Developing the Toolkit (2020-21)
Faculty Evaluation Toolkit was developed in 2020-2021 through a collaboration of 12 of the 16 ACS campuses, was guided by the Associated Colleges of the South, and was funded through a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. An extension of this grant during the spring and summer of 2022 allowed four additional teams to add additional material and topics to the toolkit. It also allowed us to pursue pilot studies on two of our resources in this toolkit. These additional teams resulted in this collaborative project involving 14 of our 16 campuses in the overall project.
The following faculty, deans, provosts, faculty developers, and ACS staff worked together during the 2020-21 academic year:
- Birmingham-Southern College: Bradley Caskey, Tim Smith
- Centenary College: Karen Soul, Jeanne Hamming, Katherine Brandl
- Centre College: Ellen Goldey, Alex McAllister, Robyn Cutright
- Furman University: Jeremy Cass, Scott Henderson, Diane Boyd
- Hendrix College: Terri Bonebright, Leslie Templeton, David Sutherland
- Millsaps College: Keith Dunn, Stephanie Rolph, Emlee Nicholson
- Rhodes College: Tim Heubner, Justin Rose, Rashna Richards
- The University of Richmond: Kelling Donald, Mariela Mendez, Libby Gruner
- Rollins College: Susan Rundell Singer, Jennifer Cavenaugh, Nancy Chick
- Sewanee: Terry Papillon, Betsy Sandlin, Mark Hopwood
- Southwestern University: Alisa Gaunder, Laura Senio Blair, Kendall Richards
- Trinity University: Dee Jones, Katherine Troyer, Duane Coltharp
- Associated Colleges of the South: Stephanie Fabritius, Amanda Bussey
The work was carried out by multi-institutional teams that collected data from their campuses (e.g., interviews, focus groups, document analysis), reviewed relevant scholarship, and developed resources to support effective faculty evaluation. The teams were formed according to four broad themes: Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs), Multiple Measures of Teaching Effectiveness, Evaluating Faculty Evaluation Processes, and Supporting Faculty Being Evaluated.
During the 2020-21 academic year, each team met and worked on their particular theme, while representatives from all four teams met monthly to share resources and provide input on other teams’ resources under development. The members of each group are listed below:
Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs)
- Katherine Brandl, Chair of Mathematics at Centenary College of Louisiana
- Brad Caskey, Provost at Birmingham-Southern College
- Jeanne Hamming, Associate Dean at Centenary College of Louisiana
- Rashna Richards, Dean of Faculty Reviews at Rhodes College
- Timothy Smith, Associate Provost at Birmingham-Southern College
- Karen Soul, Provost at Centenary College of Louisiana
Evaluating Faculty Evaluation Processes
- Betsy A. Sandlin, Associate Dean for Inclusive Development and Curriculum at Sewanee: The University of the South
- Mark Hopwood, Co-director of the Center for Teaching and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Sewanee: The University of the South
- Terry Papillon, Dean of the College and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Sewanee: The University of the South
- Ellen Goldey, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at Centre College
- Robyn E. Cutright, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Centre College
- Alex McAllister, Associate Dean of the College & H.W. Stodghill Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professor of Mathematics at Centre College
- A. Scott Henderson, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Education at Furman University
- Diane Boyd, Mary Seawell Metz Executive Director, Faculty Development Center & Associate Dean Faculty Development at Furman University
Multiple Measures of Teaching Effectiveness
- Jennifer Cavenaugh, Dean of the Faculty at Rollins College
- Nancy Chick, Director of the Endeavor Foundation Center for Faculty Development at Rollins College
- Alisa Gaunder, Dean of the Faculty at Southwestern University
- Emlee Nicholson, Chair of Mathematics at Millsaps College
- Stephanie Rolph, Director of Experiential Learning and Strategic Initiatives at Millsaps College
- Laura Senio Blair, Professor of Spanish at Southwestern University
- Susan Rundell Singer, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Rollins College
Supporting Faculty Being Evaluated
- Kelling Donald, Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean at University of Richmond
- Elisabeth Gruner, Professor of English and Coordinator for Faculty Development in Teaching at University of Richmond
- Mariela Méndez, Chair of the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies and Associate Professor of LALIS & Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at University of Richmond
- Leslie Templeton, Professor of Psychology and Associate Provost for Faculty Development at Hendrix College
- Katherine A. Troyer, Assistant Director of The Collaborative for Learning and Teaching at Trinity University
Extending & Piloting the Toolkit (2022)
The following faculty, deans, provosts, faculty developers, and ACS staff worked together during the spring and summer of 2022:
- Birmingham-Southern College: Tim Smith
- Centenary College: Jeanne Hamming, Michelle Glaros, LaToya Pierce
- Centre College: Kiyona Brewster, Alex McAllister, Nisha Gupta
- Millsaps College: Emlee Nicholson
- Morehouse College: Sinead Younge
- Rhodes College: Rashna Richards, Justin Rose
- Rollins College: Nancy Chick
- Southwestern University: Alisa Gaunder
- Trinity University: Hoa Nguyen, Sarah Erickson, Jane Childers
- Washington and Lee University: Kristie Ford, Molley Michelmorem
- ACS: Stephanie Fabritius and Rachael Curtin
Like the previous phase of developing the Toolkit, this work of extending it was carried out by multi-institutional teams that collected data from their campuses (e.g., interviews, focus groups, document analysis), reviewed relevant scholarship, and developed resources to support effective faculty evaluation. The teams were formed based on four areas that the earlier group wanted us to explore further: Mitigating Biases in Faculty Evaluation, Evaluating non-traditional Teaching, Surfacing and Evaluating Hidden Workloads, and Handling Negative Faculty Evaluations.
