Peer Review Committee Membership & Procedures

Posted: 2/26/09

In 1999 the faculty adopted the process whereby all eligible tenured and tenure-track faculty are automatically nominated to the Peer Review Committees (PRCs). This is reflected in the current ARPT. The following is presented to clarify the process for forming PRCs and establishing their final membership.

1. All qualified tenured faculty are automatically nominated to the PRC for which they are eligible. Each PRC is responsible for evaluating multiple groups of candidates as appropriate in a given year.
   • Retention, Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor if applicable PRC:
     1st & 2nd Year Tenure-Track Candidates
     3rd - 5th Year Tenure-Track Candidates
     6th Year Tenure-Track Candidates up for Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor
   • Post-Tenure Review, Tenure and Promotion to Professor if applicable PRC:
     6th Year Tenure-Track Candidates up for Tenure and Promotion to Professor Tenured Faculty Review
2. All qualified tenured and tenure-track faculty are automatically nominated to the PRC for Full- Time Lecturers.
3. Faculty may withdraw from any PRC using either a written or e-mail note to the department before, during or after the election of the committee. The department, in turn, develops the list for that particular committee to reflect those authorized to review WPAFs, and notifies the Dean’s Office of the committee membership. The Dean’s Office develops the list of who is authorized to review PAFs. The lists are retained in the respective area files and are subject to review due to any personnel practice audits or grievances concerning that year’s performance evaluation actions.
4. The membership of each committee is voted on by paper ballot.
5. The makeup of all committees is composed of all elected members minus those that withdrew in writing.
6. The Department Head calls the first meeting (“kick-off” meeting) of each committee to give them their charge. Each committee elects a Chair at this first meeting and sets their meeting schedule.
7. The Chair of each committee is responsible for notifying committee members of the period of time that they have to review and sign the files for a group of candidates (e.g., 1st & 2nd Year Tenure-Track Candidates or 3rd - 5th Year Tenure-Track Candidates) and setting the meeting date(s) at which they will discuss the candidates. Any committee member may withdraw from the committee at this point using either a written or e-mail note to the committee Chair.
   • It is the responsibility of the committee Chair to write "Withdrew" on the PAF signature sheets by the names of all committee members that withdrew from evaluating a specific group of candidates and notify the department in writing for our records.
8. At the scheduled review meeting, the committee will discuss each candidate and draft their PRC report. Any committee member that has not both reviewed the files and attended the meeting to discuss the candidates is automatically removed from the committee for that specific group of candidates. A. It is the responsibility of the committee Chair to write "Withdrew" on the PAF signature sheets by the names of all committee members that are automatically removed from the committee for a specific group of candidates and notify the department in writing for our records.
9. Once the final PRC report is prepared, those on the committee are expected to come to the department office and sign the majority comments, or submit a minority opinion.
10. If a PRC has additional groups of candidates to review (e.g., 3rd - 5th Year Tenure-Track Candidates or 6th Year Tenure-Track Candidates up for Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor), the Chair is responsible for proceeding as previously described for each group of candidates.
    • All elected committee members minus those that withdrew in writing prior to the committees first meeting are eligible to participate in the review of each additional group of candidates.

Handling Emergencies

If a faculty member has reviewed all the files but has an emergency that requires them to miss the meeting at which the PRC report is written, they may review and sign the report upon their return if they agree, or if the PRC member disagrees with the comments, he or she may write a minority statement.

If there is some emergency that precludes a PRC member from signing the PRC report after both reviewing the files and participating in the discussion meeting, the department will write “unavailable for signature due to family emergency/illness” in the signature block so that the comments can be provided to the candidate by the published deadline. That member will need to sign the department copies of the comments when he or she returns to campus. Should the PRC member disagree with the comments, he or she may write a minority statement.