Faculty Handbook: Faculty Personnel Process

The Faculty Services Office manages the personnel processes for faculty, working in the Division of Academic Affairs under the leadership of the Dean of Faculty and the Provost. The Director of Faculty Services, Kyeanna Bailey (kbailey@jjay.cuny.edu), collaborates with the Dean of Faculty to manage faculty matters around hiring, appointments, reappointments, tenure/CCE and promotions, as well as other faculty-related issues (e.g., peer teaching observations; student evaluations of the faculty; junior faculty mentoring program). For information specific to part-time faculty, see: https://new.jjay.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/Teaching-Adjunct-Handbook-10-13-23.pdf.

Faculty Services is charged with maintaining faculty personnel files and managing the personnel processes and procedures. They maintain a website with a rich array of resources and information around the personnel processes and timing, key forms, and other faculty concerns, such as fellowship leaves (https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/faculty-services). In addition, they update the Faculty Personnel Process Guidelines, which provide guidance and information for faculty on all aspects of the personnel process. They are updated regularly, as needed.

For each full-time faculty member, the College maintains an official personnel file, which is composed of two separate files: the personal file (currently in electronic format in FIDO 4.0, accessible from computers  on campus or via VPN only: https://fido4.jjay.cuny.edu/) and the administrative file. The personal file contains the Form Cs, publications, CVs, teaching observations, annual evaluation reports, student evaluations of the faculty, and other documents related to a faculty member’s professional position at the College. Nothing that an employee has not seen is placed in the personal file. Faculty members should review and update their personal files regularly (e.g., replace drafts with published manuscripts), as appropriate (e.g., faculty cannot remove annual Chair’s evaluations). The administrative file contains only materials connected with a faculty member’s initial employment, promotion and/or tenure. This includes items such as letters from external evaluators and internal committee vote counts. An employee does not have access to their administrative file. See Article 19 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (commonly referred to as the contract) for additional details on personnel files (https://www.psc-cuny.org/contract/article-19-personnel-files).

Individual departments should maintain files on part-time faculty members, to include a current CV, contact information, teaching observations and annual evaluation reports. Academic Affairs retains records pertinent to multi-semester appointments and to promotions.

Full-time faculty in professorial titles, full-time doctoral lecturers, lecturers and instructors are subject to annual reappointment until tenure or the certificate of continuous employment (CCE) is achieved. During their first full year of service (in spring semester), faculty are considered for reappointment to their second year. For this review, only their CV, peer teaching evaluation and student evaluations of teaching would be reviewed. In subsequent years, faculty are considered for reappointment during the fall semester for the following academic year. When faculty are granted tenure, it is effective September 1 of their eighth continuous year of appointment. Lecturers are granted CCE effective September 1 of their sixth continuous year of appointment. The title of full-time instructor is typically a temporary appointment for individuals offered a tenure-track position, but who have not yet fulfilled certain requirements (e.g., completion of PhD). This position is limited to no more than four successive annual reappointments.

For annual reappointments without tenure or CCE, faculty personnel files are reviewed by the Department’s P&B Committee and then the relevant College FPC Review Committee. These committees recommend to the president reappointment or non-reappointment based on the faculty member’s record. The president sends written notice of their decision on or before December 1st (or May 1st in the case of first reappointments).

Part-time faculty must receive written notice of reappointment (to include title and hourly rate) or non-reappointment by December 1 in the Fall semester and May 1 in the Spring semester. Multi-semester teaching appointments for part-time faculty would be reviewed by the hiring Department’s P&B Committee. Additional information is available here: https://new.jjay.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/Teaching-Adjunct-Handbook-10-13-23.pdf.

Faculty should refer to the most up-to-date Faculty Personnel Process Guidelines (FPPG) for more detailed information on the faculty personnel action process, which will be available on the Faculty Services website and emailed to faculty up for action each year (https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/full-time-faculty).

Part-time faculty:  The adjunct promotional reclassification policy and process information is available on the Faculty Services website. The FPPG includes additional information on the process and qualifications for reclassification (faculty services-adjunct faculty). Information on multiple semester appointments can be found here: https://new.jjay.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/Teaching-Adjunct-Handbook-10-13-23.pdf.

Full-time faculty:  The flow chart below illustrates the process for full-time faculty personnel action reviews. Faculty members typically have much of the summer to prepare their personnel files, which close the second Friday in September. Once Faculty services has ensured files are in good order, Department Personnel & Budget (P&B) committees can begin reviewing files. Once they have voted on their Departmental candidates, the Faculty Personnel Review Committees can begin reviewing files of faculty within their assigned disciplines. There are four review committees: A, B, C and D.

