Guidelines for Retention, Promotion, Tenure, & Merit Materials

Sample Activity Reports

The following faculty have volunteered to share their sample activity reports with tenure-track faculty members who are looking for samples. Email each to request a copy:

Greg Ahrenhoerster
Nancy Chick
Marnie Dresser
Jennifer Flatt
Jane Oitzinger
Julie Tharp

The guidelines for retention dossiers below are required in addition to those listed in Faculty Personnel Policy #501.02, "Probationary Faculty Retention Review Dossiers," and Faculty Personnel Policy #501.01, "Promotion, Tenure, and Third-Year Review Tenure Dossier Format."

1st-Year Retention	2nd-Year Retention
3rd-Year (Pre-Tenure Review) Retention	4th-Year Retention

5th-Year Retention

6th-Year (Tenure) Consideration

Submitting Your Dossier

Electronic Submission

Merit Review Materials

1st-Year Retention

Important Dates

Two visitors’ reports to be completed by November 30
Dossier due to Executive Committee members by January 4

Your dossier will contain the following materials:

An academic biography or vita included as the first item of the retention dossier
The Items listed in the Materials section of Faculty Personnel Policy #501.02:
a. A copy of the candidate’s Activity Report

b. Copies of the candidate’s Faculty Visitation Reports;

c. From Fall semester: 1) Student Survey of Instruction Reports as received from the UWC Office of Student Affairs and 2) Copies or transcriptions of written comment sections from Student Survey of Instruction;
A selection of course materials (no more than fifteen pages) from one of your fall semester's composition classes. In addition to the course materials, include the following:
1. An explanation of how you are implementing the department's course guidelines;
2. A list of what texts you are using with an explanation of your reasons for choosing those texts;
3. A detailed explanation of how effective the approach has been in each case (including the basis for your judgment);
4. A detailed course calendar from the course in which you are visited.

Materials should be submitted electronically as a single e-mail attachment in either MS Word or Acrobat PDF format. The various parts of your Retention Portfolio should follow the order set out in this document and should be paginated to facilitate review by the Executive Committee.

2nd-Year Retention

Important Dates

Two visitors' reports to be completed by November 15
Dossier due to Executive Committee members by November 7

Your dossier will contain the following materials:

1. An academic biography or vita included as the first item of the retention dossier

2. The Items listed in the Materials section of Faculty Personnel Policy #501.02:

a. Copies of the candidate’s Activity Report for the first and second year (though the second year report must be prepared earlier than usual);

b. Copies of the candidate’s Faculty Visitation Reports for the first and second years;

c. From the first year: 1) Student Survey of Instruction Reports as received from the UWC Office of Student Affairs and 2) Copies or transcriptions of written comment sections from Student Survey of Instruction;

d. Copies of first year retention letters (both campus and departmental);

3. A selection of course materials for a most recently taught composition and a literature or 200-level class (no more than fifteen pages for each course), including the following:

An explanation of how you are implementing the department's course guidelines;

A list of what texts you are using with an explanation of your reasons for choosing those texts;

A detailed explanation of how effective the approach has been in each case (including the basis for your judgment);

A detailed course calendar from the course in which you are visited.

4. Three student themes from the current semester annotated by you, one good (A or B range), one average (C range), and one poor (D or F) (so labeled by you at the top of page one, preferably from the same course in which you are visited, and including the assignment and date due). Please make sure to:

remove the students’ names from the papers,

indicate the assigned letter grade,

describe the assignment provided to the student

identify the paper as a draft or a final submission.

5. A relatively recent piece of your writing--scholarly, creative, or professional--that, even if not in its final form, has been revised and edited.

6. A statement of your plans for professional development: scholarly or critical work, course of study, etc.

7. Any other materials or information you believe to be important for the review

3rd-Year (Pre-Tenure Review) Retention

Important Dates

Two visitors’ reports to be completed by November 30
Dossier due to Executive Committee members by January 4

Your dossier will contain the following materials:

1. An academic biography or vita included as the first item of the retention dossier

Items 2 through 6 should be integrated into the materials section of the Documentations Appendices section of Faculty Personnel Policy #501.01. Our items #2 and 3 would fit into Documentation Appendices section III. A. 3. a. and d. Our items #4 and 5 would fit in section III. B. 2. a. Should you have something that fits our item #6, place that after III. E. Your dossier should lead off with your academic biography and your self-assessment—see section II. of Faculty Personnel Policy #501.01.

