Teaching: English faculty continue to provide quality instruction which is indicated by our IDEA scores. We had noted one way to try to help our lecturers (adjunct faculty) raise their average scores through one-on-one meetings with the department chair. This did not occur, for in February, 2015, we saw a change in the chair, as the previous chair resigned and an interim chair as appointed. As that interim chair, I was not involved with the OATDB until late in the Spring 2016 semester. Should the IDEA scores for individual teachers fall below the university’s average, I will schedule an informal conference with each teacher to offer help in raising those scores.

We did have mandatory meetings at the beginning of the Fall 2015 semester to discuss the syllabus and requirements for the courses our adjuncts teach, so we fulfilled that part of the previous Plan for Continuous Improvement.

We did not publish IDEA scores anonymously, for, as noted above, I was not involved with the OATDB until late.

Finally, the PCI for IDEA scores was partially met. Full faculty (that is, tenured/tenure-track faculty) exceeded the 4.4 mark with an average of 4.5, and TAs (Graduate Assistants) met the projected mark of 4.3. Adjuncts fell below the 4.3 projection with an average score of 4.2.

Research: With the change in departmental administration, Nuntii Evansensis has not been published. Instead, we publicized faculty research accomplishments by providing faculty with the file labeled “English Faculty 2014 FES Summary Form,” which provides a detailed list of all the publications (published, accepted for publication but not yet in print, and submitted), conference presentations, and service activities. Each entry is listed by faculty member, title, and venue. Thus, the faculty have been made aware of the department’s research and publication activities as well as grant activities (those submitted and those awarded). To remark faculty research accomplishments, individual books are noted via email to the faculty from the interim chair, when the faculty notify me of acceptance or publication.

We continue our First Friday Faculty Forum which provided faculty a venue for presenting their research to their colleagues. These meetings are generally well-attended and include both graduate and undergraduate students who wish to attend. Further, individual faculty have gathered in small interest groups to discuss research plans and projects and so to share research progress.

One part of the PCI noted that faculty “who did not publish during the previous evaluation period will be invited to a positive brainstorming session with the chair to identify areas of new research and realistic venues of publication.” This has not occurred in that specific format, again due in part to my coming to the OATDB late. However, I did discuss research plans with faculty during the annual evaluation conference required by the university. In this discussion, I asked about progress toward publication and whether the faculty member needed any specific support that the department could provide. Further, as I reviewed faculty research activities, I found that 22 of 24 faculty (92%) reported some kind of research activity, whether they published a piece of scholarship, saw something accepted for publication, submitted something for publication, or made a conference presentation. Of the two who reported no activity, one of those is an active writer for whom 2014 was an off year.

Finally, the PCI projections for research were partially met. We projected 45 publications; we saw 49. We projected at least 27 conference presentations; we saw 40. And as noted in the preceding paragraph, 87.5% of our faculty either published or presented, so we did not meet the third goal of 100% of the faculty either publishing or presenting. Despite this, I am confident that English faculty are active scholars whose research has a positive impact on both their teaching and the profession in general.

Service: We met our goal here. That is, 100% of English faculty participated in various service activities.