Lecturer Review

All full-time faculty should be reviewed annually by the department chair in preparation for merit review conversations with the dean, which begin in February. These reviews should include an assessment of teaching and, if relevant, departmental or institutional service and administrative responsibilities.

Evaluation of the performance of full-time non-tenure-track faculty must periodically be submitted to the dean’s office. For those on one-year contracts, evaluation materials should be submitted: 1) after their first full semester of hire, and 2) in the final semester of their third year, and 3) every third year thereafter. For those on three-year contracts, evaluations should be submitted 1) after their first full semester of hire (if applicable), and 2) at the end of their first and second three-year terms. Once a faculty member has begun their third three-year contract, no further review by the dean’s office is needed unless the annual merit review reveals problems or concerns that need to be addressed. In that event, the department chair should assess the problems and develop, together with the faculty member, a plan for improvement, including a timeline, lasting no longer than one academic year, for remediation of the problems. A description of the problems and the remediation plan and timeline should be submitted to the dean’s office. At the end of the remediation timeline, a formal performance evaluation, including a letter from the chair and relevant teaching evaluations (including classroom observations) should be submitted to the dean’s office for review.

Promotions from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer may be requested during the formal review process as part of the Chair’s evaluation letter. Please note that there are few such promotions made each year across the college, and many factors are taken into account, including budget constraints. Promotions that are not granted may be re-requested in subsequent years.

In early Fall of each academic year, please confirm with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs which faculty members are slated for review by the dean’s office. Reviews must be submitted to the dean’s office no later than January 31st in order to meet the deadline for merit increase evaluation and review. (If a department has a significant number of reviews, evaluations may be scheduled on a staggered basis, if necessary.) Letters regarding re-appointments will be issued after the May Board of Trustees meeting.

Evaluation procedures include a review of student course evaluations (narrative as well as quantitative), teaching materials, and classroom visits by faculty members within the home department. Additional materials may be provided at the department’s discretion.

Review materials should be merged into a single bookmarked PDF and sent via email to Angela Davis (aadavis@smu.edu) only when the complete document is ready for review by the Dean’s office. If the file is too large to email, please share it via Box.

The PDF should consist of the following sections (in this order):

1. Departmental policy on review and promotion of Lecturers and Senior Lecturers, if applicable.

2. Chair’s evaluation letter or evaluation form. (Either is acceptable; you do not need to submit both.)

3. Course statistics and essay response reports for the last three academic years, or the first semester for new hires, in reverse chronological order (i.e., the most recent semester should be first). The course evaluation system will generate one report per course, containing both course statistics and essay response summary information. Selecting each course separately, you will choose the view option “PDF + Comments” to generate the correct report.

4. Teaching materials for the last three academic years, or the first semester for new hires, in reverse chronological order (i.e., the most recent semester should be first). Please include the following if available/applicable: syllabi, sample exams, sample assignments or essay prompts. Teaching materials do not need to be exhaustive, but they should be representative of the course. Only one set of teaching materials is required per course.

Click here to download the Lecturer Evaluation Form

Click here to download a copy of these guidelines