Introduction
Because evaluation of faculty performance is a requirement of the Bylaws of the Board of Regents (1973), faculty members must inform the Director about their teaching performance, their research and creative activities, and their service. The annual collection of such material is required by the Bylaws of the Board of Regents, sections 4.5 and 4.6. This requirement includes student evaluations and peer judgments "as part of an annual review of faculty performance." It is therefore expected that each faculty member will create, maintain, and keep up-to-date a record of professional activities and accomplishments across the entire course of his or her career at UNL. Moreover, records concerning each faculty member are not only maintained in files kept by the individual faculty member, but also in files maintained by the faculty member's department or school, and by the College.
Further, individual faculty members also must maintain a page on the GKSOM website with a photograph, brief biography, CV, and contact information.
Records maintained on or by each faculty member include:
1. The College File
The College shall maintain a file on each faculty member consisting of letters of appointment, Personal Activity File (PAF) documents, and relevant materials. Faculty members have a right to see and respond to the contents of their College file, except for confidential letters of evaluation when the right to review has been specifically waived by the faculty member.
2. The GKSOM File
The GKSOM shall maintain a file or files on each faculty member consisting of the initial letters of offer and acceptance memoranda of reappointment, promotion, and tenure; copies of the yearly annual report of faculty accomplishments (that is, the Faculty Evaluation Portfolio [FEP], including the Activity Insight file) and Performance Evaluation Summary; personnel documents; and any additional relevant materials.
Note: Faculty members have a right to see and respond to the contents of their school and college files, except for confidential letters of evaluation when the right to review has been specifically waived by the faculty member. Faculty members may petition the Director or the Dean to have material removed from their school or college file.
3. Faculty-Maintained Files
Faculty members must inform the Director of their activities and achievements in the form of materials that will become the basis for the annual evaluation related to merit salary adjustments, and also for evaluations concerned with reappointment and progress toward tenure, promotion, the awarding of Continuous Appointment, post-tenure review, and honors and awards for which the faculty member may be nominated. Information about individual faculty activities and achievements is conveyed in bodies of documentation (files) that the faculty member maintains and provides. They are:
- the annual report of faculty accomplishments, called the Digital Measures Activity Insight™ file. - This record is initiated by the faculty member upon commencing employment at the university in order to provide a brief but continuous record of the faculty member's activities, accomplishments, and honors. This record is updated and submitted yearly as part of the annual review of faculty for determining merit salary adjustments. Copies are to be kept on file by the GKSOM in the Director's Office, and by the individual faculty member. This form is available for online completion on at: https://academicaffairs.unl.edu/honors-development/digital-measures
- the Annual Faculty Evaluation File (called the Faculty Evaluation Portfolio, or FEP) - This file, maintained by the individual faculty member, is submitted yearly as part of the annual review of faculty for determining merit salary adjustments and, in addition to a copy of the annual report of faculty accomplishments---that is, the Activity Insight™ file---it contains additional materials deemed relevant by the Glenn Korff School of Music to its faculty member’s remuneration and status. For a detailed description of current requirements for this file, see Appendix A.
- the Faculty Career Achievement File - In addition to maintaining a current curriculum vitae (CV), the materials assembled in reappointment and annual evaluation files, including all student evaluations, shall be preserved by the faculty member and shall cumulatively form the core of the Faculty Career Achievement file. These materials shall form the basis for the documentation provided by the faculty member for evaluations concerning reappointment, progress toward tenure, promotion, awarding Continuous Appointment, post-tenure review, chaired professorships, and honors and awards for which the faculty member may be nominated.
- the Reappointment File - Reappointment files are prepared annually by probationary faculty in tenure-earning positions, and in the final year of an appointment period by lecturers and senior lecturers, and in the year before the final year of an apointment by professors of practice and research professors. They are primarily constituted from the materials accumulating in the career achievement file that document achievement in the areas of teaching, research/creative activity, service, and outreach. For probationary faculty in tenure-leading appointments, the reappointment files are themselves cumulative and must contain the appropriate documentation and executive reviews from all years leading to the tenure and promotion decision. The reappointment process is separate from those of annual evaluation and of tenure and promotion; however, it may be possible to submit one file for consideration both for reappointment and for the annual evaluation (a decision made by the Director and the Executive Committee). Untenured faculty members in tenure-leading lines should be advised of the University’s tenure and promotion documentation requirements so that they may follow them in assembling their materials for reappointment each year. For a detailed description, see Appendix B.
- the Promotion and Tenure File - Candidates for tenure and promotion must provide materials in accordance with the Documentation Request form that emanates from the office of the Senior Vice- Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Candidates must refer to the current Documentation Request form (available on-line at the website of the Office of the Senior Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs) and Appendix C of this Handbook for the specific requirements and guidelines. The request includes items within the following general categories:
- Professional summary and employment history
- Evidence of and analysis of the quality and significance of quality and effectiveness of teaching
- Evidence of and analysis of the quality and significance of scholarly, professional, and creative activity, including awards, prizes and other noteworthy recognition
- Evidence of and analysis of the quality and significance of professional and institutional service, outreach activities, and related recognitions
It is the responsibility of the individual being considered to examine these materials and make sure that they are complete. The Director may ask the faculty member to certify that the material being presented is complete. The faculty member should seek the advice of their assigned mentor and may seek the advice of the Director on the assembly of the tenure file to ensure that no important information has been overlooked.
Note: Promotion and tenure files are only partially constituted from materials provided by the faculty member that originate in the cumulative career achievement file and the annual reappointment files. Other materials in the promotion and tenure files are generated by the Director, the Dean, and outside evaluators, and some of these may in some cases be bound by confidentiality agreements that forbid faculty access to them. See the College by-laws for more elaboration on faculty rights in this regard.