2. A selection of course materials for a most recently taught composition and a literature or 200-level class (no more than fifteen pages for each course), including the following:

An explanation of how you are implementing the department's course guidelines;

A list of what texts you are using with an explanation of your reasons for choosing those texts;

A detailed explanation of how effective the approach has been in each case (including the basis for your judgment);

A detailed course calendar from the course in which you are visited.

Three student themes from the current semester annotated by you, one good (A or B range), one average (C range), and one poor (D or F) (so labeled by you at the top of page one, preferably from the same course in which you are visited, and including the assignment and date due). Please make sure to:

remove the students’ names from the papers,

indicate the assigned letter grade,

describe the assignment provided to the student

identify the paper as a draft or a final submission.

A relatively recent piece of your writing--scholarly, creative, or professional--that, even if not in its final form, has been revised and edited.

5. A statement of your plans for professional development: scholarly or critical work, course of study, etc.

6. Any other materials or information you believe to be important for the review

4th-Year Retention

Important Dates

One visitor's report to be completed by November 30
Dossier due to Executive Committee members by January 4

Your dossier will contain the following materials:

1. An academic biography or vita included as the first item of the retention dossier

2. The Items listed in the Materials section of Faculty Personnel Policy #501.02:

a. Copies of the candidate’s Activity Reports from the third and fourth years;

b. Copies of the candidate’s Faculty Visitation Reports from the third and fourth years;

c. From the most recent semester available: 1) Student Survey of Instruction Reports as received from the UWC Office of Student Affairs and 2) Copies or transcriptions of written comment sections from Student Survey of Instruction;

Please note: In your fourth year, you should make sure to participate in the Student Survey of Instruction if you did not conduct Student Surveys as part of the UW Colleges regular evaluation process in the Spring Semester of your third year.

d. Copies of all retention letters (both campus and departmental) from the first, second, and third years;

3. A selection of course materials for a most recently taught composition and a literature or 200-level class (no more than fifteen pages for each course), including the following:

An explanation of how you are implementing the department's course guidelines;

A list of what texts you are using with an explanation of your reasons for choosing those texts;

A detailed explanation of how effective the approach has been in each case (including the basis for your judgment);

A detailed course calendar from the course in which you are visited.

remove the students’ names from the papers,

indicate the assigned letter grade,

describe the assignment provided to the student

identify the paper as a draft or a final submission.

5. A relatively recent piece of your writing--scholarly, creative, or professional--that, even if not in its final form, has been revised and edited.

6. A statement of your plans for professional development: scholarly or critical work, course of study, etc.

7. Any other materials or information you believe to be important for the review

5th-Year Retention

Normally, no visitors in the fifth year
Dossier due to Executive Committee members by January 4

Your dossier will contain the following materials:

1. An academic biography or vita included as the first item of the retention dossier

2. The Items listed in the Materials section of Faculty Personnel Policy #501.02:

a. Copies of the candidate’s Activity Reports from the fourth and fifth years;

b. Copies of the candidate’s Faculty Visitation Reports from the fourth and fifth years;

d. Copies of all retention letters (both campus and departmental) from the first, second, third and fourth years;

3. A selection of course materials for a most recently taught composition and a literature or 200-level class (no more than fifteen pages for each course), including the following:

An explanation of how you are implementing the department's course guidelines;

A list of what texts you are using with an explanation of your reasons for choosing those texts;

A detailed explanation of how effective the approach has been in each case (including the basis for your judgment);

A detailed course calendar from the course in which you are visited.

remove the students’ names from the papers,

indicate the assigned letter grade,

describe the assignment provided to the student

identify the paper as a draft or a final submission.

5. A relatively recent piece of your writing--scholarly, creative, or professional--that, even if not in its final form, has been revised and edited.

6. A statement of your plans for professional development: scholarly or critical work, course of study, etc.

7. Any other materials or information you believe to be important for the review

6th-Year/Tenure Consideration

Important Dates

Two visitors’ reports to be completed by November 30
Dossier due to Executive Committee members by January 4

Your dossier will contain the following materials:

1. An academic biography or vita included as the first item of the retention dossier

Items 2 through 6 should be integrated into the materials section of the Documentations Appendices section of Faculty Personnel Policy #501.01. Our items #2 and 3 would fit into Documentation Appendices section III. A. 3. a. and d. Our items #4 and 5 would fit in section III. B. 2. a. Should you have something that fits our item #6, place that after III. E. Your dossier should lead off with your academic biography and your self-assessment—see section II. of Faculty Personnel Policy #501.01.

