Personnel Review Committee Procedures

INTRODUCTION: The following operating procedures conform to all applicable University and System policies and are designed to facilitate the primary function of the Personnel Review Committee (PRC), namely advising the administration regarding executive committee recommendations for promotion and tenure. Further, these procedures shall be deemed to be permanent and shall govern the actions of the Personnel Review Committees without interruption from year to year except as amended through the provisions of Section 7.

1. General

1.1 Officers/Duties

1.1.1 A Chairperson shall be elected annually from among the PRC's membership. The Chairperson presides over all meetings of the PRC and is responsible for appropriate and timely communication with candidates and their departmental executive committee chairpersons, as well as the transmittal of personnel recommendations to the Administration.

1.1.2 The Secretary of the Faculty shall serve as secretary and parliamentarian to the PRC and is not a voting member unless concurrently serving as an elected representative. The Secretary records the official proceedings of all meetings, submits them for approval, and performs other duties as requested by the Chairperson and/or the PRC.

1.1.3 The Chairperson of the Full Professor Subcommittee (FPS, Section 3) shall preside when the Chairperson is absent or chooses to relinquish the chair.

1.2 Meetings

1.2.1 Regular or general meetings may be called at the discretion of the Chairperson and normally require notice of one week with an agenda provided. Meeting notices must be published in accordance with State Statutes and Faculty Policy. 1.2.2 Personnel Review Committee meetings are called by the Chairperson and must be scheduled to accommodate constraints in the University Calendar for personnel decisions.

(a) Normally three weeks notice must be provided to the Committee membership, to the candidate(s) under review, and to their respective chairpersons. Under special circumstances, as so judged by the PRC, a minimum of 48 hours may be provided. Notices of meetings must be published in accordance with State Statutes and Faculty Policy.
(b) It is the intent of the PRC to conduct all Faculty Personnel Review Committee meetings in closed session as permitted by Wisconsin Statutes, Chapter 19.85(1), parts (b) and (c), unless the candidate requests that his/her review remain open. In addition, candidates for promotion to full professor shall be given the opportunity to request that such meetings be held in open session.

l.3.3 Ballots for advice on personnel recommendations will be written and signed but not counted or announced prior to the completion of voting with respect to all candidates currently under review. However, ballots will be cast and collected by the Secretary immediately following deliberations with respect to a particular candidate. This procedure applies only to candidates considered in closed session (cf. 2.4.2(b)).

1.4 File Security.

The Secretary is responsible for security of materials submitted to the PRC on behalf of any candidate; materials shall be treated in a confidential manner. The Secretary shall provide PRC members access to all materials at reasonable times and locations.

2. Personnel Action Procedures

2.1 Guidelines
The PRC shall provide a set of Guidelines to aid departmental executive committees in preparing materials to submit in support of a candidate. The Guidelines shall be made available to all faculty members. 2.2 Notifications

2.2.1 The PRC shall notify department executive committees of relevant dates for (a) advising the PRC of the specific candidates being recommended for personnel actions and (b) the submission of candidate's dossiers.

2.2.2 The PRC shall notify the candidates of scheduled meeting dates during which recommendations concerning them will be considered. Candidates shall be informed that all such meetings will be closed unless they specifically request, where appropriate, that the meeting remain open. Candidates must convey such requests in writing to the PRC at least two weeks prior to the scheduled meeting.

2.3 PRC Subcommittees

The Chairperson of the PRC shall appoint, for each candidate, a subcommittee of two PRC members--neither of whom shall be from the candidate's department. The functions of each subcommittee are: a) to become familiar with the contents of the candidate's dossier; b) to serve as a liaison between the PRC and the departmental executive committee; c) to serve as a resource to the PRC during discussions concerning the candidate; d) to assist in identification of incomplete or unclear portions of the dossier; and e) to assist in clarifying information already available and, upon request of the PRC at the evidentiary meeting, to assist in obtaining information identified as lacking by requesting it from the appropriate executive committee through the chair. The request for information and the information submitted shall be in writing.

2.4 Review Meetings

For the purpose of developing recommendations with respect to personnel decisions, the PRC shall conduct a sequence of two meetings.

