University Senate

Proposal 11-16

The University Senate of Michigan Technological University

Proposal 11-16  (amended 10-05-16) (editorial changes 10-12-16)
(Voting Units: Full Senate)

“Amending Senate Procedure 503.1.1, Evaluation Procedure for the President”

PDF version of Proposal 11-16

Proposal

It is proposed to make the following changes to Senate Procedure 503.1.1, Evaluation Procedure for the President

  1. Editorial changes to improve the language of the procedure
  2. The Evaluation covers the President and the University executive team, and is not intended to provide direct evaluation of named members of the executive team.
  3. Specific wording has been added that describes how the President can provide information to allow respondents to evaluate effectiveness of the University leadership.
  4. The length of time when the survey remains open is extended to approximately four weeks from two weeks.
  5. The employment status of the respondents will be recorded for statistical analysis.
  6. To enhance the integrity of the survey, and maintain the security and privacy of the respondents  the APC will consult with IT Services on the choice of the  best on-line survey platform.
  7. In order to improve the quality of the survey, the Senate Administrative Policy Committee will seek the advice of experts in designing  the instrument and conducting  the survey.

    8.  Remove the following text from the procedure:  "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."

APPENDIX 

The University Senate of Michigan Technological University

Evaluation Procedure for the President 

Senate Procedures 503.1.1

Regular evaluation of the President of Michigan Technological University by the faculty and staff can serve as the basis for  open communication, healthy exchange of information, and a shared responsibility for the University's direction. This procedure allows for evaluation via a survey available to all Michigan Tech’s regular full time and part-time non-student employees. 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.   Evaluation Frequency and Format 

The President will be evaluated every year.

The evaluation will be conducted using a web-based survey platform that will permit reasonable anonymity and confidentiality of the respondents identities to remain confidential to the maximum extent possible. For example, the survey shall not record the computer identity (name, MAC address, IP address, etc).  The Senate Administrative Policy Committee (APC) will consult with IT Services in the selection of the appropriate survey platform. The survey  will only be made available once to eligible respondents. Respondents will have  the choice of requesting  a paper copy of the survey from the Senate Office. 

The survey will include the official position description of the President, and a statement provided by the President detailing the current goals, achievements, and resource constraints associated with his or her work.  Furthermore, the President may provide a URL to appear on the survey that can provide Information (reports, additional web pages) relevant to evaluating his/her work over the past year.

The questionnaire section will contain closed ended scale-based questions.  Prompts and spaces for  comments  will also be provided.

The APC should aim to use a core set of questions every year, in order to allow for year- to -year comparisons. Additional questions may be considered for inclusion in any year.  Suggestions for additional or alternate questions can be put forward by   may be  made to the APC, by the President, senators, Senate constituents, or other stakeholders, but decisions about the inclusion and wording of questions is the responsibility of the APC. or the respondents.

The goal of this evaluation is to provide feedback to the President regarding his or her effectiveness and the effectiveness of his or her executive team.  It is not intended to provide direct evaluation of the performance of specific or named members of the executive team.

A sample questionnaire can be obtained from the Senate Office.

2.   Evaluation Procedures

The evaluation will be conducted during the spring semester and will be supervised by the APC.  The APC will seek the advice of experts  when designing the instrument and conducting  the survey. The  APC will prepare the survey instrument in the preceding fall semester.

In the fall semester, the APC will request from the President a current position description and a statement (see Section 1) to be submitted by the beginning of the spring semester.

The surveys will be distributed to respondents by the fifth week of spring semester, and will be open for response for approximately four weeks.

The survey will collect the employment status of the respondents, (eg: faculty, professional staff,  union staff, etc). 

The committee will use standard practices for data analysis and presentation.  A summary of the descriptive results (frequencies and mean scores) and comments will be made in 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/she will be invited to submit a brief statement in response. The written report and the response from the President will be posted on the Senate website by the end of spring semester and it will remain on the website at least until the end of the next academic year. One copy of the report will be filed in the Senate office, and one copy will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees.

Appendix: Sample questionnaire 

President’s Job description (as appears at https://www.mtu.edu/bot/governance/policies/chapter2/sections/2.01-2.05.html#pres
Statement from the President
Questions asking for comments
Questions asking for scaled responses

Introduced to Senate: January 20, 2016
Amended at Senate Meeting: February 3, 2016
Approved by Senate: February 3, 2016
Word-smith: February 9, 2016
Approved by Administration Pending Acceptance of Editorial Changes: April 22, 2016
Sent back to committee by Senate: September 7, 2016
Senate approved the administration's editorial changes: October 5, 2016
Senate offered amendment to proposal: October 5, 2016
Editorial changes made in red: October 12, 2016
Approved by Administration: December 20, 2016