original
report. The report and response, if any,
will then be forwarded through the Department Chair to the Dean of the
UNIVERSITY POLICY ON TEMPORARY FACULTY
#F99-160
(formerly A.S. Policy
S89-160)
Ø
At its meeting of
November 16, 1999, the Academic Senate approved the following revised policy on
Temporary Faculty which was signed by the President with changes on December
13, 1999. The changes are indicated in bold italics and reflect independently
developed administrative policy.
Ø
The following
document is a revision and replacement of Academic Senate Policy S89-160
regarding temporary faculty appointment and employment, approved by the Academic
Senate on May 9, 1989 and by the President on July 11, 1989.
Ø
At
Ø
Departments shall
make available in the department office a copy of the Faculty Manual and the
current Collective Bargaining Agreement (hereafter Agreement) for the
information of their lecturers. For questions about conditions of Temporary
Faculty employment which are not answered in these resources, the host
department/program and/or lecturers should contact the Office of Faculty
Affairs and Professional Development for information on employment rights and
responsibilities, and the Office of Human Resources for information on
employment benefits and retirement.
TEMPORARY
FACULTY EMPLOYMENT.
v
To meet the
requirements of the Agreement and the University's affirmative action and equal
opportunity policy, every department will publish and disseminate announcements
about the availability of lecturer appointments on campus in department and
school offices, and to appropriate media, higher education institutions, and
professional organizations throughout the Bay Area region as necessary to
ensure a viable pool of applicants.
v
All prospective
or previous employees who inquire about temporary faculty employment, whether
by their own initiative or in response to a University announcement, shall be
invited to fill out an application for temporary teaching appointment. The
completed applications will remain in the department's applicant pool for three
(3) years.
v
All currently
appointed lecturers who apply in writing for subsequent appointment are to be
considered members of the applicant pool. The applicant pool must be reviewed
for selection of the best qualified candidate for every temporary vacancy. In
every case of lecturer appointment recommendations, departments should be
prepared to demonstrate that the applicant pool was reviewed and the best
qualified candidate was recommended.
ØAppointment. Temporary faculty appointments may be for a
semester, parts of a year or one (1) or more years as specified in the
appointment letter.
o An offer of employment as a part-time lecturer is
contingent on enrollment and budget considerations sufficient to justify the
prospective employment as determined by the dean/director of the college.
Changes in enrollment and budget considerations may necessitate reduction in
the time base indicated or withdrawal of the employment offer. Such adjustments
must be made prior to the third class meeting.
v
Following two (2)
semesters of consecutive employment within an academic year, a part-time
temporary employee offered an appointment to a similar assignment in the same
department/program at the same campus shall receive a one (1) year appointment
subject to the conditions stipulated in the Agreement.
o Full-time lecturers shall not be appointed on a
conditional basis and their time base cannot be decreased during the
appointment period.
v All temporary faculty appointments automatically
expire at the end of the period specified and do not establish consideration
for subsequent appointments for any further appointment rights.
ØQualifications. The Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional
Development will not process lecturer appointments for individuals with less
than a master's degree if either of the following is true:
·
The Office of
Faculty Affairs will process lecturer appointments for qualified graduate
students if they are teaching entry level courses or labs in a host department,
and have a teaching assignment which produces student credit hours (WTU's).
Ø
Subsequent Appointment of Lecturers. Lecturers who are currently employed and who wish a
subsequent appointment shall complete the Application for Subsequent Temporary
Faculty Appointment and submit it to the department chair. These applications
are available in all department offices.
Ø
Careful Consideration. Departments are responsible for ensuring that all
applications for subsequent appointment are given careful consideration as
stipulated in the Agreement. For lecturers seeking subsequent appointment,
departments will examine lecturers' written applications (including any
supporting documents) and their periodic evaluations. This careful
consideration shall be made by a department review committee, the department
chair, or both.
