PTE GUIDELINES FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION Passed by Consensus, March 30, 2005

Mission Statement

The Department of Communication’s mission is to educate effective and ethical communicators who can serve well their profession, community, and country.

Description of the Department

Students in the Department of Communication can earn five degrees: B.A. (with a foreign language), B.S., M.A. (qualitative study), M.S. (quantitative study), and Ph.D. The degrees in the department prepare student minds by nurturing critical thinking, message analysis, and articulation of ideas in interpersonal, group, and public contexts. While the service courses concentrate on skills like public speaking, group interaction, and interpersonal communication, the subject matter in 300- and 400-level classes focuses on management communication, mass communication technology (journalism, broadcasting, and web design), agricultural communication, health communication, public relations, and advertising. The department encourages internships. Our goal is to educate our students for success in their personal and professional lives. The master’s degree prepares students for a variety of roles such as teaching, training and development, and many positions in business and industry. Graduate students earn the degree with 30 credits of research methods, theory, and applications. The action-oriented doctoral degree requires courses in theory, research methods, and applications. Publications are required before the comprehensive examination. The latter is a synthesis of the candidate’s research, teaching, and practice, a scholarly work that demonstrates competence. The dissertation applies the student’s knowledge to a practical social problem for which the student’s dissertation seeks a solution. Both master’s degree and doctoral degree graduates tend to become college teachers, consultants, and professionals in business and industry.

Preamble

The Department of Communication’s Promotion, Tenure, and Evaluation policy is consistent with the college’s teaching, research, and service standards. The department PTE Committee will examine a candidate’s annual faculty reviews to justify consideration for promotion and/or tenure. Although every faculty member may not be equally strong in all three areas, the committee will seek evidence that the candidate has met minimum standards in all three areas and that the candidate indicates particular strengths in teaching and research. A. Teaching: The committee evaluates candidates for good teaching using these criteria:

1. Candidates can demonstrate active involvement in the discipline by authoring textbooks, teacher’s manuals, and instructional videos; by participation in conventions, conferences, and workshops involving pedagogy; by team-teaching with others inside and outside the

1

discipline (e.g., honors courses, women’s studies courses, etc.); and by recognitions and awards for outstanding instruction.

2. Candidates can demonstrate initiative in curriculum enhancement by developing new courses, revising current courses, or developing new programmatic areas.

3. Candidates can demonstrate teaching effectiveness with student evaluations of instruction, written comments accompanying the standardized questions, on-line or web courses for which the department received evaluations, and the annual faculty reviews by the chair of the department.

4. Candidates can provide evidence of student mentoring. Such evidence may include

academic advising, professional advising, advising student organizations, advising graduate theses and dissertations, serving on graduate committees, and assisting graduate students with instruction.

5. A candidate aspiring to promotion to full professor should demonstrate the ability to teach a variety of courses well and should serve as a resource and a model for colleagues.

6. The PTE Committee will evaluate the following materials in considering the candidate’s teaching activities: the candidate’s portfolio and self-evaluations, student evaluations (supplied by the candidate as fully as possible), peer evaluations, advisee evaluations, annual faculty reviews, evidence of professional development, and other materials like letters from former students or from others who have knowledge of the candidate’s teaching activities.

B. Research 1. Candidates must demonstrate research activity to be considered for promotion to

associate professor and must demonstrate substantial progress toward the development of a record of scholarship. The committee will evaluate the following kinds of research. The committee will seek a pattern of publication in refereed scholarly journals; book chapters or monographs; presentation of the results of original research at scholarly conferences at the state, regional, national or international levels; and invited presentations on state, regional, or national panels. Published research in scholarly books and refereed scholarly journals has the highest value. A letter from an editor promising publication is as good as having the publication in print. Under “works in progress” only items currently submitted but not yet accepted by an editor should be included.

2. The committee will seek evidence of marked achievement in the above categories for candidates for promotion to full professor. The committee will seek evidence of consistency in rate of scholarly publication over time in refereed outlets at regional, national and international levels. Finally, the committee will look for successful collaboration with colleagues and graduate students in research endeavors.

3. Evaluation: The PTE Committee will evaluate the following materials in considering a

candidate’s research/creative activities:

2

The committee will focus on data indicating the competitiveness of outlets in which the research is presented or published (e.g., the prestige and acceptance rate of the journal, the quality of the press, or the character of the scholarly conference); written reviews of the candidate’s research by peers in the department and selected reviewers from outside the university with expertise in the appropriate area(s); and apparent impact of the candidate’s research on the field (i.e., research awards, top paper designations, inclusions of articles in collections, testimony of appropriate experts, etc.).

