Tenure Summit Minutes Summer 2013

The reform of the tenure process is the product of Valencia's shared governance process. All matters concerning tenure are endorsed by the Faculty Association and approved by the College Learning Council. The development of the tenure process relied on highly collaborative 'Tenure Summits' involving all the stakeholders. These summit meetings are a dynamic, open collaborative decision-making forums, where difficult issues are resolved expediently.

Tenure Summit Summary May 30, 2103 West Campus, Special Events Center

Minutes

Welcome by College-wide Faculty Association president Deidre Holmes DuBois at 10:12 a.m.

Attending: President Sandy Shugart, General Counsel Bill Mullowney, Teaching and Learning Academy Director and personnel, Interim Vice President of HR Amy Bosley, West Campus President Falecia Williams, Osceola/Lake Nona Campus President Kathleen Plinske, college-wide representation of deans and faculty (tenured and tenure-track), Faculty Council leadership, AVP Kurt Ewen, members of the College Learning Council (approximately 82 attendees)

Review of Agenda

Background on redesign: Deidre Holmes DuBois reviewed the principles of the tenure process design, including the current three-year plan with annual evaluations through the Human Resources/Dean process.

Reviewed State of Florida passing Rule 6A and read the paragraph in the legislation stating faculty need to complete at least five years (to a maximum of seven years in the case of a leave of absence) continuously and at the same college in order to be considered for tenure.
Reviewed criteria used to evaluate those eligible for continuing contracts;
Rule 6A also provides for post-tenure review using the same criteria. Post tenure reviews will be conducted for all tenured faculty. Deidre noted this will be detailed in a future discussion.

Process for Discussion & Voting: Attendees will be asked to vote on the draft of the plan presented at this meeting.
Work accomplished so far (this new system must be implemented by August 2013 for those 30 newly hired tenure track candidates):

Two surveys were administered to faculty, deans and administrators, collecting feedback on the elements that should be included in the 5-year tenure plan. Feedback was used to revise the plan. General themes included the following:

More time allowed for orientation to college and ILP development
Annual benchmarks added
Improve training of deans, panelists and TLA facilitators to improve consistency of feedback
More time for project implementation
Mentors –The infrastructure required for a formal college-wide mentor program is not currently sustainable. Deans are encouraged to continue division and discipline level mentorship relationships. It was noted that TLA facilitators and panelists are currently ILP/portfolio mentors.

A draft of the new 5-year plan has been created by Tenure Redesign Writing Team (faculty from the major campuses, TLA representatives, current TLA Director, and former TLA Director and faculty member Helen Clarke). This draft was then presented to campus and college presidents, general counsel, Faculty Council, and deans. It was also discussed with faculty at the three major campuses.

Overview of the 5 year plan draft

Y1: Candidate acclimates to the college: Y1 competency seminars, meetings with facilitators, development of learning-centered philosophy (philosophy can and often does evolve over the course of the tenure induction process), needs assessment, and future development plan.
Y2: dean convenes panel; candidate writes ILP, submits draft ILP to dean and TLA in December, and submits revised ILP to panel in spring.
Y3: Candidate implements FLOs, writes draft portfolio, and submits to panel in spring.
Y4: Candidate refines final portfolio; submits Advanced Practice Plan to dean in October and begins to implement; submits final portfolio in January.
Y5: Candidate continues to implement Advanced Practice Plan. Tenure Review Committee meets in January.
Annual benchmark discussion

Review Y-1 benchmarks

Yearly performance evaluation
Classroom observations (if applicable)
Student Assessment of Instruction (if applicable)
Service to the College

Review Y-2 benchmarks Y2 – continue advanced seminars. Draft of the ILP goes out to candidate’s dean and the TLA team.

Yearly performance evaluation
Classroom observations (if applicable)
Student Assessment of Instruction (if applicable)
Service to the College
Written feedback from campus and/or college community is collected; the dean will discuss feedback with candidate. The call for feedback in year 2 will help make the process more formative and give the candidate time to adjust his/her behavior. The current process has one summative call for feedback in the final year.