Ø
Employment Processing. Department chairs are responsible for keeping
lecturers informed as to the status of their applications. Department chairs
shall forward the department's recommendation regarding all lecturer
appointments and subsequent appointments to the dean/director. Deans/directors
shall forward their recommendations for appointment and subsequent appointment
to the Dean of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development for personnel
action and to be forwarded to Faculty Records for inclusion in the Personnel
Action File. Notification to lecturers regarding an offer of initial or
subsequent appointment shall occur after approval of the appointment in the
Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development. Deans/directors and
department chairs are encouraged to expedite the processing of temporary
faculty appointments and subsequent appointments.
TEMPORARY FACULTY COMPENSATION.
Lecturer appointments may be made at any step of the current faculty salary
scale. The current faculty salary scale is available in the college and
department offices.
Ø
Range Elevation for Temporary Faculty. Temporary Faculty may apply for range elevation on
the salary schedule according to the University policy. Only those lecturers no
longer eligible for SSIs in their current range, and
who have served five years in current range, will be eligible to seek range
elevation. The criteria for range elevation for temporary faculty must be
appropriate to their work assignments. Denial of range elevation is subject to
the peer review process as stipulated in Article 10.11 of the Agreement except
that the peer panel's decision is final.
Ø
Lecturers with Less Than Six Years of Service. These temporary faculty
have initial appointments with a duration of one (1) year or less. The Office
of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development shall make available
information on their rights and responsibilities as well as professional
development opportunities (e.g., leaves without pay); and the Office of Human
Resources shall make available information on their employment benefits. The
host academic unit (department/program) shall provide appropriate instructional
support as deemed necessary and feasible.
Ø
Lecturers with Six or More Years of Service. These temporary faculty
usually are appointed with a duration of more than one (1) academic year.
Lecturers who have been employed for 6 or more years of full-time service are
eligible to apply for sabbatical leaves and difference-in-pay leaves. They are
also eligible to seek professional leaves without pay as per the Agreement. The
Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development shall make available
information on their rights and responsibilities as well as professional
development opportunities, and the Office of Human Resources shall make
available information on their employment benefits. The host academic unit
(department/program) shall provide appropriate instructional support as deemed
necessary and feasible.
PERIODIC EVALUATION OF TEMPORARY FACULTY POLICY AND
PROCEDURES. Article 15 of the Agreement mandates the periodic
evaluation of temporary faculty unit employees.
Ø
Purpose. The
purpose of the periodic evaluation of lecturers is to assess their teaching performance
or other assignment in the department(s) in which they are appointed in order
to make informed decisions regarding re-appointment. Information from periodic
evaluations may also be used in recommendations for salary increases and for
improving teaching performance.
Ø
Eligibility.
All full- and part-time lecturers appointed two or more semesters, regardless
of a break in service, will be evaluated according to this policy and
procedure. The evaluation of lecturers appointed for one semester and not subsequently
re-appointed is at the discretion of the department.
o
Lecturers who are
not instructors of record for a course are not covered by this policy.
Ø
Criteria.
The primary criterion is teaching effectiveness. Other criteria include
currency in the field and proper discharge of other departmental assignments.
Ø
Frequency.
Full- and part-time lecturers will be evaluated annually.
Ø
Procedures.
Written student evaluations of teaching effectiveness are required in a minimum
of two classes annually as stipulated in Article 15 of the Agreement. Where
applicable, departments may use other data pertinent to teaching to evaluate
teaching effectiveness. Where lecturers have departmental assignments in
addition to teaching as part of their workloads, these assignments should be
included in the evaluation.
o
Evaluation of
teaching performance by departmental review committee and/or department chair
is required for all lecturers who apply for subsequent re-appointment. When
departments or equivalent units decide not to conduct a committee review of
part-time lecturers, the department chair shall perform the steps in the
procedure outlined below. Review of the department evaluation by the
dean/director is required. All lecturers eligible for periodic evaluation will
be informed at the time of appointment of the departmental procedures, criteria
and time frames. Lecturers may submit indexed supplementary materials as part
of the evaluation. Departments may solicit input from faculty and students
about lecturers being evaluated.
o
At the conclusion
of its deliberations, the Department Review Committee, if any, and the
Department Chair will complete the Temporary Faculty Evaluation form. Where the
Chair disagrees with the Committee, he/she will state his/her reasons on the
form with continuing pages, if necessary. The Department Chair will give the
lecturer a copy of the Temporary Faculty Evaluation form and any attachments.
