After only a third of faculty voiced their opinions in the 2014 administrative evaluations, next year’s editions will be sent out by the President’s office instead of being handled by the Faculty Senate as they have for four decades.
President Davies said faculty might take these evaluations more seriously because they will be sent electronically through the President’s office.
“Whatever we can do to create 360 degree feedback opportunities for faculty and staff with regards to leaders is a good thing,” he said.
In the past, administrative evaluations have been used to survey how well the administration cooperates with the faculty over the year. Although the evaluations aren’t made public, they are reported to the administrator being evaluated, as well as that person’s supervisor.
“I don’t view this as a punitive situation, but as a way we can provide feedback that will help administrators do their jobs better,” he said.
Davies said evaluations help administration understand the university’s challenges and offers a chance to reflect on ways to improve.
Katherine Farmer, director of curriculum materials center and resource instruction librarian at Waterfield and vice president of Faculty Senate, said the Faculty Senate represents each academic department and provides services similar to what the Student Government Association does for students.
College deans, department chairs and provosts are all administrative positions that faculty critique in their evaluations. Farmer said the dean of each college determined in the past how the results from the evaluations will he handled.
She also said the senate still will have some input on the administrative evaluations even though they will be going through the President’s office.
Students and faculty said evaluations will be more beneficial if handled effectively.
“It’s good because it provides a checks-and-balances system for our university,” said Miranda Bailey, senior from Murray.
Helen Roulston, associate professor of English, said like any institution, the University has good administrators but also ones who need the evaluations to help them improve.
“We need good administrators here to keep things functioning smoothly,” she said.
Story by Mari-Alice Jasper, Assistant News Editor
Bravo, President Davies! My 5-years teaching @ MSU demonstrated that many faculty are either (a) afraid to criticize their administrators, or (2) do not feel it is worth the time and effort to do so since nothing meaningful ever came of it. Again, nice move, President Davies! 🙂