2.4.1 Evidentiary. The purpose of the first meeting shall be to review materials for each candidate. Each subcommittee will summarize a candidate's dossier materials and bring forth questions or unclear issues which deserve scrutiny. PRC members are expected to have reviewed all dossiers and to be prepared to bring attention to any issues which they feel are germane, and about which they feel additional or clarifying information would be helpful.

2.4.2 Deliberative. The purpose of the second, or deliberative meeting is to consider and vote on the merits of the case presented for each candidate.

(a) The discussion for each candidate will be opened by a motion to support the department executive committee's recommendation.
(b) Candidates will be considered in a random order as determined by the Secretary, and without regard to candidacy for tenure and/or promotion, with the exception of any candidates requesting that their candidacy be reviewed in an open meeting. In the latter case, a specific time will be scheduled to consider those candidates separately.

2.5 Transmittal of Recommendations

Recommendations of the PRC will be recorded by the Secretary. The recommendations will consist of the text of the motion, the vote count and a brief synopsis, approved by the Committee, or the justification for its action. These recommendations shall be transmitted to the Administration and department chairperson within seven days after completion of the deliberative meeting. If PRC does not support a departmental recommendation for tenure for a candidate in his/her sixth year of credited probationary service, the departmental executive committee may request a reconsideration in accord with UWPF 5.04(5).

3. Full Professor Subcommittee

3.1 Composition

A subcommittee comprised of full professors shall be formed as provided in UWPF 5.04(2).*

3.2 Officers

3.2.1 The FPS shall elect its own chairperson.

3.2.2 The Secretary of the Faculty shall serve as secretary and parliamentarian, and is not a voting member unless concurrently serving as an elected representative.

3.3 Procedures

The FPS shall conduct its business in accordance with those procedures previously outlined for the full PRC, except that a quorum to conduct regular business shall be 2/3 of the members and to take a personnel action shall be 4/5 of the members.

3.4 Transmittal of Recommendations

Recommendations shall be transmitted to the Administration and the department chairperson within seven days of deliberation and voting. Recommendations are not transmitted through the full PRC.

4. Personnel Recommendations: UW-Parkside Candidates

4.1 Tenure

All recommendations that tenure be granted must emanate from the full Personnel Review Committee.

4.2 Promotion to Full Professor

These candidates must be considered by the FPS. If the consideration of tenure is also involved, it must be considered separately by the full PRC.

5. Personnel Recommendations: Non UW-Parkside Candidates

5.1 Tenure

All recommendations that tenure be granted to an outside candidate shall be reviewed by the full PRC.

5.2 Appointment at Full Professor Rank

A recommendation for initial appointment of an outside candidate at the rank of full professor must be reviewed *PSF 11/84-85; editorial revision 11/11/91. by FPS. If consideration of tenure is also involved the recommendation shall also be considered separately by the full PRC.

5.3 Special Procedures

5.3.1 The department executive committee should prepare a dossier that complies with the Guidelines as nearly as possible. Dossier materials must be available to the PRC or the FPS a minimum of three days prior to the meeting for consideration of outside candidates.

5.3.2 Insofar as possible, procedures outlined in the previous sections apply with the following exceptions:

(a) A quorum of eight PRC members shall be required to convene the PRC with a positive vote by a majority of those present required for support of a departmental recommendation, and

(b) A subcommittee of two PRC members appointed by the PRC chairperson will meet with the candidate during his/her campus visit and report to the PRC or the FPS. Subcommittee members shall not be from the candidate's prospective department.

6. Consideration of Emeritus Status

The PRC shall, as necessary, develop procedures to formulate recommendations relative to awarding of emeritus status to faculty. These procedures shall be developed in consultation with the Faculty Senate, or its appropriate committees, and in consultation with administrative officials.

7. Amendments

These procedures may be amended by the PRC at any regular meeting by a 2/3 majority of a quorum, provided:

7.1 That proposed changes have been provided in writing to members at least one week prior to the meeting; and

7.2 That the proposed changes would not result in substantially different treatment for some candidates and not others within a given academic year.