The form and summaries of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness in a
minimum of two classes annually will be forwarded to the dean/director for
review and then to the Faculty Records Office for placement in the Personnel
Action File. Any rebuttal or statement the lecturer wishes to make shall
accompany the evaluation materials and be placed in the official personnel
action file.
o
Normally, when
the outcome of the evaluation process is a recommendation for a subsequent
appointment, Faculty Appointment Form (#110) will accompany the evaluation
documents.
Ø
Faculty Activity Report. All faculty unit employees, including temporary
faculty, are required to complete the Faculty Activity Report (FAR) and shall
be considered for a Faculty Merit Increase (FMI) unless they indicate on the
FAR that they decline to participate in the FMI program.
GOVERNANCE. University governance involves participation in the
decision making and administrative processes at all levels. Lecturers are
encouraged, but cannot be required, to take part in the broad range of
governance activities which are essential to the functioning of the University.
Such activities include, but are not limited to, (1) the exercise of both voice
and vote in department and school faculty meetings, (2) service on department,
College and University Committees, (3) sponsorship of extracurricular campus
groups and/or events, and (4) student advising beyond one's instructional
assignment(s).
In order to facilitate the
participation of lecturers in University governance activities:
**APPROVED BY PRESIDENT
CORRIGAN ON DECEMBER 13, 1999**
History Department Policy On Evaluation Of Lecturers
Adopted May 2, 1996
Lecturers shall be evaluated by the chair and the Hiring Committee once each academic year.
The following criteria shall be addressed in each evaluation. The criteria are in priority sequence. For a lecturer to be hired for a subsequent semester or academic year, the evaluation must be positive for the first tow criteria.
1. Does the lecturer have a Ph.D. in history form an accredited university? If not, is the lecturer making appropriate progress toward completion of the Ph.D.? If more than five years have passed since award of the previous degree, the lecturer should provide a letter from his or her dissertation adviser indicating that satisfactory progress is being made. If the lecturer has a terminal degree other than a Ph.D. in history, the Hiring Committee should determine if it is an appropriate equivalent, given the nature of the lecturer’s assignment in the department, and should indicate whether the degree implies restrictions on possible assignments.
2. Is the lecturer an effective teacher? There are three separate elements to an evaluation of teaching effectiveness:
a) student evaluations of teaching effectiveness: Student evaluations should be collected for all classes taught by lecturers, and should be reviewed by the Chair and the Hiring Committee. Lecturers whose student evaluations deviate markedly from the mean should be given especially careful attention by the committee.
b) evaluations of teaching by a tenured faculty member: During a lecturer’s first semester teaching in the department, a tenured faculty member should observe a class taught by the lecturer and should prepare a written memorandum evaluating teaching effectiveness, addressing the following topics: effectiveness in presentation (including organization, clarity, and responsiveness to student questions and concerns) and appropriateness of content (including the level of the material presented and demonstration of currency with recent work). An observation should be repeated in the lecturer’s third and fifth semesters, and in every fourth semester thereafter.
c) currency in the field: Does the lecturer demonstrate that he/she is maintaining currency in the field(s) which he or she teaches? Appropriate evidence for currency in the field includes course syllabi, observation of a class by a member of the tenured faculty, and material submitted by the lecturer regarding professional activities.
3. Does the lecturer contribute to the profession? Evidence of professional accomplishment includes publications (with books published by reputable presses and articles appearing in juried journals given highest consideration), presentation of papers at professional meetings, and participation in professional organizations.
Lecturers should not be evaluated on their participation in departmental or campus service activities, because lecturers are not paid to serve on committees, to supervise special study, or to do advising.
4. Promotion: Lecturers will be promoted according to the standard university criteria, not that of the Department of History for tenured and tenure track faculty.
5. Lecturers who have taught for two or more semesters will be evaluated by the Hiring Committee. The committee will prepare a one-page summary of its findings to be given to the lecturer and placed in his or her personal action file to guide future hiring decisions by the chair. The lecturer may submit a rebuttal letter if he or she wishes to do so.
