Procedures for Faculty Profile Expectations

PPD-1310

Overview

Most faculty of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) have substantive involvement in all three parts of VIMS’ mission: Research, Education and Advisory Service. All faculty who are not full-time administrators (herein referred to simply as faculty) are expected to be involved in research. Faculty who receive state funding are also expected to be involved in the advisory part of the mission and to participate in governance. In addition, tenured and tenure-eligible (TTE) faculty have explicit base expectations for teaching and mentoring.

It is not expected that all faculty will have identical performance profiles. Deviation from the base profile will be planned at the beginning of each calendar year by faculty members in concert with their Department Chair, Center Director (when appropriate), and the administration. Education and advisory expectations and planning letters must be approved by the Associate Dean of Academic Studies (ADAS) and Associate Dean of Research and Advisory Services (ADRAS), respectively, in order to ensure that the needs of the academic and advisory programs are met. The final approval rests with the Dean and Director. The ADAS and the ADRAS will be actively involved in the identification of appropriate activities for every faculty member throughout the course of each year, and it is recognized that many faculty members may have higher percentages of effort devoted to the education and advisory components of the mission than specified by the base performance expectations. Buyout or release time from education and/or advisory responsibilities may be possible for limited periods with prior approval of the department chair, ADAS, ADRAS, and the Dean and Director.

Base Faculty Profile Expectations
	Hours	Days
Total	2080	260	100%
Research and Professional Service	1456	182	70%
Education*	312	39	15%
Advisory Service to Virginia	208	26	10%
Governance	104	13	5%

*Applies to TTE faculty. Base expectations for education for Non-Tenure Eligible (NTE) faculty vary by individual.

From the above table,

Research and Professional Service includes:

Proposing, conducting, and reporting basic and applied research appropriate to the broad institutional mission.
Service to regional, national, and international entities in furtherance of VIMS’ role as a center of excellence in coastal and marine science.
Service on internal committees in support of the research mission (when not included under Governance).

Education includes:

Participation in the School of Marine Science (SMS) program through teaching, advising, and student committee service.
Participation may also include teaching in other W&M curriculums as approved by ADAS and the department.
Service on internal committees in support of the education mission (when not included under Governance).

Advisory Service to Virginia includes:

Participation in activities that support VIMS advisory mission to the Commonwealth of Virginia, including but not limited to consultation with local and state agencies, and appropriate regional, national, and international as approved by the Associate Dean for Research and Advisory Services, conduct of directed research, service on internal committees, and delivery of position statements to stakeholders.

Governance includes:

Participation in activities that support the institution (and William & Mary as appropriate) through service on various committees, elected or appointed, that make recommendations on broad institutional-level policy.

Further detail on activities and criteria for annual merit evaluation is given in PPD-1304.

General Provisions

This document is intended to make explicit the obligations of every faculty member at VIMS to engage in the various missions of VIMS. It is understood that effective engagement in the education and advisory missions cannot be an ad-hoc arrangement. Rather, faculty members will work in concert with the administration to identify and pursue activities that are judged by the ADAS, ADRAS and Department Chairs to meet the needs of the educational and advisory obligations of VIMS. The ADAS and ADRAS will be proactive in this process as their role in approving activities is critical to ensuring that the needs of the VIMS mission are fully met.

These profile expectations set a level of effort (percent of total effort) that faculty members can anticipate being obliged to provide unless not required by VIMS. It is anticipated that profiles will continue to vary across faculty, but this document seeks to make clear the fact that variations will be a result of collaborative decisions between faculty members and the administration, guided first and foremost by the needs of VIMS. Thus, the opportunities that an individual faculty member will have to negotiate a profile that differs from the base expectations will be constrained by the needs of VIMS, and those needs will be identified and communicated by the administration (Department Chairs in coordination with the ADAS and ADRAS). It is likely that individual performance profiles will vary through time, necessitating evaluations that consider activities over more than a single year.

The expectations do not supplant the annual evaluation process. The expectations merely identify a level of obligation or starting point for involvement, and annual evaluations are independent of the actual level at which involvement occurs. Performance in each area will be evaluated according to established procedures with a focus on equitability across all units of VIMS.