C. Service: The committee evaluates the following kinds of service:

1. Professional Service: A candidate’s professional service may take the form of holding offices in professional or academic associations; active service on publication boards; active participation on professional committees or divisions; coordinating or participating in association programs and activities; editing professional journals and publications; and writing recommendations for jobs, internships, scholarships, etc.

2. University Service: A candidate’s institutional service may take the form of leadership or membership on university, college or departmental committees; administrative service to the university, college, or department; and campus consultation or advising activities.

3. Community Service: A candidate’s community service may significantly benefit the

university, community or state. Community service may include participating in civic or religious service organizations, bringing communication knowledge or services to organizations outside the university, and serving as a consultant to an organization or business. Service linked to departmental or disciplinary concerns are more valued than activities that may be personally fulfilling but largely irrelevant to the field of communication.

4. The PTE Committee will expect the candidate for promotion to associate professor to

have made contributions to departmental governance and maintenance and to develop patterns of service to the profession, community and university. Candidates for promotion to full professor should play a major role in departmental governance and maintenance, assume greater responsibilities in university governance, and be active in serving the community and professional organizations.

5. The PTE Committee can seek evidence of service activities through the candidate’s

portfolio and self-evaluations, through annual faculty review from the department chair and other members of the department faculty, and through assessments from those persons such as committee chairs who are in a position to evaluate the candidate’s level of activity.

D. Experience: A faculty member must have a terminal degree to be appointed to a tenure-

track position. Rare exceptions may occur in the applied areas of the program based on experience and ability.

Probationary faculty members are normally eligible to apply for promotion to Associate Professor and tenure during their sixth year of continued academic service at NDSU. Promotion and tenure decisions generally occur together.

3

E. Early Promotion and Tenure and Extensions Faculty without previous academic-relevant experience who are in their first academic position requires a six year probationary period to gain eligibility for tenure; however, faculty in this same category who have demonstrated exceptional academic accomplishments may apply for early promotion prior to the completion of the six year probationary period. Faculty with relevant professional/academic experience may earn credit toward tenure and promotion when negotiated as a provision in their original hiring contract. Two options are possible: (1) Faculty may earn one to three years of credit (maximum allowed) and then may apply for promotion and tenure in the sixth year of academic service. For example, given one year of credit, the person would apply for promotion and tenure in the fifth year of service; given three years of credit, the application would be due in the sixth year of service. (2) Faculty may be given the full six-year probationary period with the option of applying for promotion and/or tenure at any time following three years of academic service. In either option (1) or (2) above, failure to achieve tenure will lead to a terminal year contract. A faculty member may request an extension of the probationary period not to exceed three years based on exceptional personal or family circumstances at any time during the probationary period prior to the sixth year when the portfolio is due. Faculty given promotion and tenure credit are eligible for this extension. The request must be in writing and will be reviewed and forwarded sequentially with recommendation by the chair/head, dean, and Provost/VPAA to the President who will approve or deny the request. Denial of an extension may be appealed pursuant to Policy 350.4.

Although this document does not state a minimum number of years in rank, candidates for full professor require time to exhibit their scholarly prowess and their teaching acumen before being considered for promotion from associate to full.

F. Organization and Procedures 1. A departmental Promotion, Tenure, and Evaluation Committee will consist of five

faculty members starting with the tenured full professors and proceeding to the senior-most tenured associates. The committee will select its own chair by secret ballot submitted to the chair of the department. The departmental chair will not be a voting member of the PTE committee. Spouses may not serve on a PTE committee that is considering their mate, nor will that spouse play any role in the evaluation of or recommendations for the candidate.

4

2. The chair will evaluate annually all tenure-track faculty members except for a spouse who can be evaluated by the senior faculty member or the dean of the college. This annual faculty review covers the candidate’s performance in the areas of teaching, research, and service. The PTE committee evaluates untenured assistant professors in their third year of service to advise them of shortcomings or praise their strengths. In rare cases where the committee feels that the person is not going to achieve a positive tenure decision in the probationary period, they may suggest that the person move on without facing a negative decision later. This point would also be the time that the PTE committee could tell a candidate to apply for an early tenure decision.

3. During the probationary period the assistant professor is expected to teach classes as assigned, usually in the person’s area of expertise and often at the undergraduate, master’s degree, and doctoral levels. By the sixth year the assistant professor should have taught a variety of classes and probably even introduced one or more new courses for the curriculum. 4. During the probationary period the assistant professor should launch a scholarly line of research, attract grant money, or gain professional recognition as someone who has expertise in some area of the discipline needed by the department. The assistant professor should produce around 7-10 refereed publications by decision time. Fewer publications in the very top journals are better than many publications in less rigorous publications. A person could be denied promotion and tenure with many undistinguished publications or promoted with a fewer refereed publications in excellent journals.

