Journalism Unit-Level Committees
Approved by Journalism Unit Faculty Vote, December 8, 2017
Revised by Journalism Unit Faculty Vote, October 28, 2022
Advisory Committee (four members, elected)
As the faculty’s elected committee, the Advisory Committee serves as the leadership body of the faculty. Four elected faculty members serve staggered three-year terms and, ideally, the members should represent the variety of tenure track and non-tenure track faculty in the Journalism unit.
The charge of this committee, as per The Media School Governance Document, is to represent the unit faculty, advise the unit director, and develop and interpret unit policies. The Advisory Committee is thus responsible for writing new unit policies and evaluating existing policies for relevance and effectiveness. Working in consultation with the unit director, the committee brings new policies and any changes to the unit’s existing policies to the entire faculty for input, followed by a formal vote.
In addition, the Advisory Committee serves as an advisory board for the unit director. In this capacity, the committee also considers proposals from the faculty for any changes in administrative procedures. When the committee deems such proposals worthy of further consideration and resolution, members meet with the unit director to discuss the proposals and explore avenues for change.
Merit Review Committee (five members, 4 elected and one appointed by the director)
Comprised of five elected full-time members of the faculty (4 elected and one appointed by the director), the Merit Review Committee is responsible for evaluating all full-time faculty members in the Journalism unit. Membership of the Merit Review Committee must include at least one untenured or NTT faculty member as per The Media School merit review procedures and guidelines. Committee members are elected to two-year, staggered terms. Typically, senior TT committee member serves as the chair. The unit director serves as an ex officio member.
Following The Media School merit review policy, the committee reviews the annual research & creative activity, teaching, and service records of all full-time faculty members every year. The results of these performance evaluations are provided to the Media School Dean and Associate Dean for the purposes of determining merit pay increases. The chair of the committee also conducts, with input from the faculty, a review of the unit director.
The chair of the committee shall provide each individual faculty member with short committee feedback on that faculty’s individual performance for the previous year, no more than one paragraph long.
Materials used to review individual faculty performance include the DMAI (Digital Measures – Activity Insight), CV, student evaluations, grade distribution reports and any supplemental materials provided by the faculty member. Faculty are evaluated, as appropriate to their rank, on research, teaching, and service on the following scale 5 = Outstanding; 4 = Very Good’ 3 = Adequate; 2 = Needs Improvement’ 1 = Completely Inadequate.
Members of the committee evaluate their colleagues on the same areas of scholarly activity that they themselves are evaluated on. For example, NTTs evaluate both NTTs and TTs on teaching and service only. TTs evaluate NTTs on teaching and service only, and evaluate TTs on research and creative activity, teaching, and service. NTTs do not evaluate TTs on research and creative activity because they are not themselves being evaluated on that area.
The work of the committee spans the period January through March.
Promotion & Tenure Committee (all tenured and promoted faculty)
This committee consists of all tenured faculty members, lecturers who have been promoted to senior lecturer, and professors of practice who have completed their first major performance review. The unit director who serves as an ex-officio member coordinates and supervises the work of this committee.
This committee conducts the annual review of all probationary faculty members as required by The Media School and University policies.
This committee is also responsible for the unit’s contract renewal, tenure, and promotion processes for probationary faculty. The committee reviews the dossiers of faculty who are eligible for renewal, tenure and/or promotion and presents its evaluation and recommendations in written form to the unit director.
Following University and The Media School policies, tenured faculty on the committee review the work of probationary tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty. Non-tenure track faculty members are only allowed to review and evaluate the work of probationary non-tenure track faculty.
The annual review work of the committee takes place in the spring semester, typically during the months of February and March.
Assessment Committee (three members, appointed by unit director in consultation with committee chair)
The Assessment Committee oversees the procedures and execution of measures used to assess student learning in the B.A.J. degree relevant to ACEJMC accreditation requirements. Ideally, the members should represent the variety of tenure track and non-tenure track faculty in the unit and those teaching in the degree’s concentrations. Committee members are appointed to three-year, staggered terms. Typically, the most senior faculty member on the committee serves as the chair of the committee. The unit director serves as an ex officio member of the Assessment Committee.
Faculty Awards Committee (at least five members, appointed by unit director in consultation with committee chair)
The Faculty Awards Committee oversees the procedures for internal unit-level faculty awards, including the Gretchen Kemp Teaching Award, Gretchen Kemp Faculty Development Award, and the Ralph L. and Marjorie S. Holsinger Faculty Enrichment Fund. Ideally, the members should represent the variety of tenure track and non-tenure track faculty in the unit. This committee typically includes two previous recipients of the Gretchen Kemp Teaching Award because these faculty members are ineligible to apply for a period of three years following receipt of this particular Kemp award. The Faculty Awards Committee assists the Journalism unit in accomplishing the following tasks: publicizing the awards to appropriate audiences, soliciting nominations, responding to queries, finding appropriate external judges to evaluate Kemp Teaching Award submissions, ensuring the timely judging of applications, and selecting finalists.
Journalism Scholarship Committee (at least five faculty, appointed by unit director in consultation with the Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Director of Undergraduate Studies and the committee chair)
The Journalism Scholarship Committee—which is a subcommittee of The Media School Scholarship Committee—manages the evaluation process for judging applications and nominations and selecting Journalism students to receive competitive scholarships, fellowships, and awards. Five Journalism faculty members typically serve for a year on this committee although members may volunteer to serve for additional terms. The Director of Development and Alumni Relations, who works with the committee chair to supervise and coordinate the judging process, serves as an ex-officio member of the Journalism Scholarship Committee. Ideally, members of this committee should represent the different professional areas in the Journalism curriculum (news, public relations, advertising, visual communication and so on). Because many of these awards require service to The Indiana Daily Student, the paper’s publisher or faculty advisor also typically serves on this committee.