A substantial percentage of your work as an AUH will be devoted to faculty and staff issues: things such as annual evaluations, educational or medical leave, and retirements/separation. What follows here are some key resources for your work with faculty and staff.

Faculty Evaluations

Annual Evaluation

Each year, the AUH will complete a written evaluation for each full-time faculty member in the areas of teaching, scholarly achievement and service. An overview of the Annual Evaluation process, including the relevant deadlines for the completion of the process, can be found in III.E.4. of the Faculty Handbook . Your department has its own guidelines for the Annual Review and likely its own process as well; e.g. some departments involve their Personnel Advisory Committee (PAC) in the process, others do not. You’ll want to review the guidelines and speak with your PAC chair about the process.

Another important element to the annual evaluation is the Faculty Anticipated Activity Plan (FAAP). In it, faculty members indicate their “anticipated activities” in all three areas of evaluation (teaching, scholarship and service) and assign percentage weights to each, which can be renegotiated during the year under appropriate circumstances. These percentage weights will be important in calculating any merit pay that is awarded for the year. Your merit pay “formula” should be detailed in your unit’s annual review guidelines. Details about the FAAP can be found in III.E.4.a.   in the Faculty Handbook .

(Do you see why Section III of the Faculty Handbook is so important?)

A great way to conceive of this two-step process is that the annual review closes out the previous academic year, and the FAAP looks ahead to the new year (and beyond). There’s no official template for the FAAP (beyond outlining activity in the three areas of evaluation), so you can customize your process to ask for more information from faculty members, such as short term/long term goals.

Initial Evaluation 

In academic years where you have a new faculty member joining the department, you will be responsible for providing the new faculty member with information concerning the academic unit evaluation procedures and criteria in the faculty member's first semester. You will also complete an initial evaluation at the beginning of the faculty member's second full semester of full-time employment at JMU. The deadline for this evaluation is the end of the third week of the second full semester (so, if your new faculty member begins in fall semester, the evaluation must be completed by the end of the third week of the spring semester). Because this deadline comes so early in the second semester, it is recommended that you do class observations and any review of scholarly progress in the initial semester. The initial review does not “replace” the annual review; the new faculty member will be reviewed with other full-time faculty at the end of the academic year, as well. The procedure and timeline for the Initial Evaluation can be found in III.E.3. of the Faculty Handbook. 

Tenure and Promotion 

The overarching definition, procedure and timeline for Tenure and Promotion can be found in III.E.6. and III.E. 7. of the Faculty Handbook. You should also check with your dean and your PAC Chair to get a copy of the College T&P Guidelines and your Unit T&P Guidelines.

The Provost’s website has copies of the Promotion and Tenure Guidelines for all colleges and academic units, but you should be sure to get the most up-to-date versions from your Dean and PAC. 

 
Administrative and Professional (A&P) Faculty Evaluations

Annual Evaluation 

A&P Faculty Evaluations follow a separate timeline and format from Instructional Faculty evaluations. For current A&P Faculty Positions, Sections 2 and 3 of the Faculty Job Description and Performance Evaluation Form should be completed between June 1-August 31 of each year and returned to HR no later than the last working day of September.  If/when the job description changes, Section 1 should be updated, signed and sent to HR.
 
The form for A&P Evaluations, along with more information about completing the sections, can be found on the HR site.

Adjunct/Part-Time Faculty Evaluations

The procedure for evaluating adjunct faculty was developed in the spring of 2019 by a small task force of AUHs who conducted research into best practices from other institutions, created a proposal, and circulated it for feedback from AUHs and deans. The policy, approved in July 2019 by the deans and provost is below. All adjuncts should be evaluated based on this policy beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year. After the first year of implementation, the policy will be reviewed to see how it is working.

Policy for Adjunct Faculty Teaching Evaluations

  1. Adjunct faculty must receive a written teaching evaluation at least every other semester of teaching, but not more than once per year, from the academic unit to which they are assigned.
    • Adjunct faculty shall be evaluated as excellent, satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The academic unit head (AUH) must develop the minimum requirements for each rating. The adjunct faculty member's overall performance must be evaluated as acceptable or unacceptable. The criteria should be shared with the adjunct faculty upon initial hire and upon subsequent revisions. 
    • The timing of the evaluation shall be determined by the AUH.  
  2. The AUH or designee will review all syllabi to ensure conformity with SACSCOC and JMU requirements and with academic unit/program guidelines, if applicable.
  3. During the initial semester of employment at JMU, adjunct faculty must have a peer observation of teaching conducted by a full-time faculty member in at least one assigned course section unless an exception is noted below.
    • The observation period should be a minimum of one contact hour, i.e. 50 minutes.
    • It is recommended, but not required, that the scheduling of the classroom observation date be determined in consultation with the adjunct faculty member and course schedule.
    • Adjunct faculty should be informed of the observation visit at least two weeks prior to the scheduled observation.
    • If the AUH determines that a peer observation of teaching is not appropriate (e.g. internships, practicums, clinical coordination), an appropriate alternative should be developed. 
    • The initial peer evaluation is not required for adjunct faculty with prior teaching experience in the academic unit, including Emeriti faculty.  
    • The Center for Faculty Innovation may serve as a resource for the AUH in the development of peer observation of teaching procedures and appropriate alternatives.  
    • The peer evaluator will submit a written summary of the observation to the AUH within two weeks of the observation.
  4. A schedule of subsequent observations of teaching by a full-time faculty member and/or the AUH will be established by the AUH, e.g., every three years.
  5. The AUH will maintain records for adjunct faculty including:
    • Written evaluation(s)
    • Syllabi for all courses
    • Student evaluations of teaching
  6. The AUH will share written evaluations of adjunct faculty with the dean at the same time that annual evaluations of full-time faculty are shared.
  7. AUHs will use the evaluation to assist in determining if adjunct faculty will be issued an adjunct teaching contract in subsequent semesters

Classified Evaluations 

Classified evaluations follow a separate timeline and format from faculty evaluations. Classified evaluations are always due to Human Resources (HR) on the last Friday of September -- so if you are new to the AUH position (and the former AUH did not complete these evaluations), this may be one of your first tasks to complete.