2. A selection of course materials for a most recently taught composition and a literature or 200-level class (no more than fifteen pages for each course), including the following:

An explanation of how you are implementing the department's course guidelines;

A list of what texts you are using with an explanation of your reasons for choosing those texts;

A detailed explanation of how effective the approach has been in each case (including the basis for your judgment);

A detailed course calendar from the course in which you are visited.

Three student themes from the current semester annotated by you, one good (A or B range), one average (C range), and one poor (D or F) (so labeled by you at the top of page one, preferably from the same course in which you are visited, and including the assignment and date due). Please make sure to:

remove the students’ names from the papers,

indicate the assigned letter grade,

describe the assignment provided to the student

identify the paper as a draft or a final submission.

A relatively recent piece of your writing--scholarly, creative, or professional--that, even if not in its final form, has been revised and edited.

5. A statement of your plans for professional development: scholarly or critical work, course of study, etc.

6. Any other materials or information you believe to be important for the review

The English Department Retention Portfolio Additional Materials document was written in January 1998
and revised in September 2001, January 2003, January 2005, and most recently in April 2006.

All Probationers: Submitting Your Dossiers to the Executive Committee

Materials should be submitted electronically in a single email attachment in either MS Word or Acrobat PDF format. Click here to see a sample PDF, appropriately navigable with bookmarks and page numbers. Click the bookmarks on the left for navigation. If you don't see them yet, click the "bookmarks" tab on the far left to display them. If you want to create a single-file PDF of your materials, you have two options:

Convert your MS Word document to PDF. There's a variety of ways you can do this. (Chuck, Anne, Holly, others, send me some detailed instructions to insert here, including instructions for creating the bookmarks. It's been awhile since I did this, so it'd be great if y'all would send me instructions based on how you did it.)
- Use Adobe Acrobat Professional to create a PDF. (Notice there's a 30-day free trial!) Or use Adobe Online to convert your file to a PDF. (This version has a free trial for 5 documents.)
- Find someone on your campus with the full Adobe Acrobat (above). Start by asking your IT person. Then, it's a simple click of a button to convert a Word document to a PDF.
- If you have Microsoft Office 2007, here's a free add-in you can download to just click a button and convert your file to a PDF.

Use the copy machine on your campus to scan a hard copy of your dossier to create a PDF.

In the meantime, if you have questions about creating the PDF, email the probationers who've gone through this process before. Chuck Rybak, Anne Widmayer, and Holly Hassel have publicly talked about how easy it was. As a last resort, Nancy Chick has Adobe Acrobat Professional, so you can email your dossier to her, and she can convert it for you.

The various parts of your Retention Portfolio should follow the order set out above and should be paginated to facilitate review by the Executive Committee. Send your dossiers to this address: DEPT-ENGL Executive Committee (engexec@uwc.edu).

Please see above for the required materials, order of materials, and due dates. Your completed dossier will be viewed by the current members of the Executive Committee:

Campus	2008-2009 Executive Committee Member
Baraboo	Ken Grant (kenneth.grant@uwc.edu)
Barron	Nancy Chick (Vice Chair) (nancy.chick@uwc.edu)
Fox	Malcolm Allen (malcolm.allen@uwc.edu) and Scott Emmert (scott.emmert@uwc.edu)
Manitowoc	Dave Gratz (david.gratz@uwc.edu)
Marinette	Jane Oitzinger (Chair), ex officio (jane.oitzinger@uwc.edu) and Jennifer Flatt (jennifer.flatt@uwc.edu)
Richland	Marnie Dresser (marnie.dresser@uwc.edu)
Waukesha	Greg Ahrenhoerster (greg.ahrenhoerster@uwc.edu) and Peggy Rozga (margaret.rozga@uwc.edu)
Washington	Chuck Rybak (chuck.rybak@uwc.edu) and Anne Widmayer (anne.widmayer@uwc.edu)
To email the whole committee, use the DEPT-ENGL Executive Committee distribution list (engexec@uwc.edu).

Merit Review Materials and Policies:
All Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff

Every year, send a copy of your Activity Report for the completed year to both the English department chair and the campus dean (or the dean’s designee) by January 4.

Follow Senate Policies Institutional Personnel Policy #301 "Activity Report" and Faculty Personnel Policy #503 "Faculty Merit Policy."