Research activities are meant to include all of the long-standing activities of VIMS faculty in basic and applied projects, as well as professional service. They are largely self-directed. Evaluations of performance will continue to be based on the metrics specified in the PPD-1308 “Procedures and Criteria for Appointment, Evaluation, Retention, Promotion and Award of Tenure of the Committee on Faculty Status and Tenure Review.” These include, but are not limited to, publications in journals, success in grant and contract awards, giving oral presentations, and related scholarly activities.

Educational engagement is meant to include all of the activities that contribute to the SMS objectives and may include efforts that contribute to other curriculums at W&M such as undergraduate teaching and mentoring. Expectations for individual faculty members will be set in the context of the needs of the overall educational program and the individual skills of faculty members. It will be the responsibility of the ADAS, in collaboration with the Academic Council, to identify activities that fulfill this obligation.

Advisory service to the Commonwealth includes activities that directly address the needs of the State. Advisory service is a key element in VIMS’ relationship with the state, and an obligation that attends the support that the state provides. It will be the responsibility of the ADRAS to identify activities that fulfill this obligation as well as the need for individual faculty member engagement. There are other significant advisory efforts by VIMS faculty in regional, national and international forums, and all of these have value in the annual evaluation under professional service.

Faculty governance is an important responsibility of the faculty. Governance activities typically involve participation on elected or appointed deliberative bodies of VIMS and/or William & Mary. Participation can include service as chair, member or alternate member of the Academic Council, Faculty Council, standing or ad-hoc committees within VIMS, or similar service on college-wide committees.

Base Educational Expectations

Unlike the research and advisory service parts of the VIMS mission, base expectations for participation in the education program can be readily quantified.

Classroom Teaching Expectations

It is a base expectation that all TTE faculty will participate in classroom teaching in the graduate and/or undergraduate programs at VIMS and William & Mary.
The specific teaching needs of departments will be determined by department chairs in consultation with their faculties and the ADAS. VIMS-wide teaching needs will be determined by the ADAS with input from Department Chairs and, when appropriate, Co- Directors of the Undergraduate Minor Program. The primary obligation of the School of Marine Science (SMS) faculty is to the graduate program at VIMS. The SMS faculty is also fully committed to supporting the undergraduate minor in marine science. Graduate level courses at VIMS and required courses to support the undergraduate minor in marine science will take precedence over either graduate or undergraduate courses taught at William & Mary.

a. The base course teaching expectation is one three-credit course per year, which may be team-taught. However, two-credit graduate core courses or two-credit courses required for the Undergraduate Minor in Marine Science can fulfill the base course requirement. The course load for a faculty member will be determined as a running average over a three-year period.

b. The ADAS and Academic Council supports team teaching but defines a team-taught course as involving two instructors who are fully engaged (i.e., attend all lectures, discussions, etc.) and who each provide more than one-third of the lectures.

c. Although MS 698 courses can fulfill part of the three-credit base teaching requirement, they must not be the sole offerings of a faculty member over a three- year average period.

d. Department Chairs, with the oversight of the ADAS, will ensure that the teaching needs of their departments are met by their faculties.

Mentorship Expectations

TTE faculty are expected to serve as major advisor for at least one VIMS graduate student (or co-major advisor for two students). The mentoring load for a faculty member will be determined as a running average over a three-year period. Advising cannot substitute for classroom instruction.
TTE faculty are expected to serve on thesis or dissertation committees. Credit for a VIMS faculty member advising a graduate student in a department at William & Mary outside the SMS will be considered by the member’s Department Chair on a case by case basis, assuming educational needs of the department are met.
Other mentorship contributions worthy of recognition include supervision of postdoctoral researchers, W&M undergraduate students, REU summer students, and Governor’s School students. But these mentorship activities cannot substitute for graduate student advising.

Governance/Other

Contributions to the education program worthy of recognition include, but are not limited to, leadership of the Academic Council and its sub-committees, leadership of departments, contributions to ad-hoc education committees established by the ADAS and/or Dean and Director, and service as an exam moderator. These activities cannot substitute for teaching or mentorship.

This document is authored by the Dean and Director with significant input from the Faculty Council and Academic Council.

Date: March 19, 2013
Rev.: December 2016

last page update: March 12, 2024 by LCS