Procedure for Faculty Self-Evaluation for ESP Rank Promotion

All multi-year contract faculty at UNCSA are ranked. You never have to apply for Rank Promotion, although you will always have to go through a separate process of Contract Reappointment. If you do apply for Rank Promotion, the Engaged and Sustained Professoriate (ESP) system at UNCSA allows for two (2) possibilities: promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor and from Associate Professor to Professor (sometimes referred to as Full Professor).

You should discuss your intention with your Dean before you apply. If you have not done so, this would be a time to have an initial conversation with your Dean. This is a time to clarify your contractual obligations versus Engaged and Sustained Activities. You may have a more in-depth conversation with your Dean once you have completed a draft of the Self-evaluation portion of this application.

The Self-evaluation portion of the Rank Promotion application has three steps:

1. Refer to the numerical table on the application itself into which you entered your self-assessment numbers (0-4) for each area of Engaged and Sustained Activities. This will be the starting point for creating your Self-Evaluation documents. You must be at least “Good” in all three areas in order to apply for rank promotion

Your total points for assessment must not exceed:

10 points for Associate Professor
11 points for Full Professor

If you do exceed these maximums, the Faculty Rank Committee will determine which of your categories will be reviewed as “Good” or “Outstanding,” and your sum total of self-assessed numerical points will be dropped to the appropriate maximum.

2. A compressed and focused résumé document named “Engaged and Sustained Résumé – Your Last Name” should be created. This document chronologically lists and organizes (without any further details) only your Engaged and Sustained Activities in the three ESP categories. Do not place your full CV here. There is a place later in the packet for your full CV.

3. A Narrative explanation of your Engaged and Sustained Activities over your current and previous UNCSA contracts or focus on no more than the last ten years of activities (you may make passing reference to a previous time frame, but the focus should be recent) in all 3 areas of Teaching, Creative Activity/Research and Service. You must discuss all three areas in your narrative and why you chose “Good” or “Outstanding” in each. This section must not exceed 10 pages.

Explanation of the Three Steps of the Self Evaluation

Application
Look at the Definitions and Sample Criteria for ESP Rank Promotion document of the Rank Promotion materials so that you are clear about what each level of assessment means:

Fails to Meet Criteria at This Time – 0 points
Poor – 1 point
Satisfactory – 2 points
Good – 3 points
Outstanding – 4 points.

As you begin the application, you must notate, numerically, in each of the three areas of Engaged and Sustained activity “Good” or “Outstanding”: Creative Activity/Research, Teaching and Service. This means that you are evaluating activities that are not part of the usual and expected fulfillment of duties under your contract.

If you are applying for promotion to:

Associate Professor: You must name two areas in which your Engaged and Sustained Activity is least “Good,” and one area in which your Engaged and Sustained Activity is “Outstanding.” Numerically, you cannot self-assess at more than 10 points.
(Full) Professor: You must name one area in your Engaged and Sustained Activity as at least “Good,” and two areas in which your Engaged and Sustained Activity is “Outstanding.” .Numerically, you cannot self-assess at more than 11 points.

Self-Evaluation
The Self-Evaluation Section contains two documents: “Engaged and Sustained Resume” and “Self-Evaluation Narrative.” The Self-evaluation documents are the only opportunity you have to list the specific activities and to provide supporting discussion. These two documents should articulate why your Engaged and Sustained work is Good or Outstanding in each of the three areas of activity.

1. Engaged and Sustained Résumé
Please create a résumé separate from your CV that organizes your professionally-related ESP activities into the three areas of development. Name the new document: “Engaged and Sustained Résumé – Your Last Name.

Example: Engaged and Sustained Résumé – DeMille

Only include those activities that fall within the definition of Engaged and Sustained. Use this as the basis for the narrative portion of your application. The Engaged and Sustained Resume provides structure for your narrative. The activities listed should be limited to the past ten years, except in the most condensed passing reference.

Place each of the two documents above into the appropriate folder in the Rank Promotion packet. See “Packet Requirements for Rank Promotion” for details.

2. Self-Evaluation Narrative
The Self-Evaluation Narrative should support the activities listed in the Engaged and Sustained Resume. The narrative should not exceed 10 pages. In the Narrative portion of the application, you will demonstrate how the Engaged and Sustain Activities listed in the Engaged and Sustained Résumé meet the expectations of ESP. You may place materials in the Supplemental Materials Section to support your narrative.

The Self-evaluation documents are the only opportunity you have to list the specific activities and to provide supporting discussion. These two documents should articulate why your Engaged and Sustained work is “Good “or “Outstanding” in each of the three areas of activity.

3. General Guidelines
In the Self-evaluation section of the application, you are invited to talk about how you regard yourself as an artist, crafts person, technician, scholar, educator or as an artist/educator, pursuing goals for yourself in your own right.

You must also be able to envision how you regard yourself within and as a part of UNCSA.
You must ask at whatever point in your career you find yourself, how your work fits in, fulfills and/or expands our mission and institution.
As a candidate, you must explain how the arc of your Sustained work and heightened commitment reaches beyond the boundaries of UNCSA into collateral communities, local, regional, national or international neighborhoods.

To be Engaged and Sustained, the work can be done within a number of scales of influence, participation or leadership. You must articulate your own perception of that progression.

As you review your previous activities and look forward to how you envision living your professional life in and connected to UNCSA, you will often find that there are leading areas or guiding principles or organizing skill sets that reflect your interest. Not everything you have done will fall into the category of Engaged and Sustained Activity. The Self-evaluation portion of the Rank Promotion application is an opportunity, therefore, for you to revisit the arc of your work past, present and future. It is an opportunity to reflect upon how you have chosen to live as an artist and educator and how you wish to construct your paths moving forward.

As you review, you should refer to what Ernest Boyer calls “a choice of how to live as well as a choice of career.” Following this line of thought, educators should construct themselves with the qualities of good workers, crafts people or artists: integrity, persistence, courage, humility, knowledgeability, consideration. In short, “good character.”

What does this notion of the individual have to do with self-evaluation? Good character emphasizes quality over quantity, process over product, commitment over required fulfillment and support over competition.

It is the responsibility of the candidate to state the case in the Narrative as to why the activities should be considered “Outstanding” or “Good” in all three categories. It is not enough to simply list activities performed over time; which is the function of the Engaged and Sustained Resume. A Self-Evaluation Narrative that simply lists activities will be returned to the applicant, and the application will be rendered null and void.

It is the function of the Narrative to clearly explain why the candidate has chosen the specific activities as Engaged and Sustained. The candidate should remember the Narrative will be evaluated by individuals from many different points of view: outside evaluators, peers from different schools and administrators.

A candidate should review UNCSA website documents on the definitions of Engaged and Sustained activity, evaluation rubrics and samples, as well as the explanations of UNCSA’s rank system that are being sent to external reviewers. The Faculty Rank Committee (FRC), the representative from our school to the FRC themselves, and Office of Faculty Affairs are all available to provide whatever support the faculty need.