Formation of Hiring and Evaluation Committees
DATE: April 3, 2012
TO: Deans, Chairs and Directors
FROM: John Isbister, Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs
C.C.: Anver Saloojee, Peter Danziger, Andre Foucault, Larissa Allen, Nellie DeLorenzi and HRMCs
RE: Formation of Hiring and Evaluation Committees
Colleagues,
As you know, the new Collective Agreement provides for a new set of committees that will deal with hiring, probationary faculty, tenure and promotion.
We are hard at work getting the relevant documents ready for distribution. These will include the collective agreement itself, plus debriefing material on the various processes affecting hiring and assessment.
In the meantime, I am writing you this letter for the purpose of describing the processes for creating four committees. While these committees will not begin their work until September, they will need to be formed in May. The committees are:
1. The Departmental Hiring Committee (DHC)
-for recruitment and recommendation for hiring of limited-term and tenure-stream faculty
-to be established by May 15
2. The Departmental Evaluation Committee (DEC)
-for the evaluation of probationary faculty members
-to be established by May 15
3. The Faculty Tenure Committee (FTC)
-for evaluation of tenure recommendations
-to be established by May 31
4. The Faculty Promotion Committee (FPC)
-for recommending promotions to Professor
-to be established by May 31
The documents that we will provide to you at a later date will contain all the necessary information about how these committees are to operate. Here I am including just the information needed to get the committees established.
1. Departmental Hiring Committee (DHC)
This committee does the hiring work that was formerly done by the Departmental Appointments Committee (DAC).
The chair/director is responsible for the formation of the DHC.
Size: The DHC normally consists of five members, but it can be reduced to three or increased to seven. Normally, a department/school with ten or more tenure-stream faculty will have at least five members on the DHC, and a department/school with 25 or more members will have seven members on the DHC.
Five-member committee: The chair/director or his/her designate is a member. Two members are elected by the tenure-stream members of the department/school. One member is appointed by the chair/director. These four members select an additional faculty member before the election of the chair of the committee.
Three-member committee: The chair/director or his/her designate, plus one elected member and one member appointed by the chair/director.
Seven-member committee: The chair/director or his/her designate, plus four elected members, plus one member appointed by the chair/director. These six members select an additional faculty member before the election of the chair of the committee.
Elections should be completed by May 15. The committee should meet before May 31 to select a chair. The newly elected chair shall report the names of the members of the DHC, and the name of the person elected as chair of the DHC, to the Dean, to the Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs, and to the Association, no later than June 15.
The chair/director, in making his or her appointment to the DHC, and the elected and appointed members, in making their selection of an additional member, shall take into account the University's equity, diversity and inclusion obligations and/or shall attempt to expand the fields of expertise of the DHC. In a brief written report, the chair/director shall explain how the appointments to the committee will serve these goals and forward a copy to the Dean, the Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs and the Ryerson Faculty Association.
Elections to the DHC are by and from the tenure-stream members of the department/school, and are to be completed before the chair/director makes his/her appointment.
Normally, the member appointed by the chair/director and the member selected by the elected and appointed members will be members of the department/school. In exceptional circumstances, where necessary for equity or expertise reasons, one but no more than one member of the DHC may come from outside the department/school.
No more than one probationer may serve on the DHC, and only when elected, not appointed, and that person may not be in his or her first year of service.
2. Departmental Evaluation Committee (DEC)
This committee does the work of assessing probationary members, up to and including making recommendations about tenure, that was formerly done by the DAC.
The chair/director is responsible for the formation of the DEC.
There may be overlapping membership: members may serve on both the DHC and the DEC.
Size: The DEC normally consists of five members, but it can be reduced to three or increased to seven. Normally, a department/school with eight or more tenured faculty will have at least five members on the DEC, and a department/school with 20 or more tenured faculty will have seven members on the DEC. All members of the DEC must be tenured.
Five-member committee: The chair/director or a designate is a member. Three members are elected by the tenure-stream members of the department/school, and one is appointed by the chair/director.
Three-member committee: The chair/director or designate, one elected member and one appointed by the chair/director.
Seven-member committee: The chair/director or designate, plus five elected members, plus one appointed by the chair/director.
Elections, by and from the tenure-stream members, are to be completed before the chair makes his/her appointment.
In making an appointment, the chair/director must take into account the University's equity, diversity and inclusion obligations, and/or the need to broaden the areas of expertise on the committee. The chair/director shall write a brief report explaining the rationale for the appointment and forward a copy to the Dean, the Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs and the Ryerson Faculty Association.
The elections should be completed by May 15. No later than May 31, the members of the newly chosen DEC shall hold a meeting to elect from among themselves a chair of the DEC. The newly elected chair shall report the names of the members of the DEC, and the name of the person elected as chair of the DEC, to the Dean, to the Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs, and to the Association, no later than June 15.
3. Faculty Tenure Committee (FTC)
This is a completely new committee at Ryerson. Its purpose is to consider recommendations with respect to tenure received from the Departmental Evaluation Committees, to assess that the process at the departmental level was fair and that due process was followed, and to make its own tenure recommendations to the Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs.