During the spring and summer of 2022, each team met and worked on their particular theme, while representatives from all four teams periodically to share resources and provide input on other teams’ resources under development. The members of each group are listed below:
Mitigating Biases in Faculty Evaluation
- Tim Smith, Interim Provost at Birmingham-Southern College
- Jeanne Hamming, Associate Dean at Centenary College
- LaToya Pierce, Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer at Centenary College
- Kiyona Brewster, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Centre College
Handling Negative Faculty Evaluations
- Alex McAllister, Associate Dean and H.W. Stodghill, Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professor of Mathematics at Centre College
- Jane Childers, Professor of Psychology at Trinity University
- Molley Michelmorem, Department Head and Professor of History at Washington and Lee University
Surfacing and Evaluating Hidden Workloads
- Rashna Richards, Dean for Faculty Reviews and Assessment at Rhodes College
- Sarah Erickson, Assistant Professor of Communication and Co-director of Women’s and Gender Studies Minor at Trinity University
- Kristie Ford, Associate Provost of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Washington and Lee University
Evaluating Non-traditional Teaching
- Hoa Nguyen, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Trinity University
- Sinead Younge, Professor of Psychology at Morehouse University
- Emlee Nicholson, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Millsaps College
In addition, two institutions (Centre College and Southwestern University) piloted resources already in the toolkit: Nisha Gupta guided Centre College in piloting a workshop for pre-tenured faculty about the tenure process, and Alisa Gaunder guided Southwestern University’s pilot of the Toolkit’s resources to develop their own departmental class observation form.
In the Summer of 2022, Nancy Chick at Rollins College pulled the materials together to construct our online Toolkit.
Developing the Implementation Guide (2023)
In 2023, ACS received a follow-up grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to enable more ACS campuses to implement the toolkit. The goals for the Implementation Guide were to a) create a roadmap for campuses to begin the process of adopting parts of the toolkit and b) provide pathways that account for context-specific challenges or questions. During the first phase of this implementation grant, multi-institutional teams worked together to develop a supplemental implementation guide for the toolkit. Members of those teams were the following:
- Birmingham-Southern College: Kathleen Greer, Laura Stultz
- Centenary College of Louisiana: Jeanne Hamming, Karen Soul
- Centre College: Mary Daniels, January Haile
- Davidson College: Bark Barsoum
- Hendrix College: Leslie Templeton, David Sutherland
- Millsaps College: Sabrina Grondhuis, Bill Storey
- Rhodes College: Dhammi Muesse, Shana Stoddard, Rashna Richards
- Rollins College: Jennifer Queen
- Sewanee – The University of the South: Deon Miles
- Southwestern University: Laura Senio Blair, Alisa Gaunder
- Trinity University: Eddy Kwessi, Judith Norman
- ACS: Stephanie Fabritius, Mary Grace Neville
Piloting the Implementation Guide (2024)
The following campus teams conducted pilots on components of the draft implementation guide and shared their learning and feedback with ACS. Their experience and insight informed subsequent revisions and improvements to the implementation guide.
- Centenary College of Louisiana (Rebecca Murphy, Karen Soul, Chad Fulwider, Bellee Jones-Pierce, Robin Logan, James Reid, Cory Wikan, Michelle Wolkomir): Gender, Equitable Workload Distribution
- Hendrix College (Leslie Templeton): Using Student Feedback in Faculty Evaluations
- Millsaps College (Stacy DeZutter, Stan Galicki, Sabrina Grondhuis, Beth Hussa, Bill Storey)
- Rhodes College (Elizabeth Thoms, Laura Taylor, Rashna Richards): Building Awareness, Roadmap, Implementation & Feedback
- Southwestern University (Alisa Gaunder, Jessica Hower): Stakeholder Mapping
- Washington and Lee University (JT Torres, Dayo Abah, Ehi Rajsky, Jeffrey Rahl): Peer Observation
Editorial Advisory Committee (2024)
As we concluded this project, in fall 2024 the following individuals provided feedback and editorial guidance on the overall usability and organization of the toolkit and supplemental guide. Their insights informed final revisions to the suite of tools.
- Centenary College of Louisiana: Rebecca Murphy
- Furman University: Diane Boyd
- Hendrix College: Leslie Templeton
- Millsaps College: Stephanie Rolph
- Rhodes College: Elizabeth Thomas
- Southwestern University: Alisa Gaunder
- Washington and Lee University: JT Torres
In the summer of 2025, Nancy Chick (Rollins College) updated the online Toolkit and incorporated the refined Implementation Guide.