5/7/99
TO: New Brunswick Faculty Members
FROM: New Brunswick Faculty Council Personnel Policy Committee
Re: Preparation of Form 1a (or b,c,d,e) for reappointment and promotion decisions

Dear colleague,

this communication is intended for new faculty and faculty expecting to go through the promotion process. The New Brunswick Faculty Council, an elected faculty governance body, has approved this "Dear colleague" letter as a service to its constituency during its meeting of 5/7/99. While the information compiled in this letter has been provided in good faith, the NBFC cannot accept direct responsibility for any errors or omissions. Please also note that the University Administration has not reviewed this letter.

At Rutgers, prior to reappointment or promotion, your department chair is required to submit a document that serves as a master record of all your activities -- scholarship, teaching and service-- known as Form 1a, "Recommendation Information Form for General Teaching/Research Faculty". (Variations across units are Form 1b "Recommendation Infor mation Form for Faculty with Appointments in the Creative or Performing Arts", Form 1c "Recommendation Infor mation Form for County Agents", Form 1d "Recommendation Infor mation Form for Extension Specialists" and Form 1e "Recommendation Infor mation Form for Clinical Faculty). For reappointment, this form is submitted by the Chair near the beginning of the Fall semester of a candidate's 3rd year of appointment. The tenure process takes place following a new faculty member's fifth year, when your Chair and you prepare a packet of materials (including the appropriate Form 1: a, b or c) that make up your promotion dossier.
Attached to this will be the other material you submit--publications, a personal statement if you choose, teaching materials or a teaching portfolio--and, in cases of tenure and/or promotion, letters from outside evaluators. (For the official details of this and all other parts of the process, you can consult the guidelines, "Academic Reappointment/Promotion Instructions" in your department office).

To ensure that the preparation of Form 1 proceeds smoothly, we recommend that you be fully informed about the data that will appear on the form, and that you take steps to guarantee that all information is available and accurate beginning from the time you arrive at Rutgers. In the following we outline some actions by faculty who have been through the tenure and promotion process. Some of these steps will also be useful in helping you to come up with a list of outside evaluators.

During your first semester

 
• Attend any orientation meetings arranged by your department and/or college. Advice about the tenure process will be covered in many of these meetings. If you have not been contacted about future orientation meetings, ask your Chair whether any are planned.
• Ask for a copy of the current Form 1, if you have not already been given one. You may be able to get a copy on disk or download one. At least every semester, update the information you have already entered (additional publications, articles submitted, articles in press, books submitted, works in progress; classes taught, enrollment figures for each course; colloquia presented, participation in professional meetings; student supervision; department and college committees, etc.). Check to see whether changes have been made to the form itself as well.
• Begin to put together a "teaching portfolio" that includes information about the courses you teach, your goals for the courses, copies of syllabi, assignments, and so forth. The Teaching Excellence Center may be helpful in the latter task. Your department will also be the source for teaching evaluation data. Information about courses is especially necessary when you have redesigned or created a new course.

 
• Ask whether your department has a "mentoring committee". If not, form your own informal advisory committee.
• Make certain that you meet with your department chair once every year, as regulations require, to review your progress. Ask for advice with respect to your publication trajectory, whether your teaching evaluations are good/excellent, how your teaching compares to others in the department, how to improve your teaching, whether you are under- or overloaded with departmental/college/university committees.
• Ask more senior colleagues who have been promoted recently whether you may look at or have a copy of their promotion materials.

Keep everything, no matter how trivial it seems. Some of this information will be required on the Form 1, some of these items you will want to include as part of your promotion dossier, and some of these items will suggest names of potential evaluators to you. Much of it will be forgotten if it is not written down and filed away. A partial list follows:

 
• Letters from journal editors asking for reviews
• Letters from undergraduates thanking you for research opportunities
• Invitations to present colloquia
• Reprint requests
• Course evaluations
• Course syllabi, goals, enrollment, grade distributions, rosters
• List of all committees including ad hoc committees
• Guest lectures--at Rutgers, at other institutions
• Partial teaching credit--guest lectures, proseminars
• List of potential referees--from editorial boards, those who request reprints, signed peer reviews, colloquium speaker contacts. Make a note of the credentials for each person (full tittle, Editorial Boards, awards) as these credentials are considered along with the person's recommendation letter.
• All graduate students supervised--as chair of Master's, Qualifying Exam, or dissertation Committees; as member of the same. Provide dates for these (for example, Joe Smith, Chair of Qualifying Exam Committee, completed April 1999).
• All undergraduate students' independent work supervised--student name, semester and tittle of project if appropriate.
• Awards that you have received
• Awards your students (graduate and undergraduate) have received, again with dates given
• Grants received (internal and external)
• Grants applied for
• Reviews of grants (even unsuccessful, unfunded, but positive reviews)
• Accurate and up-to-date list of all publications and status of these publications (draft, revision, accepted pending revision, in press)
• Community service--talks to clubs and K-12 schools, participation in school boards, curriculum work in the public schools, township committees
• Social Science or Science Citation Indices pages (for others' reference to your work)
• Book reviews of your books
• Press reports about your work
• Grant review panel names, internal and external

 
• Everything is entered in reverse chronological order
• The 3rd person, rather than 1st, must be used such as: the candidate, he/she...
• Use the "Works in Progress" section. You may update information on the form at some point in the process, but only for items that are already included.
• Make sure you have no "missing semesters". Is your teaching represented accurately semester by semester? Did you take a FASP leave or unpaid (personal, family) leave? Did you "buy out" of a course with grant funds? Did you receive course release time for administrative duties? Make sure all of this information is clearly and fully indicated.
• Completing a promotion dossier can be a daunting task, primarily because it is a "first". Give yourself enough time to do a thorough job, to include everything, and to double check all details.