CONSTITUCIÓN DE LA REPÚBLICA DEL

The program shall have well-defined policies and procedures to recruit, appoint, and promote qualified faculty, to evaluate competence and performance of faculty, and to support the professional development and advancement of faculty.

Required documentation:

a. A faculty handbook or other written document that outlines faculty rules and regulations. The overall policies governing recruitment, appointment, retention, and promotion of faculty at Mason are described in the University Faculty Handbook (available in the resource file). CHHS also has a Promotion and Tenure Manual (available in the resource file) applicable to the recruitment, appointment, retention, and promotion of all CHHS faculty members, which are consistent with the University document. Faculty members teaching in the MPH program are subject to the policies and procedures set forth in these two documents.

b. Description of provisions for faculty development, including identification of support for faculty categories other than regular full-time appointments.

GCH strongly encourages and supports the development of faculty in the areas of teaching and academic scholarship. GCH fosters professional growth in the area of research by providing support in form of Graduate Assistants and internal grant opportunities for academic expenses (such as textbook and software acquisition, AV equipment, professional dues, and travel reimbursement). Junior faculty members may consult with senior faculty mentors and seek assistance and support in their professional efforts. At the University level, the Office of

Research and Economic Development offers a series of seminars and training sessions to increase research capacity among faculty.

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) offers a range of support and learning opportunities for faculty across Mason’s campuses, including one-on-one support, classroom observation, and external faculty mentorship. Faculty can request one-on-one support and consultation for numerous teaching areas, including enhancing course design, responding to student needs, designing individual and collaborative assignments, and creating an effective teaching portfolio. Faculty can request CTE staff observe a class and provide feedback about their teaching and learning practices. CTE can also help junior faculty connect with a more senior faculty member in an outside department to provide consultation related to teaching, research, and service development. CTE seeks to promote a climate of shared intellectual exploration and openness, advocate for academic initiatives related to educational enhancement, and provide a pathway for sharing information and concerns about teaching among the university faculty and administration.

CTE provides information specific to teaching at Mason as well as numerous resources to sustain and enhance teaching and learning practices for newcomers and veteran instructors. These resources include access to administrative policies, guidance on FERPA regulations,

support for student diversity and disability services, teaching with classroom technology, and online delivery. The CTE wesbite (cte.gmu.edu) offers quick access to frequently asked questions and referral services to many other resources. Faculty can make appointments for individual consultations, classroom observations, faculty mentoring, and new faculty workshops. CTE also administers a variety of university-wide awards each year. Mason has an Office of Distance Education (DE) (http://masononline.gmu.edu/) that provides support to faculty proposing and offering DE courses or programs.

c. Description of formal procedures for evaluating faculty competence and performance. Full-Time Faculty

The approved departmental guidelines for faculty annual performance review, the three- year mid-tenure review, tenure and promotion review, and post-tenure review, in keeping with the CHHS and Mason requirements, guidelines, and policies, detail the formal procedures in place to evaluate faculty performance and review faculty for promotion and tenure consideration. The program adheres to the following CHHS policy on evaluating performance of full-time faculty, which appears in the Administrative Handbook (available in the resource file):

Each  faculty  member  is  evaluated  annually  by  his  or  her  supervisor  (normally,  the  department   chair  or  school  director).  Evaluations  will  be  based  on  the  faculty  member’s  workload  agreement   and  overall  performance  and  accomplishment  during  the  previous  year.  Factors  to  be  considered   include,  as  appropriate,  instructional  activities  (classroom  teaching  evaluations,  direction  of   student  work,  other  instructional  activities),  scholarly  activities  (publications,  papers,  extramural   grants,  and  other  professional  accomplishments),  clinical  work,  and  service  to  the  college,  the   university,  public  agencies,  and  the  larger  community.  Annual  evaluations  will  inform  salary  raise   recommendations  and  reappointment  recommendations.    

The CHHS promotion and tenure documents can be found in the CHHS Manual for Promotion and Tenure (available in the resource file), and are summarized as follows:

Recommendations  on  matters  of  faculty  status  (such  as  initial  appointment,  renewal,  promotion,   the  conferral  of  tenure,  and  termination)  are  the  responsibility  of  tenured  faculty.  Peer  review  plays  a   central  role  in  the  evaluation  of  individual  achievement  in  the  areas  of  research,  teaching,  and  service.   Successful  candidates  for  promotion  from  Assistant  to  Associate  Professor  in  CHHS  must  be  judged   genuinely  excellent  in  research  and  highly  competent  in  teaching.  Promotion  from  Associate  to  Full   Professor  requires  maintaining  high  competence  in  teaching,  research  and  scholarship,  and  service  while   also  maintaining  genuine  excellence  in  teaching  and/or  research  and  scholarship.    

