3.8 Guidelines for Professional Planning
3.8.1 Introduction
Self-evaluation and planning are required of faculty members as part of reappointment and post-tenure reviews; they also serve as useful tools for ongoing professional development. The following guidelines may be helpful for individuals preparing professional plans as well as those responsible for making reappointment recommendations. The structure and content of a particular faculty member's plan will reflect his or her career stage, style of reflection, and personal priorities. All plans should, however, address each of the four major areas of faculty responsibility: teaching, research and scholarship, community service, and advising. They should also be concise, not more than six pages in length. Faculty are encouraged to append a current curriculum vita to their plans.
3.8.2 Teaching
Evaluate yourself as a teacher with respect to the principles of effective teaching found in Section 3.6. In doing so you may wish to incorporate information from student evaluations of your teaching and from other evaluations you may have completed; you should also include your own reflections.
Based on your self-assessment, identify the teaching goals you wish to set for yourself and specify the resources (e.g. technologies, workshops, conferences, peer-consultants, etc.) that will help you achieve them.
3.8.3 Research and Scholarship
Evaluate your scholarly activities with respect to the criteria regarding types and purposes of faculty scholarship found in Section 3.6 and in your department's statement on research and scholarship. In doing so you may wish to include colleagues' assessments as well as your own account of your activities and accomplishments. You may also wish to supplement this information with independent letters of support from colleagues at other institutions, letters from publishers or editors, evidence of external grants written and received, or awards and prizes given by disciplinary or professional associations.
Based on your self-assessment, define a program of personal scholarship, both short-term and longer-term, and specify the resources (e.g. grants, conferences, equipment, student collaborators, etc.) that will help you achieve your goals.
3.8.4 Community Service
Evaluate your efforts in the four areas of faculty service (to the college community, to the church community, to the scholarly community, and to other communities) identified in Section 3.6. In doing so you may wish to keep in mind that while service arising out of one's personal interests is appropriate, service arising out of one's scholarly vocation is more nearly central to the college's purposes and hence should be assigned greater weight.
Based on this self-assessment, identify your priorities for service, describe how you will pursue them, and specify the resources that will help you achieve your goals.
3.8.5 Advising
Evaluate yourself as an adviser with respect to the criteria for effective academic advising found in Section 3.6. In doing so you may wish to include information from evaluations by advisees and from other evaluations you may have completed; you should also include your own reflections.
Based on this self-assessment, identify your priorities for advising, describe the resources that will help you achieve your goals, and specify how you will know that you have met them.