          Review Committee A: AMU, DIS, ENG, HIS, MLL, PHI
          Review Committee B: AFR, ANT, ECO, LLS, LPS, POL, SOC
          Review Committee C: CRJ, MTH, PSY, SCI
          Review Committee D: PAD, SFEM, LIB, CSL, HPE, SEEK

Positive review committee votes go directly to the President for a final decision. Negative votes are eligible for appeal by the candidate. If appealed, the file is reviewed de novo by the Faculty Personnel Appeals Committee, which then makes a recommendation to the President for determination. The Appeals Committee is comprised of members elected from the four Review Committees (see FPPG for more details). If negative, the candidate may submit a written appeal directly to the President for a final decision. More detailed information, including guidance for candidates, is available in the FPPG.

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Full-time faculty are evaluated with regard to their total academic performance, including teaching effectiveness; student guidance and mentorship; research, scholarship and creative work; service to the Department, college and University; professional activities in their field of specialty, and so on. The following describes some of the specific evidence that is collected to help assess faculty performance. Refer to the current FPPG for the most updated guidance for faculty. Part-time faculty are evaluated according to their teaching effectiveness within their hiring departments, including for multi-semester appointments and promotional reclassification  (see faculty services-adjunct faculty and https://new.jjay.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/Teaching-Adjunct-Handbook-10-13-23.pdf).

Per the PSC-CUNY contract, all full-time faculty must be observed teaching by a full-time faculty member for the length of at least one class period every semester until tenured, or per Chair or self-request (e.g., prior to applying for promotion to Full Professor). Following the observation, the observer should discuss the observation with the observee to provide constructive feedback. The completed Observation Report (signed by the observer and Department Chair) and Post-Observation form documenting the discussion (signed by observer, observee and Chair) should be completed and submitted in a timely manner. Observees have the right to write a rebuttal if they disagree with the observation report. Departments submit completed forms to the Provost’s office and Department Chairs upload the completed forms to faculty members’ FIDO personnel files for consideration in the faculty personnel process.

Part-time faculty are observed within hiring departments following PSC-CUNY guidelines. For details, see: https://new.jjay.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/Teaching-Adjunct-Handbook-10-13-23.pdf

Each semester, usually within the last month of classes, student evaluations are administered electronically for every class. These are the Student Evaluations of the Faculty (SEOF). During this process, students are encouraged to anonymously evaluate the course and the instructor’s effectiveness. To increase the response rate, faculty should set aside 15 minutes of class time for students to complete the evaluations. It is an opportunity to acquire constructive student feedback. Faculty receive a notification during the following semester to review student evaluations from the preceding semester. While they have many limitations, review of student evaluations can provide some insight into ways faculty can improve their teaching skills, as there is always room for growth. It is important to take the student evaluation process seriously, as it is one of the (many) factors included in the faculty personnel process. In addition, many faculty members solicit mid-semester feedback from students to assess progress in the course and implement mid-semester “course corrections”, based on student feedback, to improve student outcomes and support teaching development.

The Committee on Student Evaluation of the Faculty website provides information on the committee that oversees the procedure and instrument, including committee membership. For questions about the instrument or work of the Committee, their email address is: seof@listserver.jjay.cuny.edu.  The Faculty Services SEOF website provides guides and information for faculty about SEOF in relation to the personnel process. Their email address is seof@jjay.cuny.edu for questions about SEOF in your class.

Full-time faculty should update their CVs and Form Cs annually to reflect their current, cumulative body of scholarship for the personnel process (see Form C and CV above). As per the FPPG, the Form C also encourages faculty to provide some objective measure of the impact of their scholarly outputs (e.g., rejection rates for journals, citations for articles or other publications, reviews of their books) to assist reviewers in evaluating the impact of their work. This may be particularly helpful and salient for promotion to Full Professor.

In addition to listing works on their CVs and Form Cs, faculty should upload electronic copies of their scholarly output into FIDO annually. In some cases, it is not possible to upload the relevant product (e.g., a published book) – perhaps only a link is available. The College librarians (or publishers) can be helpful in finding electronic access to such works and in those cases, faculty might instead upload a document listing full-text links to the relevant document(s), which can also be provided on their CV and Form C. However, it is good practice to upload publications in full to the extent possible (e.g., final galley proofs of book manuscript along with a scan of the published book cover). It is recommended that faculty do not remove prior scholarship from their personnel file, as it is a cumulative record, except when replacing an out-of-date work with a newer work (e.g., a paper previously under review has been published; replace draft with published version).

