Expectations for New and *Continuing Mid-Career and Senior Faculty Members

Marriage, Family and Human Development
School of Family Life
Brigham Young University
April 11, 2000 Revised March 22, 2001; Feb 28, 2002

Scholarship

The record of scholarship should reflect a focused, systematic research agenda that is of high quality, organized around one or two coherent themes, contributes to critical debate in the field, and demonstrates project leadership and/or independent work. Since BYU hire and/or advancement in rank to associate professor at BYU, it is recommended that new and continuing senior faculty average at least one- to- two peer reviewed articles per year by the time they are considered for continuing status and/or promotion to full professor. Most of this work should appear in leading specialty journals (2nd tier) where quality and impact can be documented in one’s sub-discipline and in their field at large. Publications in high-impact, archival, generalist journals (1st tier) are highly encouraged and rewarded, with the understanding that these often compete with papers stemming from large-scale federally funded projects that are more typically accepted by these journals.

It is also recognized that sub-disciplinary standards vary. For example, papers published in higher impact journals in one sub-discipline may not equate to the rigor and effort associated with published work appearing in higher impact journals in another sub-discipline. There are also different methodological and analytical protocols. It is important that faculty members convincingly document and contextualize their work within their own national disciplinary standards and that they be evaluated accordingly.

Publications may be coauthored as per disciplinary norms, but the candidate should be lead author on at least one-third to one-half of the papers appearing in 1st or 2nd tier journals. Academic books and research monographs are also considered, and are given more weight if they are peer-reviewed. In addition, book chapters and edited volumes with leading national or international academic presses are welcome but are not weighted as heavily as journal articles in the review process since they typically do not meet journal article peer review standards (Refer to MFHD Annual Review Document -- PAR for specific accounting procedures.) Handbook – type chapters are usually given more credit. Text books are valued and evaluated on a case-by-case basis (Refer to MFHD Annual Review document for specific accounting procedures for published work).

Mid-career and senior faculty should also demonstrate significant engagement with their discipline and should maintain strong connections with national disciplinary peers. An average of about one paper per year should be presented at national or international conferences, preferably in paper symposium sessions with leaders in their field. In most cases, these presentations should lead to published work.

Faculty should view the recommendations noted above as minimum standards for quantity. Judgments about scholarship quality (in the context of quantity) will be the primary determining factor in CFS and promotion to full professor decisions, as determined by department faculty, external reviewers, college, and university evaluating entities. These entities will also assess scholarship trajectory and will determine whether it is sustainable beyond the period of review. External grant writing is encouraged and rewarded to facilitate high-level faculty scholarship. However, this is not required due to limited BYU infrastructure support for this endeavor.

Mid-career and senior faculty are encouraged to qualify for graduate faculty status in order to facilitate their research program. (See MFHD Policy on Graduate Faculty Status document for specific criteria for graduate faculty status.) Full professors with continuing faculty status are expected to continue meeting these requirements for scholarship noted above, although it is understood that heavy administrative demands in some cases may attenuate scholarly productivity and senior authored work.

Teaching

Mid-career and full professors should regularly teach upper and lower division courses in the undergraduate curriculum as well as courses that focus on their area of specialization. Teaching will be evaluated through standard student evaluations, student comments, peer review, and a review of course materials. These evaluations should demonstrate that courses are organized with clear objectives, and that students are learning core concepts, are being exposed to current information with critical thinking opportunities, are being treated with respect, and are being evaluated fairly. When problems are identified, faculty members are expected to make necessary changes to improve teaching and to document how this is being accomplished in annual stewardship reviews. Student evaluation scores, comments, and peer reviews should indicate the candidate is "very good" or better by the time a candidate applies for promotion to full professor and/or continuing faculty status.

