By Kayla Brown, Staff Writer
As the academic year ends, students prepare to move to different classes, while faculty and staff receive feedback from a variety of people through evaluation forms.
Faculty and staff at Susquehanna are evaluated and receive feedback on their job performance annually by their department heads or supervisors. According to Provost Linda McMillin, the review and feedback given to faculty and staff assists in deciding who gets a raise and how much they deserve.
“It’s merit-based…better job, bigger raise,” McMillin added.
The review is based on each faculty member’s performance in these three categories: classroom (teach), research (scholarship), and outside the classroom (service).
Reviews of performance in the classroom stem from student evaluations at the end of the semester and sit-ins from department heads throughout the semester. Many students, such as first-year Dakota Hornak, find the online student evaluations to be useless as they don’t feel heard.
“The options listed don’t always pertain to the class and the best way to get real information [from students] about professors is through them being able to write out their thoughts, opinions and objections to the class,” Hornak said.
McMillin explained that faculty take the students evaluations very seriously and read all of the comments they are given. When students complete an online evaluation for a faculty member four people could potentially read it: McMillin, the dean of the school, their department chair and the faculty member themself.
A few outliers do not spark anything, but when a pattern of complaints or comments surrounding a faculty member builds, the red flags go up.
McMillin said they look for three main criteria: Is there fair treatment towards the students? Were the assignments and requirements clear to the students? How quick did students receive feedback on assignments?
McMillin, a previous department head, described how she used to perform faculty reviews. Upon arriving in the classes that she was sitting in on, she mapped out where students sat and what students were called on. Following the class, McMillin showed the professor what she found to see if that is how the professor planned for things to go.
The review of each faculty member’s research is based on conferences attended or held, works that were written, published or performed, writing grants to help with funding, etc.
The review also centers on how the faculty members help the university and advisees.
For some faculty members, this includes working with a student organization. For others, this may include advising or mentoring.
Faculty are not expected to do everything listed because they each have different strengths and live off campus. However, when a faculty or staff member is not meeting expectations, there will be an investigation and they will be required to improve their performance. It will assist them in reorganizing themselves and their classes and achieving a higher level of excellence.
