To support world-class education in A&S, Dean White charged an ad hoc committee to recommend ways to foster and assess teaching quality, December, 2019.  Delivered in spring 2020, the committee’s work led to a policy update and a charge to all A&S academic units to revise evaluation practices by May 2022.

The college will provide resources and consultants to help departments develop new teaching evaluation plans that best suit disciplinary needs and conventions. By May 2022, each unit should have 

  • identified a framework and approach for teaching evaluation 

  • codified those practices into department by-laws, policy statements, and practices for promotion, tenure (and optimally merit) cases that are sent to the college.

Dean White’s Charge to the Ad-hoc Committee on Teaching

New pedagogical techniques along with evidence-based and inclusive practices are becoming essential components of our teaching environments and student success. These developments create the need for individual faculty at an R1 university to both remain current with developments in their disciplines and to engage and remain current as effective educators. 

While the College of Arts and Sciences puts a premium on education, a clear statement on the college’s expectations of teaching practices and the implications for reappointment, tenure and promotion has not been recently articulated. 

The Ad-Hoc Committee on Teaching in the College of Arts and Sciences is charged with writing a policy statement on teaching that will set scholarly standards and expectations, clearly articulating how to measure these in order to help provide a world-class education for our students. 

Dean White asks that the committee provide a concise and clearly written document for evaluation by May 1, 2020.

Ad Hoc Taskforce Members

Leilani Arthurs (GEOL)

David S. Brown (PSCI, co-chair)

Babs Buttenfield (GEOG)

Noah Finkelstein (PHYS, co-chair)

Jennifer Fitzgerald (PSCI)

Vicki Grove (GSLL)

Teresa Nugent (ENGL)

Pei-San Tsai (IPHY)

Phoebe Young (HIST)