Faculty and Librarian Annual Reviews

Scope

All academic appointees who hold tenure-track, lecturer, professor of practice, clinical or research appointments.

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Policy Statement

1. All academic appointees shall receive annual merit and salary reviews.
2. Academic appointees of less than full rank and probationary appointees shall also receive annual career progress reviews on their progress toward tenure and/or promotion. Career progress reviews may be conducted separately or at the same time as annual merit and salary reviews.
3. The Board of Trustees has resolved that the procedures used in annual reviews shall:
   1. Preserve academic freedom.
   2. Protect due process.
   3. Recognize situational differences of diverse faculty.
   4. Establish professional development as a goal.
   5. Define a mechanism for initiating the in-depth review process.
   6. Incorporate existing faculty review mechanisms.
   7. Include peer review.
   8. Comply with the requirements of IC 21-39.5.
4. To assist the annual review process, academic appointees shall submit annual reports.
   1. The Academic Leadership Council Executive Committee may develop an annual report form to be used on all campuses and units, and may determine the scope, content, routing, and timing of reports, in consultation with the University Faculty Council.
   2. It is the responsibility of the Provost/Chancellor of each campus to develop the format, content, routing, and timing of annual reports for all academic appointees not covered by a university-wide report form, in consultation with the campus faculty governance body.
   3. Annual report forms shall provide for individuals to report professional activities and accomplishments during the preceding year in the areas of instructional activity, scholarship and creative work, and university and public service.
   4. Annual report forms shall also include the opportunity for individuals to volunteer additional information beyond the areas required by the form.
   5. The annual report form also may be used for purposes other than annual reviews, subject to oversight by the appropriate faculty governance body.
5. Annual merit and salary reviews shall be conducted by the principal administrator of an academic unit under procedures approved by the faculty governance body of that unit. Those procedures may include a requirement that salary adjustments be made in consultation with a faculty committee elected by the faculty or appointed by the unit’s faculty governance body.
6. Annual career progress reviews may be conducted by the principal administrator of the unit, the administrator’s designee, or by a faculty promotion and tenure committee. At the time of the review, each appointee shall be informed of matters relevant to progress toward promotion and/or tenure. The principal administrator should provide the appointee with a written summary of the career progress review.
7. Academic appointees and administrators are expected to cooperate in the review process to ensure that the files on which such reviews are based contain all relevant material and the process is conducted efficiently without undue burden being placed on the appointee.
8. Each campus may adopt its own policy for reviewing and setting salaries consistent with these guidelines. Each academic unit may adopt its own salary policy consistent with these guidelines and campus policy.
   1. Salaries shall be based on merit, inflation, recruitment, retention, and remedial equity, if appropriate. Merit has primacy among these.
   2. Because numerical summaries in student course evaluations may reflect cultural biases, and low participation rates may skew results, numerical ratings should not be used as the primary source of data for evaluating teaching. Each campus and unit faculty governance organization shall have a policy for evaluating teaching that provides for qualitative student feedback and other sources of information.
   3. The setting of salaries shall always balance two principles: rewarding comparable performance, distinction, and experience with comparable salary, and providing the support necessary to achieve the missions of the university.
   4. Salary resources may be used to remedy past inequities resulting from changing market conditions, inappropriate merit judgments, inadequate funding, discrimination, or other good cause.
   5. Annual salary increments may be made in percentages, fixed-dollar amounts, or a combination. However, salary decisions should avoid inappropriate widening of the disparities between low and high salaries that may result from the use of percentage increments.
   6. Salary policies at every level should be written and available for inspection and other appropriate uses. A unit shall report annually on salary policy implementation to the faculty in the unit.
9. An academic appointee who takes an administrative position may receive a salary supplement for administrative service, but that supplement leaves the salary base when the administrator resumes full-time faculty status. The salary base may be adjusted so that it approximates what the appointee’s salary would have been had the appointee not taken the administrative position. See ACA-08, Faculty Members Holding Administrative Positions.
10. An academic appointee who would otherwise terminate and begin receiving 18/20 plan payments may, with the approval of the Provost/Chancellor, be offered retention incentive pay in the form of a $5,000 allocation for research and professional development at age 64, or 20% base salary supplement from age 65 to 70.
11. A campus or unit may adopt salary minima, which must periodically be adjusted to account for inflation and overall unit salary raises.

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Reason for Policy

The quality and integrity of academic programs depend upon the performance of individual academic appointees. Annual reviews are important to both faculty and administrators to assess performance and progress and to provide for continued faculty development. Annual reviews also facilitate communication, openness, fairness, and faculty participation in merit-based salary decisions, and transparency concerning
progress toward promotion and tenure.

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Procedures

Procedures for implementing this policy shall be developed by each campus and each academic unit.

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Definitions

Principal Administrator: The dean, department chair, program director, or other administrative head of an academic unit or that officer’s designee.

Academic Unit: A school, department, program, division or similar entity in which one or more academic appointees hold their primary appointment.

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History

University Faculty Council, April 29, 1976; Oct. 9, 1979; April 21, 1989

University Faculty Council April 23, 1991; Board of Trustees, June 20, 1991

University Faculty Council February 9, 1999; Board of Trustees, March 26, 1999

University Faculty Council, November 12, 2019.  As part of the 2019 revisions, ACA-21, ACA-25, ACA-28, and ACA-44 were updated and consolidated. ACA-25, Annual Reports for Faculty and Librarians, was rescinded; its content has been incorporated into ACA-21, § D. ACA-28, Faculty and Librarian Salary, was rescinded; its content has been incorporated into ACA-21, § H. ACA-44, Retention Incentive Pay for Academic Appointees, was rescinded; its content has been incorporated into ACA-21, § H-7.

University Faculty Council April 23, 2024; UFC Executive Committee May 21, 2024; Board of Trustees June 14, 2024.

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