Senate Proposal 20-08

THE UNIVERSITY SENATE OF MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Proposal 20-08 (revised)

“Amendment to Proposal 42-04:  Evaluation Procedure for the President”
Voting Units:  Full Senate

Background:

During the 2008 Presidential Evaluation, there were requests made were received from staff, who are not members of the Senate constituency, that they also be allowed to evaluate the President.  The President also felt  agreed 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 beyond 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 faculty and staff 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)  to provide input and feedback to the leadership of the university.  Senate recognizes that represented staff are not part of the Senate constituency (which comprises faculty and professional staff) so the inclusion of represented staff in the evaluation of the President will be subject to the approval and agreement of their representatives.

 

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 respondents.

A sample questionnaire is included in the appendix.

2.   Evaluation Procedures

The evaluation will be conducted during the 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 respondents and from the President. The committee will then prepare a final list of questions. The committee will also ask 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 beginning of the fall semester, the committee will request from the President a current position description and a statement to be submitted by the beginning of the spring semester.

The surveys will be distributed to respondents in the fifth week of spring semester, and 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, and represented 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 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 invited 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 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 Michigan Technological University including the following:

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 Michigan

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

Adopted by Senate: 2 April 2008

Revisions requested by Provost: 30 October 2008

Revised and Reintroduced to Senate: 12 November 2008

Revised Version Adopted by Senate: 3 December 2008
Revised Version Approved by Administration: 21 February 2009