Part-time faculty interested in promotional reclassification should review the guidelines (link below) and consult with the Department Chair of their hiring department. Scholarship consistent with what is expected at the same, full-time rank will be an important consideration.  Consult the guidelines for more details on criteria and how to apply (faculty services-adjunct faculty).

At least once each year, each full-time faculty member (except tenured Full Professors) shall have an evaluation conference with the Department Chairperson or a member of the Department’s P&B assigned by the Chairperson. At his or her discretion, the Chairperson may also hold an annual conference with tenured Full Professors. At the conference, the faculty member’s total academic and professional performance shall be reviewed both for the current year and cumulatively to date from the faculty member’s initial appointment. Following this conference, the Chairperson or the assigned member of the P&B shall prepare the Annual Conference Report form as a record of the discussion for inclusion in the faculty member’s personal file. In addition to evaluating the faculty member’s performance in various areas, the form provides the opportunity to document specific goals and expectations. For additional information, see Article 18 of the PSC-CUNY Contract and Section 5.01 of the Manual of General Policy. Annual Conference Report forms can be found here: Faculty and Chairs Forms & Documents.

Part-time faculty, particularly those in multi-semester appointments, are also reviewed in their hiring departments. See: https://new.jjay.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/Teaching-Adjunct-Handbook-10-13-23.pdf.

Full-time faculty members submit/upload their CVs for review at each reappointment. The CV should thus be up-to-date and consistent with the information provided in their Form Cs. CVs comport with the norms of the faculty member’s discipline and are not created specifically for the personnel process. 

The Form C is specific to John Jay’s personnel process. The form is available here Faculty and Chairs Forms & Documents, or from Faculty Services (facultyservices@jjay.cuny.edu). Detailed information on the content of the Form C is provided in the FPPG. The Form C is cumulative in nature and provides an annual opportunity for faculty members to share and reflect on their contributions and growth in teaching, mentorship, scholarship and service. In the final section, faculty provide a 5-page (or less) self-evaluation of the prior year’s progress toward tenure/promotion, which can include thoughts on goals for the coming year. In the year a faculty member is being considered for tenure and/or promotion, that self-evaluation might also include reflecting on progress and contributions over the years leading to tenure and/or promotion. It is recommended that faculty share their Form C with their Department Chair (or designated Departmental P&B member and/or Department colleagues) for feedback prior to submission/uploading. The Dean of Faculty can also provide feedback, in addition to offering Form C workshops in collaboration with Faculty Services once per semester. Faculty submit updated Form Cs annually until they achieve tenure, and then submit again in the fall they are being considered for promotion to Full Professor. Prior years’ Form Cs remain in the faculty member’s personnel file over time.

To ensure that each tenure-track faculty member has adequate guidance on the progress they are making toward meeting the standards for tenure, a rigorous, objective and thorough review of the faculty member’s progress to date will be conducted following the faculty member’s third year of service. Reviews are conducted by one of the Academic Deans serving as members of the FPC, in the beginning of the fourth year of service, after the faculty personnel file has closed. (Deans will not review faculty members assigned to their review committees.) The personnel file at the time of the faculty member’s consideration for reappointment to the fifth year will be the body of information that informs the Dean’s review. The Dean’s Memorandum of Review, which is added to the faculty member’s personnel file, will give faculty members an understanding of their progress in meeting the College’s expectations for tenure. Faculty members have the opportunity to read the Memorandum and initial it for their file, to discuss it with their Chairperson and the Dean, and to include in their personnel file any comments they have concerning the Memorandum.

Faculty Services produces guidance for faculty and Chairs that includes information on external evaluations for tenure and promotion actions. Please refer to the Faculty Services website for the most up-to-date FPPG. Briefly, faculty must notify the Provost by March 15 in a given year of their intention to apply for promotion that fall. Tenure and/or Promotion candidates and their Chairs (or Provost/Provost designee if candidate is a Chair) confer about the selection of potential external evaluators. (When a candidate is applying for promotion to Full Professor, evaluators should be at the level of Full Professor.) The Chair reaches out to confirm that eligible evaluators will participate and submit their evaluation in a timely manner. Chairs (or Provost/Provost’s designee for Chair candidates) then submit names and addresses of 4-6 potential evaluators for each candidate up for tenure and/or promotion to Faculty Services (6 names are preferred, just in case, because the minimum required for an action is 4). Their letters will be due in the summer (generally in early August).  Candidates must submit their packet of evaluation materials to be sent to external evaluators to the Provost’s office by approximately Apr 15-22. Faculty Services staff monitor the timely receipt of external letters and troubleshoot as needed.