6. Temporary appointments may be for periods of a semester, a quarter, parts of a year, or one or more years. Following two semesters or three quarters of consecutive employment within an academic year, a part-time temporary employee offered appointment to a similar assignment in the same department or equivalent unit at the same campus shall receive a one year appointment. (Such an appointment shall be subject to the limitations stated in provision 12.5).
7. Each department shall maintain a list of temporary employees who have been evaluated by the department. If such an employee applies for a position in that department or applicant pool for that department, the faculty unit employee’s previous periodic evaluations and his or her application shall receive careful consideration. If a temporary employee applies for a subsequent appointment and does not receive one, his or her right to file a grievance shall be limited to allegations of a failure to give careful consideration. Such a grievance would constitute an allegation of a contractual violation and would not be a “Faculty Status Matter” (as defined in Article 10) of this Agreement).
8. Appointment of a temporary employee in consecutive academic years to a similar assignment in the same department or equivalent unit shall require the same or higher salary placement as in his or her previous appointment.
9. Upon completion of twenty-four academic units or the quarter equivalent in the same department, temporary employees may request consideration for step movement on the salary schedule, only during years when the parties have agreed to provide Service-based Salary Step Increases (pursuant to Article 31 of this Agreement).
(approved by Curriculum Committee, October 19, 1988)
The History Department has established the following guidelines for credit by examination. The guiding principle for credit by examination should always be that the student demonstrate a command of the subject matter equivalent to that demonstrated by a student enrolled in the course.
1. Students who petition for credit by examination must indicate why they believe they can pass an examination on the subject matter of a course that they have never taken.
2. Credit by examination is not appropriate for seminars and pro-seminars, where class participation is a significant element in the class. Credit by examination is appropriate only for lecture classes.
3. For History 110, 111, 120, and 121, the Department Chair shall assign a faculty examiner who normally teaches the course in question. For upper-division courses and other lower-division courses, the faculty examiner shall be the faculty member who teaches the course. The faculty member must consent to prepare the examination, and no faculty member shall be expected to prepare more than one such examination in any one semester.
4. Because most courses include a mid-term examination and a final examination, and many include other written other written work, it is not appropriate for credit by examination to be granted on the basis of a student’s completion of only a final examination.
5. For all three-unit courses, the examination should be constructed according to the following format:
a. The examination shall be 3 hours in length, divided into two sessions of each 1 ½ hours.
b. The first half of the examination shall be a multiple choice or other short-answer examination. The student must pass this examination with a grade of C or better (equivalent to 73%), and may not take the second half of the examination unless the first half is successfully completed. For 120 and 121, this part of the examination should be composed of 150 questions drawn from a computer test bank.
c. The second half of the examination shall consist of at least two essays. In the case of multiple-section survey courses, the essay topics should be sufficiently broad so as to be appropriate to any section. In the case of 120 and 121, at least one topic should address domestic politics and one topic should address foreign policy.
d. University policy specifies that a student taking a course for credit/no-credit must receive a grade of C to receive credit. By analogy, a student seeking credit by examination must achieve a grade of C to receive credit. A grade of C is equivalent to 73% or higher.
e. Questions for the examination should be appropriate to the level of the course.
6. A student may challenge a course only once. If the student does not pass the examination, that shall be taken as evidence that the student has not, in fact, acquired the necessary knowledge to challenge the course. A student who fails the examination shall not be permitted to seek credit by examination for that course a second time.
7. If the student wishes to appeal a grade from the challenge examination the appeal shall be handled like any other grade appeal.
Policy On Use Of Paid Graduate And Student Assistants As Graders
Adopted as departmental policy
and guideline, Fall 1996.
As some of you may know, the Department has traditionally requested and
received funds from the College for the hiring of Graduate Assistants and
partial help of payment of our readers.
Today, however, Dean Kassiola asked me to discuss the Departmental use
of these students before he passed on our latest budget request for reader
money. He expressed concern over hearing
that in some places in the University (not our department specifically),
faculty turned their grading over to a student assistant with little or no
supervision. He asked me to give him and
account of our own Departmental practices.
