Evaluation-Professional Activities Inventory
Currently, all members of the Trinity faculty are evaluated annually. Each summer, every faculty member completes a Professional Activities Inventory available on the Dean of Faculty’s website (word; PDF) and submits it to the Dean of Faculty’s office, with a copy to the faculty member’s chairperson/director. The department chair or program director will meet with the faculty member during the fall term, as a mentor, to discuss the faculty member’s past year and plans for the next. The Dean meets with each chair to discuss any concerns of individual faculty members as well as the department as a whole.
There is space to set out a narrative of the year, the highlights and difficulties, as well categories to inventory other professional activities. The form allows for the various kinds of teaching, research, creative work, and service in which Trinity faculty are engaged. If there are any questions about how to fill out the form, department chairs can help.
PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Faculty Research and Travel
Human Resources Department
American Association of University Professors
For more than sixty years, the American Association of University Professors has acted as the authoritative voice of the academic profession in the area of standards for responsible practices by the academic community. The core of the AAUP standards is found in its 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. The procedures for carrying out these principles have been clearly elaborated in a series of policy statements and reports. The 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure has been adopted by Trinity College as its own position. A complete text of the statement is available from Diane Zannoni, Economics Department.
The local chapter of the AAUP has two officers, the President (Diane Zannoni) and the Secretary-Treasurer (TBA). Faculty can join the national AAUP and/or contribute to the expenses of the local chapter. Membership forms for the national organization are available from chapter officers.
There are two standing committees of the local chapter; new Faculty involvement is welcomed. The Economic Status Committee issues a report each fall that examines trends in Faculty salary and compensation.
There is also a Grievance Committee, which acts upon violations of the 1940 Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. The functions of the Committee are:
(1) To provide moral support to aggrieved Faculty,
(2) To act as a liaison to state and national levels of AAUP,
(3) To advise the Faculty member on possible courses of internal action, and
(4) To consider with the Faculty member what role the AAUP might play in their dispute.
Teaching Evaluations
Trinity is committed to excellence in teaching. Success in teaching is a critical aspect of annual performance evaluation and Appointments and Promotions Committee reviews. While student evaluations are only one form of evidence for successful teaching, department chairs and the A&P Committee along with other kinds of material will consider them.
The Trinity faculty has ruled that the students enrolled in them will evaluate all courses: "During each semester . . . there shall be a student evaluation of each course offered. The form of the questionnaire is left to the discretion of each department. The results from the student evaluation of each course shall be forwarded to the individual and the chair of the department." (The Faculty Manual, Appendix A, passed November 12, 1974)
Some departments have their own forms, others use an all-purpose form. Some departments distribute a printed copy of the form in-class, others use an online system. Whatever form you use, it is critically important that each faculty member allow students to fill it out under optimal conditions. The printed forms should be distributed during a class period close to the end of term. After distributing them, a faculty member should assign a teaching assistant, if available, or a responsible student to collect them, seal them in an envelope, and take the envelope either to the department secretary or the department chair. In no case should a faculty member see the forms before final grades have been submitted. Perhaps even more to the point, students should have confidence that their evaluations will remain confidential until that time. Should you choose to use online evaluations (by responding to an email inquiry sent by the Dean of Faculty’s Office on behalf of the Computing Center each semester), your students will be prompted via email to complete the evaluation at the end of the term. The incentive for students to comply and complete the evaluation is that they are unable to see their grades online until the evaluation is completed or until the Registrar’s Office mails semester grades.
Research Support
Facult Grants and Sponosored Research