The standard teaching load for faculty with productive research agendas (as defined above) is 3-3-2. Adjustments can be made for large class sizes with limited TA support (see MFHD Graduate Faculty Expectations document). Faculty who meet graduate faculty status criteria are required to be fully engaged in mentoring graduate students as per MFHD graduate faculty guidelines and receive credit for one course per semester, reducing their teaching load to 2-2-1. Some exceptions to this are made for faculty with heavy administrative loads, or who are working on designated projects requiring release time as approved by the MFHD chair. Mid-career and full professors with continuing faculty status are expected to continue meeting these requirements for teaching.

Citizenship

In general, promotion to full professor is reserved for faculty who have obtained national prominence and recognition in their fields. Service and engagement in the national professional arena in one’s discipline is an important criteria. Such engagement raises the visibility of BYU and demonstrates that the faculty member’s work and expertise is known, sought after, and recognized by national peers in their discipline. Evidence for national prominence can include: citation counts, service on editorial boards of respected journals, regular invitations to review for top journals, holding offices in national professional organizations, service on federal grant review committees, are but a few indicators. These indicators should be gauged in the context of faculty achievements at similar stages of their careers in similar departments at comparable institutions.

Mid-career and senior faculty should be actively engaged in departmental discourse and decision making, playing a variety of leadership and junior faculty mentoring roles to help create a strong departmental culture that promotes high teaching, research, and citizenship standards. These faculty will likely be asked to serve on more program, school, college, and university committees. Continuing mid-career and senior faculty who have continuing faculty status may also chair committees. Their service should demonstrate respect for the department, school, college and University. Good citizens show respect for program staff and maintain good collegial relationships with other faculty members.

Outreach efforts stemming from faculty disciplinary research are encouraged (but not required), particularly if they result in scholarly publications and do not detract from teaching and a solid research focus. Mid-career and full professors with continuing faculty status are expected to continue meeting these requirements for citizenship.

Review for Continuing Status and/or Promotion to Full Professor (Summary)

By the time designated for review for continuing status (usually 2nd or 3rd year of their tenure at the University) and/or promotion to full professor, senior faculty members should have demonstrated substantial ability to achieve the above-noted expectations in scholarship, teaching, and citizenship. Faculty promoted to full professor at non-research 1 institutions comparable to BYU in family/human development fields typically have 25-30 peer reviewed publications, along with book chapters and other works that meet the authorship and quality standards outlined in the scholarship section above. However, this number varies according to the number of senior authorships, the typical quality of journal outlets, and reviewer perceptions of scholarship quality and impact on the field. Regular publications in more rigorously reviewed, higher impact journals can often result in fewer publications that are required to meet the standard for promotion to full.

While numerous publications are not required for meeting continuing faculty status standards, new mid-career and senior faculty hired from other institutions should have some peer reviewed articles published (an average of 1-2 publications per year) with others under review, and others in preparation. This same minimum average is expected for continuing senior faculty seeking promotion to full professor. Course load and content should be established, and teacher evaluations should be "very good" or better, with no serious problems that need to be overcome. The candidate should have demonstrated willingness to serve on department, school, college, and university committees and be actively engaged in their fields of expertise.

New and continuing senior faculty should carefully read the college and university policy statements on faculty rank and status (available in the electronic handbook). At the continuing status and/or promotion to full professor review, an evaluation will be provided by the program, college and university faculty rank and status committees, program chair, dean, and external reviewers.

Annual Review

Each year during the annual evaluation process the MFHD Program chair and the Productivity and Annual Review Committee (PAR) will review progress toward meeting these expectations. This applies to new and continuing senior faculty. Faculty mentors for new senior faculty will also provide a short written summary, on an annual basis, of their involvement with the new faculty (as per MFHD Program and University mentor guidelines). This will be shared with the PAR committee and with the MFHD Program chair. Strengths and weakness will be communicated to faculty members in writing.

*Continuing refers to associate professors with continuing faculty status at BYU who will be considered for promotion to full professor or who have already been promoted to full professor and have continuing faculty status.