Enacting Department-Level Changes: Faculty Evaluations, Curriculum Reviews, and Self-Study Guidelines

The Department of Nutrition at UMass Amherst launched several initiatives to improve our approach to faculty teaching evaluations. Traditionally, standardized student course and instructor evaluations (SRTI) formed the basis of faculty teaching evaluations at UMass with limited personnel committee understanding on how to effectively use SRTIs in the assessment process. The first initiative involved piloting peer faculty reviews for three faculty going up for promotion. Faculty could opt to include these peer reviews in their dossiers for personnel action. For this pilot, two TEval team members drafted review criteria. These were presented to faculty for feedback. Peers then observed the faculty being reviewed and assessed them according to the criteria that had been developed. Faculty involved in this process felt that it was so helpful that it was recommended that all faculty should review and be reviewed in the future. The second initiative involved a comprehensive review of all in-person courses. A parallel review of online courses is currently underway. Preliminary results indicate gaps in meeting required university components, course objectives, and diversity statements. This information will be used to guide faculty in improving their syllabi and increasing accessibility to students. The third initiative was to develop a department Self-Study to understand historical trends, systemic concerns, and propose revisions to the department's strategic plan and By-Laws. A draft of the self-study protocol was completed and shared with faculty and with university-wide ADVANCE fellows. The department will finalize the self-study and begin to collect data in the coming year.