Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission SCOF

The Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission ("SCOF") oversees and advises SEC on matters relating to the University's policies and procedures concerning the academic mission, including the structure of the academic staff, the tenure system, faculty appointments and promotions, faculty research, and faculty governance. In general, the Committee deals with the matters covered by the following sections of the University's Handbook for Faculty and Academic Administrators: I.E.-F., H.2., II.A.-D.

Specific Charges, 2021-2022

1. Address systemic racism and other forms of inequity by assessing and evaluating ways to change University structures, practices, and biases at the University, school, departmental, and individual levels.  Examples include eligibility for leadership roles, differential standards for faculty evaluation based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information,, department-level voting privileges, biases implicit in quantitative methods for evaluating faculty, evaluation of effectiveness of campus mental health and wellness programs.
2. Following the recent recommendation of SCOF, propose a draft amendment to the Faculty Handbook that would require school and/or departmental faculties to formalize bylaws and/or standing rules that address voting privileges, hiring procedures, rights and privileges of faculty by rank, committee appointment processes, and related matters.
3. Review and comment on Instructor and Course Evaluation Reports with a focus on their uses in student course selection, improvement of the quality of delivered courses, and hiring, tenure, promotion, and merit-based salary increase decisions. 
4. Jointly with SCSEP, review and comment on existing methods for eliciting student feedback to enhance learning experiences. Examples include mid-course or ongoing feedback mechanisms available to the instructor to aid in course re-thinking and re-direction and in the identification of students who may need assistance. 
5. Review working definitions of “engaged scholarship” in departments and schools that have determined it should be counted in faculty activity reports, monitor the extent to which standards are articulated for them, and recommend ways in which broader impacts of engaged scholarship might be recognized and rewarded in the promotion and compensation process. 

SCOF 2021-2022 Membership

• J. Margo Brooks Carthon (Nursing), Co-Chair
• Ariana Chao (Nursing)
• Struan Grant (PSOM/Pediatrics)
• Rebecka Peebles (PSOM/Pediatrics), Co-Chair
• Alexander Reiter (Vet Medicine)
• Amy Stornaiuolo (GSE)
• Julia Ticona (Annenberg)
• Ex officio:
  • Roger Allen (SAS/NELC), PASEF non-voting representative
  • A representative of the Senate Tri-Chairs

• 2020-2021
• 2019-2020
• 2018-2019
• 2017-2018
• 2016-2017
• 2015-2016
• 2014-2015
• 2013-2014
• 2012-2013
• 2011-2012

Guidelines for Faculty Track Change Requests from Schools

For schools wishing to amend the faculty tracks laid out in the Faculty Handbook, the above Guidelines (approved by the Faculty Senate in 2011) must be followed for purposes of the Senate's review.  Any supporting documentatoin, including records of approvals in School faculty meetings, should be routed to the Office of the Provost, which then relays the information to the Senate together with a cover letter indicating the Office's position on the proposal. 

The documentation is then reviewed by the Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission (SCOF), which will reach out to the School with questions or clarification requests.  SCOF meets monthly between September and April.  Upon approval by SCOF, it is then reviewed by the Senate Executive Committee (SEC).  Upon SEC approval, the Senate's review of the proposal is concluded.