I want to share with you’re the response I gave him and to make sure
that it does accord with our practices.
I told Dean Kassiola that our department assigns the six or so Graduate
Assistants we usually receive to those faculty
teaching two or more large survey sections with lecturers given preference over
tenured/tenure track faculty. The remaining faculty teaching large survey
sections and one or two special cases of faculty teaching very large upper
division courses for whom a qualified assistant is available receive somewhere
in the neighborhood of 30 hours of reader time per course. Our readers are almost always graduate
students, although occasionally instructors ask for and receive a senior
undergraduate who is especially qualified to assist with their course.
I further told Dean Kassiola that the primary function of our Graduate
Assistants and readers is to help grade examinations. That grading is done without the assistant
actually attending the class because the number of hours allotted does not
permit that. The hours are sufficient only
to grade exams. I said that we overcome
that handicap in a number of ways and gave him an example from the way I handle
my own reader.
I give my reader the examination question or questions
a couple of weeks in advance and outline generally the kind of answer I
expect. After the students take the
examination, the reader and I sit down and grade several of them together to
establish a grade range. The reader then
finishes the exams, making comments and assigning grades in pencil. Afterward, I review all of the examinations,
add comments of my own where and keep or change the grade the reader has
assigned. I take full responsibility for
the grade and handle all appeals, although the reader has occasionally
volunteered to talk to students with questions about the exam grade. I tell the students that a reader is
assisting me in grading the examinations but that this means they get two
readings and that I am fully responsible for the grade. I calculate that having a reader saves me
about two thirds of the time I would normally spend grading an examination.
I went on to tell Dean Kassiola that my sense from talking to almost
everyone in the department at one time or another is that well use Graduate
Assistants as readers approximately the way I do except when readers are
clearly not qualified to grade essay examinations or when they are assigned to
faculty with special physical needs, in which case the are used for clerical
tasks, portage, and grading more objective portions of tests. I asserted that no one in the department
simply turns over grading to their assistant without supervision. Bill Issel always briefs new lecturers on our
use of readers and assistants so there should be no gap there. I said that I had never received a complaint
from and assistant or student about the misuse of readers in the five years I
have been chair of the department. I
said that we simply could not deliver our program, with its emphasis on written
work and our commitment to the Writing Across the Curriculum program, without
the use of assistants and readers because our class size has gotten too large
for faculty to do it all by themselves.
I told him I would stake my reputation on the fact that our Graduate
Assistant and reader program is utilized with integrity and that it is a
benefit to our faculty, our graduate assistants and readers, and even to the
students because it permits them take written rather than Scantron
examinations.
If anything I have said here is a misrepresentation of the situation,
please let me know.
ESSAY
ASSESSMENT RATING FORM
Use the Following Numerical
Scale to Rate the Final Seminar Paper:
F/D-
D
D+/C-
C
C+
B-
B
B+
A/A-
Policy on
Cheating and Plagiarism
Cheating
and Plagiarism. At times students and faculty have been disturbed by
evidences of cheating during examinations and in the preparation of written
work out of class.
Each faculty member who requires outside written work as
part of course requirements should carefully define the meaning of plagiarism
and outline the proper methods for using outside sources. Students should be
cautioned about the consequences should plagiarism be discovered.
If cheating or plagiarism occurs, it is the instructor’s
responsibility to handle the situation. The grade assigned must be based on the
student’s academic performance and must not be used as a punitive measure. The
Coordinator of Student Discipline in the Office of Student Affairs will assist
the instructor and is responsible for determining whether formal disciplinary
action should be taken.
As a result of faculty and student discussions, the
following list of suggestions to prevent cheating on examinations has been
developed:
Proctor examinations in person as there is no honor system.
·
Space students as
widely as possible to avoid sharing information or misinformation during
examination. (Call the college secretary if room is too small for satisfactory
testing arrangements. )
·
Construct fair
tests; e. g. , their length, content, applicability to
class assignments.
·
Determine final
grades on as broad a base as possible, not entirely upon the results of one or
two examinations. Additional short tests and other supplemental means of
evaluating student achievement are strongly recommended.
