Evaluating Tenure

As the semester wraps up, students will find semester evaluations sitting in their e-mail inboxes that will inevitably end up in the trash. While some may think that filling out the assessment is a waste of time, completing the evaluation has more weight and impact on students' classroom experience than meets the eye.

Despite some students' doubts about the survey process, these evaluations are an important source of information when departments assess instructors' quality and likelihood of promotion and tenure.

According to Jerry Newman, department chair and distinguished teaching professor in organizations and human resources, it's important that students understand that they hold a strong position in the tenure process.

"Students have become a more important force in deciding whether or not a teacher becomes tenured," Newman said. "I don't think students realize that they have a voice that is listened to."

According to Newman, universities are schools first and businesses second. Just like any good business, if there is poor-quality service being provided, then it is the customer's job to complain and let the management know.

"If they went to McDonalds and got a cheeseburger that had a bug in it, they'd go ballistic," Newman said. "Well a bad teacher is like a bug in a cheeseburger, and if you [student's] don't fill out your CATS (Course and Teacher Survey), you are going to be doing a disservice to yourself, future students and the faculty member who is doing a poor job of teaching."

Students like Fernando Ortega, a senior media study major, find it hard to believe that the student voice has any impact on the teachers they're critiquing.

"When professors get bad reviews, the teachers are still there next semester," Ortega said. "I think it's a waste of time."

William Hernandez, a freshman architecture major, believes that the student voice does help UB to grow academically and there lies a great importance in filling out the evaluations.

"I think that it can help teachers understand their students better," Hernandez said.

According to Scott Grant, associate dean for Teacher Education Preparation, Learning and Instruction, professors who receive consistently low scores in student evaluations normally aren't granted tenure during their careers at UB.

"If professors don't have tenure, then they can be dismissed at any time," Grant said. "Professors can still be promoted to different ranks like an assistant professor despite a few bad survey scores but that doesn't mean that they can obtain tenure."

According to the faculty handbook, tenure is defined and determined in three ways: Teaching, research and creative activity, and service. These areas are continually assessed through the professor's work outside UB and through student evaluations, Grant said.

David Schmid, associate chair of the English department, explained that, just like students, professors meet with advisers to discuss the areas in which he or she needs to improve to be awarded their next promotion or tenure.

According to Schmid, the tenure process averages about five or six years. External reviewers as well as those within the UB community consider the applicant. Candidates also have to endure a faculty vote, undergo a review from the tenure, and promotion committee and receive approval of the dean.

The final suggestion for tenure is sent to SUNY in Albany where all cases are reviewed and a final decision is made.

The value of the tenure process for students lies in its ability to control the quality of professor performance students receive. Every professor who has earned tenure has met the highest degree of excellence in their field and the standards of UB and its students, according to Schmid.

Students who voice their opinion on the quality of their professors are only helping themselves and their peers in obtaining a better academic experience, Schmid said. Professors who receive tenure often grow from the freedom that tenure can provide.

"Once people understand that they have that kind of job security, they no longer feel an economic burden and that helps them to grow intellectually," Schmid said. "After tenure, professors can conduct any kind of research that they want to. Ultimately, that new sense of creativity can only benefit the students."

When students are filling out the evaluations, it is wise to remember to stick to constructive criticism rather than vague and unhelpful complaints, Schmid said.

Students like Tiffany Femiano, a senior political science and English major, believes that her peers may underestimate the true potential of course evaluations.

"There is a small population that take it seriously, UB is so large students will think someone else will do it," Femiano said. "You are a part of something and it's your voice whether it's anonymous or not."