[Corebotanyfaculty] 23-24 Merit and Promotions

[Bpschair]

Hi all,  Fall quarter starts next week and it’s time to plan for the upcoming merit/promotion cycle. Taleen Arslanian will continue to be our APSU analyst and she is already in contact with individuals about their files.

Please reserve all Mondays 2-4 for fall quarter.  We won’t meet every week, but will likely need some of the dates not used for M&P for curriculum and graduate program discussions.  We will plan to have a total of 4 faculty meetings to review files.

I had hoped to meet in Batchelor Hall 2158, but the building is still very noisy, so we will probably need to find another location - TBA.  Meetings will be from 2-4 pm as usual. I hope most people will attend in person, as discussions are much better in that format.   We have a number of faculty on sabbatical this fall, so participation from everyone will be very important.

Tentative faculty meeting dates for fall:

Monday 9/25
GSR timesheets
Changes to campus retention policies - I will send a separate email about this soon.
Some business before merit and promotion files hit.  Full agenda to follow

Monday 10/2
Grad program changes
Proposal for new Genetics and Biotechnology major

Meetings for M&P:

Monday Oct 9

  *   Meng Chen (Merit)
  *   Arthur Jia (Merit)
  *   Loralee Larios (Merit)
  *   Philippe Rolshausen (Merit)

Monday Nov 13

  *   Dawn Nagel (Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure)
  *   Julia Bailey-Serres (Merit)
  *   Thomas Eulgem (Merit)

Monday Nov 20

  *   Jim Baird (Promotion to full CE Specialist)
  *   Katie Dehesh (Merit)
  *   Peggy Mauk (Quinquennial)

Monday Jan 22

  *   Larry Li (Merit)
  *   Patty Springer (Merit)


We have several business items to address before the merit and promotion cycle begins:

1.  Voting rights.  In 2016, we voted on extension of voting rights and based on that vote, all Assistant Professors and Associate Professors vote on all actions (appointment, merit, promotion) at all levels. These rights have remained in effect since that time.  The document detailing our voting rights extension is attached.  Unfortunately, senate rules don’t allow extension of voting rights to CE faculty, so they cast advisory votes, which we report.

Bylaw55 states the following:

Any extensions of the voting privilege under this Article C must remain in effect for at least one calendar year (twelve months); thereafter, any Faculty member entitled to a vote on the cases in question under the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 6 of Article B of this Bylaw may request reconsideration. Following a request for reconsideration, and prior to any subsequent vote on the cases in question, the Chair or other appropriate departmental officer shall put the question of renewal of privileges to a vote.

Unless I have a request to reconsider our procedures, they will remain in place for the upcoming cycle.  If I receive a request to reconsider, we will undertake a 2 stage vote.  We need to have a decision on our procedure before our first faculty meeting to discuss merits on Oct 9.  Please let me know if you have questions.

I will accept requests to reconsider voting rights until 5 pm Monday September 25.  You can email me this request or raise it at the faculty meeting. If I don’t receive any requests, our current procedures will remain in effect for the 23-24 cycle.

2.  Department teaching statement.  Each year, a statement describing the department teaching policies is attached to each merit/promotion file. Last year’s statement is attached.  We can discuss it at the faculty meeting.  If you can’t attend, please send me your comments.

3.  Department statement on the impact of COVID-19 on scientific disciplines in the department.  In 2020, we are asked to include a department statement with the files, and each candidate can include a statement that discusses specific impacts on their research, teaching, and service.  I attach our statement from last year. I think it can be substantially shortened.  Individuals can detail any specific impediments in their individual files.

4. Research Statement (new in Fall 21).  The language in the call:

Department Chairs, in consultation with faculty, are required to include a statement about research and creative work norms in the department. This statement should appear in the “Other/Miscellaneous” section of eFilePlus, and should be referenced when discussing the candidate’s research and creative work productivity in the department letter. The statement should address basic issues such as the conventions on authorship order, the view of multi-authored papers, the prestige of book chapters and articles in books, the necessity and/or prestige of grant supported research, the prestige of performance venues, the significance of particular performances, and the opportunity and need for graduate student mentoring. The statement should also discuss how research and creative work norms vary by sub-discipline...

Our statement from last year is attached.  I’m fairly happy with it, but we can discuss whether changes are needed. .

We will discuss revisions to these statements at our faculty meeting next week.  Feel free to send me comments in advance of the meeting.

As always, please contact me with questions or concerns.  Patty


Patricia Springer
Professor and Chair, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
University of California
Riverside, CA  92521

pspringer at ucr.edu<mailto:pspringer at ucr.edu>
bpschair at ucr.edu
951-827-4413 (Chair's office)
951-827-5785 (Faculty office)
http://plantbiology.ucr.edu


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