Faculty Evaluation Committees for College and Schools

Committee Charge

The CAHS College Faculty Evaluation Committee (hereafter, the “College FEC”) serves as an evaluating body for career evaluations, and makes recommendations regarding tenure, promotion, Emeritus status, and non-continuation of appointments. The College FEC does not consider annual evaluation files or cumulative pre-promotion files, except in instances of School-level recommendations for non-continuation. Its responsibility is to ensure that the review process is conducted in a fair and ethical manner and that final recommendations are based on sound documentation. The College FEC's conclusions must be substantiated by direct reference to material in the Faculty Evaluation File.

The College FEC keeps its deliberations, and the information contained in Faculty Evaluation Files strictly confidential. An exception to this rule is allowed if the College FEC or a member of the committee needs to report an apparent violation of WVU, College, or School procedures. In such a case, the College FEC or members may disclose to institutional officials with a need to know (e.g., the School Director, Dean, Provost, as appropriate) the information necessary to describe the violation.

Committee Structure

The  College FEC consists of five members, including two tenured representatives from each School, and one Teaching or Service faculty member from the College (at the associate rank or higher). In line with the WVU Procedures document, the method for selection of members of the College FEC is at the discretion of the Dean, though the following structure is suggested: 

• Tenured representative from each the Schools of Education and Counseling and Sport Sciences (elected in odd years; serves two-year term) 
• Tenured representatives from each the Schools of Education and Counseling and Sport Sciences (elected in even years; serves two-year term) 
• Tenured representative from School of Sport Sciences (elected in odd year; serves two-year term)
• Teaching- or Service-track representative (serves two-year term), based on the following rotation:
• School of Sport Sciences (elected in 2025-2027; serves two-year term)
• School of Education and Counseling (elected for 2027-2029; serves two-year term)

Committee Procedures

The  College FEC chooses a Chair in its initial meeting. The Chair must be a tenured faculty member on the committee—normally someone with at least one year of recent prior experience on the College FEC. Before  b eg inning their work, the College FEC meets collectively with the Dean to receive their charges and any guidance the Dean may offer. 

The College FEC employs the standards described in the WVU Procedures document, these Guidelines, and the relevant School guidelines. The College FEC makes its recommendations for promotion, tenure, and/or non-continuation of appointment to the Dean based on the evidence in the Faculty Evaluation File as forwarded, plus materials generated because of the faculty evaluation process. This includes the faculty member’s School evaluation guidelines and other evaluation criteria, letter of appointment, memoranda of understanding, annual workloads and evaluations, external reviews (if applicable), all recommendations forwarded from the School, and any rebuttals or other responses made by the faculty member.  

Recusal

The eligibility requirements for membership on the College FEC are designed to avoid conflicts of interest. In the rare event that a College FEC member has a specific conflict of interest regarding the evaluation of another faculty file being considered by the College FEC, they must recuse themselves from the evaluation of that individual case. When this proviso affects the chair of the Committee, another member serves as acting chair for that single deliberation. When an individual recuses themselves from the committee, they cease to be a member of the committee during the review and decision-making process for that deliberation.

Verification of Committee Votes and Recommendations
Each evaluation is signed by all members of the College FEC to verify the vote and recommendation, regardless of their affirming or dissenting opinion on the committee’s recommendation (as the letter being signed would indicate the count of the vote). However, if a member has recused themselves during a vote, they do not sign because they ceased to function as a member of the Committee during the recusal. In place of a signature, the term “Recused” should be written.

Electronic versus In-Person Participation
Because of its importance in promoting faculty development and achievement, the deliberations of the College Committee are expected to involve the full participation of every member. Although the physical presence of each member is ideal, at the joint discretion of the Dean and the committee chair, a minority of the members may participate remotely by electronic means. Remote members must be able to participate fully – that is, they must be able to see and hear what the physically present members see and hear, and they in turn must be seen and heard by the physically present members. In rare instances (e.g., University campus closure, public health crisis), the Committee can fully conduct its charge remotely.

Confidentiality must be maintained when any member of the committee is participating remotely. In the video conferencing platform being used (e.g., Zoom or Microsoft Teams), all security features must be activated to include: setting up a Waiting Room, password-protect meeting access, lock meetings once they start, and disabling private chat. Recording of sessions must not be allowed. Participants must keep their video open and be in a secure location with no other people present or able to hear/see the sessions.