For an overview of the Performance Evaluation Process for Classified Employees, including the forms you need, see the following link: https://www.jmu.edu/humanresources/hrc/performance/index.shtml

Human Resources will be a great help to you in this process, and also offers trainings for Supervisors of Classified Employees. You can register for these sessions in MyMadison under class # TD1181. But if you are not able to fit in a training session, contact your HR consultant and ask for an overview of the process. They are always willing to help.

In-Band Adjustment (IBA) Submissions

In-Band adjustments allows supervisors to request a raise to the base salary (of no more than 10%) of Classified Employees and eligible 1500-hour Wage Employees for the following reasons:

  • Change in job duties and responsibilities
  • Knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA’s) - application of new skills and competencies such as education, certifications, licensures, etc.
  • Retention - (e.g., responding to salary market changes and labor market fluctuations, etc.)
  • Internal alignment - salary compression, inversion, and other internal inequities.

There are three steps to complete an In-Band request:

  • Revise the Employee’s Employee Work Profile (EWP)
  • Fill out a Personnel Action Request form (PAR)
  • Fill out a Pay Action Worksheet (PAW)

For more information about the In-Band process, see the following link: https://www.jmu.edu/humanresources/hrc/class-comp/ibas.shtml

Staff/A&P Faculty Individual Impact and Customer Service Awards

Staff and A&P faculty members may also be nominated for Individual Impact and Customer Service awards for work that goes “above and beyond.”  These are one-time stipends that are funded from departmental/college budgets, and they must be approved by the Provost’s Office.

View the Staff/A&P Faculty Individual Impact and Customer Service Awards criteria and download the Employee Recognition Nomination Form.

Human Resources (HR) 

It is important to note that every department has an HR Consultant, and he/she can be a useful resource in dealing with some of these issues. A list of HR Consultants can be found at this link: https://www.jmu.edu/humanresources/search.shtml
 
It is also useful to note that HR has additional resources, such as mediation services, that may help you in dealing with conflicts that may arise with faculty or staff.

For a full list of all HR services see this link: https://www.jmu.edu/humanresources/services.shtml

Your HR representative would also be the point of contact for questions about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), retirement/separation/termination of faculty or staff, disability accommodations, workers’ compensation, or benefits. They have a great list of Veteran Resources as well: https://www.jmu.edu/oeo/resources/veteran.shtml

Faculty Ombudsperson 

The faculty ombudsperson is an independent and neutral third party on campus for faculty members with questions, disputes or other concerns. The ombudsperson serves as a confidential consultant and referral agent, using an informal process to assist faculty members with their work-related concerns. The Faculty Ombudsperson is David McGraw, who can be contacted at mcgrawdk@jmu.edu. More details are available on the Academic Affairs website under Faculty Resources.

Title IV and Student Registration

The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships and the Office of the Registrar use the Academic Requirements Report to track student eligibility for Federal Financial Aid (Title IV Funds). Specifically, the Academic Requirements Report aligns with Title IV requirements for disbursing federal aid, it assists in the financial aid auditing process, and it is used to track students’ eligibility for financial aid based upon their course enrollment.

Under Title IV, students may only receive aid for classes that apply to their degree progress — e.g., General Education requirements, major/minor requirements, degree requirements (BA, BS, BBA etc.), and university electives up to the required number for graduation. If students are beyond the number of credits needed for graduation (120 for single degree; 150 for dual degree), Title IV will “kick in” to ensure that any credits beyond the necessary number are contributing to degree progress.

What is of critical importance in terms of your academic unit is that all course directives be filed in a timely manner, that the catalog year for each student is precise, and that your unit’s Academic Requirements section (on MyMadison) is accurate.

If you have questions about Title IV matters, you can contact

Brad Barnett, Senior Associate Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships
barnetbd@jmu.edu or at 8-2894 or

Kurt Johnson, Senior Associate Registrar
johns2ck@jmu.edu or at 8-6279

Title IX 

JMU is committed to providing an environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex. Sexual misconduct that includes sexual and gender-based harassment, sexual assault, and other forms of inter-personal violence, are forms of sex discrimination and therefore prohibited under Title IX. Title IX compliance and reporting at JMU is managed by the Title IX office. This office also oversees the university's efforts to understand the campus climate regarding sexual misconduct, and education and training campus-wide on Title IX. The following links will take you to more detailed information about all aspects of Title IX at JMU. If you receive reports of an alleged Title IX or sexual misconduct incident, you should contact the Title IX office immediately to report the incident and discuss appropriate follow-up steps that must be taken.

Separation from Employment 

Policy 2106 outlines the procedures to follow when a faculty member is leaving the university. There are a number of forms that the faculty member must complete as well as university property that must be returned and accounted for such as keys, laptops, JAC cards, etc. In addition, it is very important to secure the faculty member’s grade book for the previous academic year.

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Faculty Affairs and Curriculum
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