Responsibilities of Library PTA Committee Chair: A checklist for incoming chairs
Basic housekeeping:
- Responsible for convening committee meetings and communicating to members agenda, date/time,
and location of meetings. Typically will include:
- Initial organizing meeting held following annual election and within 2 weeks from time
Committee chair is named by the University Librarian
- Meeting(s) to plan, schedule, and conduct Committee review of 3Y PRC reports. Due date as
specified in Master Calendar.
- Meeting(s) to plan, schedule, and write critiques of 0Y-3Y PRC reports. Due date as specified
in Master Calendar.
- Meeting(s) to review and update as necessary Committee procedures and documentation. Should be
done late spring or early summer to allow ample time for revisions without overlapping fall review
of P&T cases..
- Meeting(s) to plan, schedule, and conduct formal reviews of P&T cases. Due date as
specified in Master Calendar.
- Meeting(s) to review and update documentation and Master Calendar for following year. Should be
done earlier enough to allow final revisions of all documentation by 31 December each year.
- Other meetings as necessary.
Some of these meetings may be joint with FRC. Subtasks may also be delegated to PTA or joint
PTA/FRC working groups which will need to meet on their own. Meeting scheduling may be delegated to
UL/AUL office, as workload permits.
- Responsible for providing Library Systems Office with updated list of Committee members so that
LSO can update permissions on Committee shared folder. This should be done as soon after
appointment of PTA Chair as practical.
- Maintain all PTA related documents on the shared drive folder. Remove any documentation no
longer needed. Insure that any confidential materials from previous year cases has been removed
(print copies may need to be archived).
Communication with all faculty on P&T, tenure, and FRC issues:
- Responsible for insuring PTA related documents on the PTA/FRC website, including Master
Calendar(s), are current and up to date throughout the year. May delegate page change / editing to
Committee members and/or UL/AUL office staff as appropriate.
- Chair will work with PTA Committee and with Chair of FRC to plan for and hold forums on PTA
matters. Due dates as specified in Master Calendar. Regular forums include:
- PRC Report Preparation Workshop (mandatory for PRC members and faculty being reviewed by a
PRC).
- P&T Dossier Preparation Workshop (mandatory for upcoming paper preparers and all candidates
planning to go up in fall for promotion or promotion & tenure; recommended for 4Y
candidates).
- Other forums as required by Master Calendar (e.g., 3Y PRC forum, 5Y PRC forum)
- Communicate updates from Provost's Office on tenure process to Library faculty and update all
necessary Library PTA documents in a timely fashion.
P&T related processes:
- Chair finds a PTA member to cover each joint PTA/FRC informational sessions with candidates
interviewing for tenure track appointments in the Library. PTA rep cc's PTA Chair on any comments
forwarded to Search Committee Chair. PTA Chair is responsible for insuring new PTA Committee
members familiar with responsibilities and procedures for interview candidate informational
sessions.
- Chair convenes special meeting of the PTA Committee to review any recommendations for initial
appointment to Library faculty at rank of associate professor with tenure or associate professor
with Q contract. (Consideration of recommendations for initial appointment at rank of Full
Professor require appointment of special committee per UL bylaws.)
- Though expedited, deliberations will conform to requirements of Provost Communications 3 and 5
and in spirit will be conducted with same rigor as deliberations for other P&T cases considered
by Committee.
- Chair will forward vote and a letter describing rationale for vote to UL in a timely fashion.
Letter will be signed by all members of Committee participating in deliberations.
- Chair will coordinate Committee deliberations each fall of P&T cases submitted. (Cases for
promotion to Full Professor require appointment of special committee per UL bylaws.) Due date
November 15.
- Beginning in spring, Chair should keep Committee informed as to particulars and schedule of
cases expected to come before the Committee for review in the fall and update Committee on changes
as they occur.
- Chair should insure Committee members are familiar with current recusal policies and guidelines
and should identify likely recusals early in the process to facilitate planning and scheduling of
reviews.
- Beginning in September, Chair will work with UL office staff to insure that all materials
necessary for Committee review are made available to Committee members. This will include making
available copies of all substantive publications by candidates, copies of internal and external
referee letters, and copies of dossiers. According to current procedures, PTA Committee should also
have available the recorded FRC vote (but not their letter) before completing deliberations.
- Chair will insure that final vote and substance of all deliberations for each case are recorded
and summarized. This information for each case will be transmitted by letter to the UL. Each
Committee member participating in deliberations will sign letter. In case of split vote, additional
letters representing minority opinion may be submitted in addition to letter documenting majority
recommendation.
Peer Review Committee Reports:
- PTA Chair will coordinate Committee review and assessment of 3Y PRC Reports. Due date specified
in Master Calendar.
- Beginning with appointment, PTA Chair should keep Committee informed as to particulars and
schedule for all 3Y PRC Reviews to be conducted in current year. (Note, rollback 3Y cases do not
require another 3Y review if a rigorous 3Y review was conducted in previous year.)
- Chair should insure Committee members are familiar with current recusal polices and guidelines
and should identify likely recusals early in the process to facilitate planning and scheduling of
reviews.
- Chair will work with UL office staff to insure all materials necessary for Committee review are
available to Committee members. This will include 3Y PRC reports and all letters from external (and
internal when applicable) referees.
- Chair will insure that substance of deliberations for case are summarized. Recording of
Committee vote is not required, however, letter to UL should convey consensus of Committee as to
candidate progress-to-date (ranked on a scale of 1 to 4, 1=satisfactory progress, 4=may need to
consider early termination) and as to readiness of 3Y PRC report for UL signature.
- PTA Chair will coordinate Committee critique of 0Y-3Y PRC Reports. Due date specified in Master
Calendar.
- Beginning with appointment, PTA Chair should keep Committee informed as to particulars and
schedule for all 3Y PRC critiques to be performed by Committee in current year. (PRC Reports for
rollback cases are critiqued if PRC Reports are provided, which is normally the case.)
- Chair should insure Committee members are familiar with current recusal policies and guidelines
and should identify likely recusals early in the process to facilitate planning and scheduling of
critiques.
- Chair will work with UL office staff to insure PRC Reports are available to Committee
members.
- Chair will be responsible for transmitting critiques (constructive criticism) developed by the
Committee to each PRC with cc to candidate and to UL. Critiques will address both form and
substance of the PRC Report, but are not intended directly as reviews of candidate progress-to-date
(though if consensus of the Committee on progress is markedly different than consensus of PRC as
presented in the report, this will be made clear).
- Chair insures that consensus of the Committee as to common problems with PRC reports reviewed
is summarized and presented (in the form of constructive criticism) at subsequent PRC forums.
(Last revised
3 January 2006
, twc.)