5. Faculty members may request promotion and/or tenure by May 1 when they believe that they have met the requirements of this document. The candidate must follow the format provided annually by the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The resulting portfolio must be submitted to the departmental PTE committee including any information and materials mentioned in this document that might support the candidate’s case. The departmental committee will receive nominations until October 1 of each year. Upon receiving the portfolio, the committee will determine if the candidate has met the departmental criteria as presented. The candidate will be notified, in writing, of the committee’s recommendation by October 15. The candidate must submit any materials going forward to the College PTE Committee and to the Dean by November 1.

6. The committee will solicit external letters of evaluation in the following manner: From

lists contributed both by the candidate and the department PTE committee, the candidate and the departmental PTE Committee will agree on five individuals to whom letters will be sent by August 1 requesting an evaluation of the candidate’s scholarship. The chair of the PTE committee will draft a letter asking the evaluator to assess the candidate’s scholarly record. The chair of the PTE committee will send this letter to each evaluator along with a resume and samples of the scholarship being reviewed (selected by the candidate). Letters from the evaluators will be returned to the Department Chair, and subsequently to the candidate, for inclusion in the PTE portfolio. A denial of promotion or tenure stops the procedures at the departmental level unless an appeal occurs. A positive decision advances to the college PTE committee a separate independent evaluation by the chair of the department who has read the department’s decision.

5

7. The department chair will add a letter to the PTE committee’s written decision. That letter, shared with the candidate and the PTE committee, becomes part of the file advanced by November 1 to the Dean.

8. The department chair will be evaluated every third year by the dean of the college for a

renewable three-year term. The unrelated full professors in the department will serve as the dean’s committee to assemble information from the entire faculty about the chair’s performance.

G. Guidelines for Rank and Tenure

Temporary instructors are ineligible for promotion or tenure. The department reviews Assistant professors in their third year for the college to reveal their prospects until a tenure decision in the sixth year. Whenever a professor meets the requirements for the next rank, he or she can request promotion and/or tenure. An Assistant Professor is expected to be reviewed both for promotion to Associate and for tenure in the sixth year of service. A person entering the system with prior service can count a maximum of four years. The teaching, research, and service from another institution of higher learning will count toward promotion and/or tenure if they meet the guidelines below.

1. Guidelines for moving from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor.

The Department of Communication discourages Assistant Professors from counting any conference papers except competitive papers from national and international conferences. Assistant professors should avoid state publications, edited books, and textbooks because they distract from the following items that will count toward a promotion and tenure decision. Assistant professors should have a clear research agenda that is supported by a publication record consistent with these guidelines. A minimum of 7-10 publications with a minimum of three publications in journals listed in the International Scientific Index. The remaining four to seven publications can be refereed articles published in non-ISI regional, national or international journals or an invited chapter in an edited work. A scholarly book by a publisher of scholarly books (not vanity press) counts the same as two publications of any type. The candidate for promotion and/or tenure must be among the first three authors in a published, multi-authored article or book. A major grant over $200,000/year counts the same as two national ISI journal publications. A grant of $100,000-199,999/year counts the same as one national ISI journal publication. A grant under $99,999/year counts the same as two regional, refereed publications.

6

2. Guidelines for moving from Associate Professor to Full Professor. The candidate desiring promotion from associate professor to full professor should be recognized as a leading scholar in his or her area of publication. A minimum of 7-10 refereed publications since achieving rank of Associate professor with a minimum of five in ISI journals. The remaining five can be juried articles published in regional journals or an invited chapter in an edited work. A scholarly book by a publisher of scholarly books (no vanity press) counts the same as two publications of any type. A first-edition textbook can count as two non-ISI publications; a subsequent edition counts as one. The candidate for promotion and/or tenure must be among the first three authors in a multi-authored article or a book. A major grant over $200,000/year counts the same as two national ISI journal publications. A grant of $100,000-199,999/year counts the same as one national ISI journal publication. A grant under $99,999/year counts the same as two regional publications. An edited scholarly book with the candidate as author or co-author (no more than 3 authors) counts the same as 2 regional publications. Publications may be in communication-related journals in other fields. 3. Teaching. Student ratings of instruction, syllabi, peer evaluation, administrative evaluation, and annual faculty evaluations may be used as a measure of teaching effectiveness. Since everyone in the department is expected to teach well, a person with low student evaluations, frequent complaints about instruction, and inability to perform competently can result in a negative promotion and/or tenure decision. 4. Service. Because academe is based on a faculty governance model, faculty members are expected to serve well on committees to which they are elected or appointed. Good performance on few committees is more commendable than simply having an extensive list of committee assignments. The department can request committee chairs to assess the performance of professors on university committees. 3/30/2005

7