Performance Review of Tenured Faculty

The Board of Governors adopts the following policy concerning performance reviews of tenured faculty.[1]

1. The system of post-tenure review in the University of North Carolina shall incorporate the following principles:

a. The purpose of the review shall be to support and encourage excellence among tenured faculty by:

(1) Recognizing and rewarding exemplary faculty performance (performance that exceeds expectations);

(2) Providing for a clear plan and timetable for improvement of performance of faculty found to not meet expectations; and

(3) For those whose performance continues to not meet expectations, providing for the imposition of appropriate sanctions which may, in the most serious cases, include a recommendation for discharge consistent with Chapter VI of The Code of the University.

b. The system of review will encompass and acknowledge the importance and significance of annual performance reviews while providing for comprehensive, periodic, cumulative review of the performance of all faculty, whose primary professional responsibilities are teaching, research, and/or service.

c. The review procedure must provide for the evaluation over an appropriate period of time of all aspects of professional performance of faculty relative to the mission of the institution, college, and program. For each tenured faculty member, a cumulative review shall take place no less frequently than every five years. A review undertaken to grant tenure or to decide on promotion qualifies as such a cumulative review.

d. There must be peer involvement in the review.

e. Both the department chair/unit head and the dean must conduct an evaluative review in the cumulative review process.

f. The provost must annually certify that all aspects of the post-tenure review process are in compliance with this policy and any associated guidelines adopted by the president of the University.

g. The review process must include written feedback to the faculty member being reviewed as well as a mechanism for faculty response to the evaluation.

h. Institutional policies for post-tenure review must not abrogate, in any way, the criteria and procedures for due process and for discharge or other disciplinary action established in Chapter VI of The Code of the University.

i. While constituent institutions may wish to consider individual development or career plans for all faculty as a part of the review system, each performance review system must require such a plan for each faculty member who does not meet expectations in the cumulative review. These individual development or career plans must include specific steps designed to lead to improvement, a specified timeline in which improvement is expected to occur, and a clear statement of consequences should improvement not occur within the designated timeline.

j. In proposing its policies, each constituent institution must consider the resources necessary to support and facilitate a meaningful review system and its outcomes.

2. That within the broad principles approved in 1., above, each constituent institution will develop policies and procedures for review that will reflect the mission of the institution. Development a system of post-tenure review will require re-examination of the effectiveness of current faculty personnel policies as well as planning and program review policies.

3. That the president of the University will adopt guidelines that include training and process requirements and provide for periodic reviews to ensure compliance with this policy and the guidelines.

4. Each institution shall adopt and maintain policies for the performance review of tenured faculty that are consistent with this policy.

5. That the policies and procedures developed by each constituent institution will be effective upon review and approval by the president of the University, or his or her designee, in accordance with any regulations or guidelines adopted.

Note: “Because of the unique character and mission of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts,[2] the requirement that the institution adopt tenure policies will be satisfied at that institution based on renewable contracts. . .” (The Code). Therefore, the recommendations contained herein are not applicable to the North Carolina School of the Arts.