Faculty  members  are  evaluated  annually  by  local  unit  administrators  and/or  committees  of  peers   who  report  to  the  deans  and  directors  or  the  Provost.  The  criteria  for  the  annual  faculty  review  are  listed   in  the  university  faculty  handbook.  This  evaluation  is  based  on  the  contributions  of  the  preceding  

academic  year  and,  where  applicable,  the  summer.  Faculty  members  are  evaluated  on  the  quality  of  their   overall  performance  and  in  the  context  of  their  goals  and  assignments.  The  results  of  and  rationale  for  the   evaluation  must  be  given  to  the  faculty  member  in  writing,  and  faculty  members  must  be  afforded  the   opportunity  to  discuss  the  results  of  the  evaluation.  

Adjunct Faculty

The program adheres to the following CHHS policy on evaluating adjunct faculty performance, which appears in the Administrative Handbook (available in resource file):

Adjunct/Part-­‐Time  faculty  are  evaluated  at  the  end  of  each  academic  term  by  department   administrators  and  course  coordinators.  The  evaluation  is  based  upon  the  student  course   evaluations,  self-­‐evaluations  by  the  instructor,  and  reviews  completed  by  the  designated   evaluator  for  the  department.  The  results  of  and  rationale  for  the  evaluation  are  given  to  the   faculty  member  in  writing,  and  faculty  members  are  afforded  the  opportunity  to  discuss  the   results  of  the  evaluation  with  their  evaluator.  This  evaluation  will  be  used  to  determine  whether   or  not  to  hire  the  adjunct  faculty  member  for  the  next  term.  Adjuncts  who  do  not  demonstrate   competence  in  the  classroom  will  not  be  rehired.  

d. Description of the processes used for student course evaluation and evaluation of teaching effectiveness.

Students provide feedback through anonymous course evaluations developed by the university. The university-supplied evaluations are mandatory. Individual faculty may conduct separate evaluations. The student course evaluations include several questions about course content, its relevance in the MPH program, teaching techniques used during the semester,

strengths and weaknesses of the course and the instructor, and suggestions for improvement. The department chair reads the results of student evaluations and will contact any instructor for remediation whose overall ratings fall below a 3.0 out of 5.0. Any such instructor will provide the chair with a written proposal of how to correct the identified deficiencies for the following term. Student evaluation results are available to the Mason community on the Mason website (https://crserating.gmu.edu/).

e. Description of the emphasis given to community service activities in the promotion and tenure process.

Service, whether within the University or across the community, is expected of all faculty. Faculty members are required to obtain and maintain a satisfactory level of service. The CHHS Promotion and Tenure Manual (available in resource file) describes the college

expectations regarding service. Categories of service include: assistance to colleagues; contributions to the department or school; contributions to the college, university, or SCHEV; support of local, state, national, or international organizations; significant community

participation; meritorious public service; and, offices held in professional organizations. Service to one’s colleagues, to the department, to the college, and to the university are important elements in judging faculty contributions and performance. Faculty also owe service to their academic discipline, usually by participating in the operation of professional associations as officers or committee or board members. In addition, since the health and human services professions are concerned with individual and societal health and well-being and, therefore, are quite conducive to useful, professionally relevant forms of community service, efforts at applying one’s scholarly expertise to address community concerns are highly valued in our

college. However, service activities, no matter how valuable, without excellence in research and high competence in teaching will not be sufficient to warrant tenure and promotion. The college does not ask the same quantity and quality of service contributions from faculty in junior and senior ranks.

f. Assessment of the extent to which this criterion is met.

This criterion is met. Guidelines for faculty development, evaluation, tenure, and

promotion are clearly described in University-level and College-level publications accessible on the Mason website. Student evaluations are conducted uniformly and consistently across the University to ensure every course is evaluated from the student perspective. Student evaluations are a key component of assessing faculty performance, and deficiencies are addressed in a timely fashion.