THE UNIVERSITY SENATE
OF MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Proposal 20-08
“Amendment to Proposal
42-04: Evaluation Procedure for the
President”
Voting Units: Full Senate
Background:
During
the 2008 Presidential Evaluation, there were requests made from staff, who are not members of the Senate constituency, that
they also be allowed to evaluate the President.
The President also felt that receiving feedback from all regular
non-student University employees was important and welcomed the suggestion that
the Senate expand the criteria for the annual evaluation to include more
employees than just the Senate constituency.
The original proposal has been reworded to include all regular
non-student employees of Michigan Tech identified as respondents.
Proposal
Amendment:
Regular
evaluation of the President of Michigan Technological University by the Senate
constituency encourages open communication, healthy exchange of information,
and a shared responsibility for university direction. This procedure allows respondents (all Michigan Tech’s regular non-student employees) the Senate
constituency to provide input and feedback to the leadership of the
university.
1. Frequency of Evaluation and
Evaluation Format
The President will be evaluated every year.
The evaluation will be conducted using a combination of paper surveys and web surveys, offering constituents a choice of response formats. Both paper and web surveys will contain information relevant to the evaluation and a questionnaire section. Information to be included consists of:
The
official position description of the President
A
statement from the President detailing the current goals, achievements, and
resource constraints associated with his or her work
Information
(reports, web pages) relevant to evaluating the President's work
The questionnaire section will contain:
Questions
asking for comments
Questions asking for scaled responses
A
core of questions will be used every year. Additional questions may be added in
particular years by the committee or by request from the President or constituents
respondents.
A
sample questionnaire is included in the appendix.
2. Evaluation Procedures
The evaluation will be conducted
during the fall spring semester
and will be supervised by the Senate Administrative Policy Committee.
During
the preceding spring semester, the committee will review the list of core
questions and solicit suggestions for additional questions from the Senate
constituency respondents and
from the President. The committee will then prepare a final list of questions.
The committee will also ask constituents respondents and the President for suggestions about information
that would be useful to constituents in providing feedback to the President and
in evaluating the President's work and will prepare a list of information to be
included with the surveys.
At
the end beginning of the spring
fall semester, the committee will
request from the President a current position description and a statement to be
submitted by the beginning of the fall spring semester.
The
surveys will be distributed to constituents respondents in the fifth week of fall
spring semester, and constituents
respondents will be asked to return
the paper surveys or fill out the web surveys by the end of the seventh week.
Responses
to both questions asking for comments and questions asking for scaled responses
will be compiled by the committee. Responses from faculty and from professional
staff will be compiled separately.
The
committee will review the compiled comments and statistical summary of scaled
questions and make an oral report to the Senate by the end of fall spring semester. The committee will
also prepare a written report. A draft of the written report will be given to
the President and he or she will be allowed to submit a brief statement in
response. The written report and the response from the President will be posted
on the website for the Senate constituency by the beginning end of spring semester and it will
remain on the website until the end of the next
academic year. One copy of the report will be printed out and filed in the
Senate office, and one copy will be forwarded to the Board of Control.
3.
Authority
This policy supersedes the procedure for the evaluation of the President
specified in Senate Proposal 22-94.
Appendix:
Sample questionnaire
Job
description
The
President of the University is the chief executive officer, appointed by and
reporting to the Board of Control, and is ultimately responsible for all
aspects of
Timely implementation of Board of
Control policies
Effective shared governance
Financial viability of the University
Continuous improvement of the quality
of learning and working environments
Fund raising
Effective relationships with government
agencies and political leaders, corporations and industry leaders
Communication with 45,000+ alumni as
well as other individuals and the general public interested in Michigan Tech
Institutional responses to political,
social and ethical issues
Positioning Michigan Tech as a premier technological university for the 21st Century.
(Statement from the President)
Questions
asking for comments:
1. Which of the President's responsibilities has he discharged well over the past year?
2. Which of the responsibilities has he not discharged well?
3. Are the current goals mentioned by the President in his statement appropriate and achievable goals for the university? Are there other goals the university should be pursuing?
4. Are the achievements listed by the President significant achievements, considering the resource constraints at the present time?
5. What else could the President be doing to help the university achieve its mission?
Questions
asking for scaled responses:
How would you rate the President on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest rating, in the following categories:
1. Supporting quality educational programs
2. Supporting quality research activities
3. Representing
the University to alumni, legislators, the local community, and the citizens of
4. Maintaining an effective senior administrative team
5. Communicating clearly university priorities and policies to faculty, staff, and students
6. Inviting and incorporating input on university priorities and policies from faculty, staff, and students
7. Balancing the budget in a manner consistent with the strategic plan
Introduced to Senate: 19 March 2008