·
Consider giving
alternative forms of the same test where the order of questions is different
for each form. This device is especially effective whenever there is occasion
to use objective tests answer sheets that can be machine-scored. (For
assistance in the construction of machine-scored tests, contact the Director of
Testing. )
·
Confer with the
department chair for further assistance on planning examinations, or for
information about university resources for special help on examinations.
Student
Disciplinary Procedures. The stated purpose of this document is to provide fair
and just procedures, to both students charged and the institutions, by which
determination can be made concerning whether or not violations of student
conduct and conduct related regulations have occurred. In order to administer
these procedures, the President has assigned a member of the university staff,
referred to as the Coordinator. The Coordinator is to investigate all alleged
violations of Sections 41301 and 41302, Title 5, California Code of
Regulations, and Section 66017 of the Education Code and any related
matters concerning withdrawal of consent to remain on campus, and of
eligibility for and termination of financial aid. As a result of the
investigation made, the Coordinator will recommend to the President whether or
not the matter should proceed or if the matter warrants any of the following
types of formal hearings:
by an Administrative Officer of the campus;
·
by a Hearing
Officer designated by the Chancellor’s Office to preside; or
·
by a Residence Hall Committee.
The President of the campus
may place on probation, suspend, or expel a student for one or more of the
causes enumerated in Section 41301. No fees or tuition paid by or for such
student for the semester, quarter, or summer session in which he/she is
suspended or expelled shall be refunded. If the student is readmitted before
the close of the semester, quarter, or summer session in which he/she is
suspended, no additional tuition or fees shall be required of the student on
account of the suspension. In the event that a student who has not reached
his/her eighteenth birthday is suspended or expelled, the President shall
immediately notify his/her parent or guardian of the action by registered mail to the last known
address, return receipt requested.
During periods of campus emergency, as determined by the
President of the individual campus, the President may, after consultation with
the Chancellor, place into immediate effect any emergency regulations,
procedures, and other measures deemed necessary or appropriate to meet the
emergency, safeguard persons and property, and maintain educational activities.
The President may immediately impose an interim suspension
in all cases in which there is reasonable cause to believe that such an
immediate suspension is required in order to protect lives or property and to
ensure the maintenance of order. A student so placed on interim suspension
shall be given prompt notice of charges and the opportunity for a hearing
within ten days of the imposition of interim suspension. During the period of
interim suspension, the student shall not, without prior written permission of
the President or his/her designated representative, enter any campus of The
California State University other than to attend the hearing. Violation of any
condition of interim suspension shall be grounds for expulsion.
Admission or readmission may be qualified or denied to any
person who, while not enrolled as a student, commits acts which, were he/she
enrolled as a student, would be the basis for disciplinary proceedings pursuant
to Section 41301 and 41302.
For additional information, contact the Coordinator of
Student Discipline in the Office of Student Affairs.
Sanctions. Imposing campus sanctions on students does not
absolve them from local, state, or federal court action; on the other hand,
criminal proceedings against students do not prevent the imposition of campus
sanctions in that special area of university responsibilities. Should the same
act violate general law and campus rules, students may be subject to action by
both court and university. The legal principle of double jeopardy does not
apply in such circumstances.
Students may be expelled, suspended, placed on disciplinary
probation, or given a lesser sanction as provided in Section 41301, Title 5 of
the California Code of Regulations.
Concurrently with actions taken under these procedures, the
person conducting the hearing shall also determine whether the particular
conduct found to have occurred is a basis for ineligibility for or termination
of financial aid under the applicable provisions of state or federal law and
the Board of Trustees.
Financial aid shall be terminated or eligibility denied by
the President whenever required by any of these provisions.
Students may be required to make restitution for loss of or
damage to any campus property, including that loaned or entrusted to them, or
for any failure to account for such property. Restitution may also be required
for any loss of, damage to, or failure to account for, property of a student
organization. The university may withhold grades, transcripts, registration privileges,
and diplomas from any student who has failed to make appropriate university
restitution for loss of, damage to, or failure to account for, university or
student organization property when required to do so.
For additional information, contact the Coordinator of
Student Discipline in the Office of Student Affairs.