The Dean is responsible for keeping track of which departments/schools are to be represented on the FTC. The chairs/directors are responsible for conducting the elections.
The FTC normally consists of six members, plus the Dean as chair. Normally members serve for a two-year term on the FTC, the terms to be overlapping. In 2012-2013, half the terms will be for one year, as explained in Section 5 below.
All members of the FTC must be tenured.
A member of the FTC may not at the same time be a member of a DEC, unless no other tenured faculty members are available from the department/school.
In Science, the FTC will have four elected members, one from each department. In FEAS, the FTC will have six elected members, one from each department. In the other faculties, the FTC will have six elected members, with departmental representation on the committee to rotate in a manner to be explained in Section 5.
When a department has representation on the FTC, its member is elected by and from the tenure-stream members of the department/school.
4. Faculty Promotion Committee (FPC)
This committee makes recommendations to the Dean with respect to promotion to Professor (and salary transfers for Mode I professors). It does not deal with promotion to Associate Professor, since such promotion is now automatic with tenure. A single committee deals with all promotions to Professor in the Faculty; we will no longer have FPC subcommittees.
The Dean is responsible for keeping track of which departments/schools are to be represented on the FPC. The chairs/directors are responsible for conducting the elections.
All members of the FPC must be Professors.
The FPC normally consists of six members. Normally members serve for a two-year term, the terms to be overlapping. In 2012-2013, half the terms will be for one year, as explained below in Section 5.
In Science, the FPC will have four members, one from each department. In FEAS, the FPC will have six members, one from each department. In the other faculties, the FPC will have six members, with departmental representation on the committee to rotate in a manner to be explained below.
5. Ordering of Departments for Representation on the FTC and the FPC
As provided for in the new Collective Agreement, the President of the RFA and the Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs have determined an ordering of the departments/schools in each faculty.
Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Architectural Science
- Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty of Science:
- Computer Science
- Physics
- Chemistry and Biology
- Mathematics
Ted Rogers School of Management:
- Information Technology Management
- Human Resources/Organizational Behaviour
- Law and Business
- Hospitality and Tourism Management
- Entrepreneurship & Strategy
- Retail Management/Health Services Management
- Marketing
- Global Management
- Finance
Faculty of Arts:
- Psychology
- History
- Geography
- Criminal Justice and Criminology
- Philosophy
- Sociology
- Languages, Literatures and Cultures
- Economics
- English
- Politics
Faculty of Communication and Design:
- Image Arts
- RTA School of Media
- Graphic Communications Management
- Theatre
- Fashion
- Professional Communication
- Interior Design
- Journalism
Faculty of Community Services:
- Nursing
- Disability Studies
- Social Work
- Child and Youth Care
- Early Childhood Studies
- Midwifery
- Urban and Regional Planning
- Nutrition
- Occupational and Public Health
Faculty Tenure Committee:
Except for the first year, when one-year terms are provided for in order to get the process started, all terms will be for two years.
In FEAS and in Science, there will be a member each year from each department. In FEAS in 2012-2013, the members from departments 1 through 3 will have one-year terms, while the members from departments 4 through 6 will have two-year terms. In Science, the members from departments 1 and 2 will have one-year terms, while the members from departments 3 and 4 will have two-year terms. Thereafter, all newly elected members from both faculties will have two-year terms.
In the other four faculties, membership in the academic year 2012-2013 will be from departments listed 1 through 6. Departments 1 through 3 will have a member with a one-year term, while departments 4 through 6 will have a member with a two-year term. In 2013-2014, departments 1 through 3 will drop off the committee, to be replaced by departments 7 through 9 (or, in FCAD, departments 7, 8 and 1), each new member with a two-year term. And in 2014-2015, departments 4 through 6 will drop off, to be replaced by the three departments next in the rotation, again with a two-year term. Thereafter, the rotation will continue.
Faculty Promotion Committee:
Except for the first year, when one-year terms are provided for in order to get the process started, all terms will be for two years.
In FEAS and in Science, membership will be as in the FTC, except that the one-year-term and two-year-term departments will be switched in 2012-2013.
In the other four faculties, membership in the academic year 2012-2013 will be from departments listed 4 through 9 (in FCAD, departments 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1). Departments 4 through 6 will have a member with a one-year term, while the other departments will have a member with a two-year term. In the next year, departments 4 through 6 will drop off the committee, to be replaced by the three departments next in the rotation, each new member with a two-year term. Thereafter, the rotation will continue.
If members are unable to complete their terms on the FTC or the FPC, their replacements will be elected to complete the departing member's term; hence the order of the rotation will remain unchanged.
Finally, I would ask that you please forward this memo to any administrative staff who normally assist you in the formation or facilitating the work carried out by these committees. You are of course free to distribute this memo to the faculty members in your School/Department.
Moving to this new structure may be a little complicated at first. If you have questions, please feel free to ask me, or your Human Resources Management Consultant.
Thanks for your co-operation.
John Isbister
Vice-Provost, Faculty Affairs