Faculty Information
Union Representation
Faculty at Evergreen voted in October, 2006, to be represented by United Faculty of Evergreen (UFE), a union affiliated with United Faculty of Washington State. Compensation and working conditions are bargained collectively between the administration and the UFE. The Collective Bargaining Agreement, or contract, is an important document covering your rights and responsibilities. You may read it at http://www.evergreen.edu/provost/bargaining.htm or at http://www.ufevergreen.org/ The most current agreement spans 2015-2017. For information on UFE membership, contact the UFE Chair, faculty member Grace Huerta at gracehue@gmail.com.
Your Contract
Each year, you will receive a salary letter and/or a yearly contract that lists your teaching assignment, experience year, salary, and the quarter(s) you teach. It also states you must attend the relevant Academic Fair(s). Academic Fairs are held towards the end of each quarter from 4-6pm so students have a chance to speak with you and pick up a syllabus.
At the Academic Fair, it is a good idea to have 2-3 relevant texts for potential students to examine. Faculty sit at individual tables, each of which are numbered. Academic Fair dates are included in the Campus Calendar which is available on the web page at http://www.evergreen.edu/campuscalendar/ataglance.htm.
Types of appointments to the faculty in Evening and Weekend Studies
There are Regular Half-Time Faculty Members (on term or continuing contracts) teaching in programs, some also offering an additional course. These 10 faculty comprise the Planning Unit for Evening and Weekend Studies. Their appointments include governance work, such as participation on policy task forces (DTFs), membership on the Faculty Agenda Committee, or work on other issues that contributes to college governance.
The majority of our faculty in Evening and Weekend Studies are Adjunct Faculty Members with one year or multi-year appointments teaching either in half-time programs or courses. Some participation in college governance is expected of all faculty. The Faculty Agenda Committee will send out a request for your preferences and may ask you to take a specific assignment.
Faculty Handbook
The official faculty handbook is on the Evergreen web page at http://www.evergreen.edu/policies/category/faculty.htm It contains the official college policies relating to all aspects of your work. Some of the following sections may be particularly relevant to you. Please keep in mind that the Handbook is an evolving document, so check it periodically for up-dates.
Adjunct Members of the Faculty: Rights and Benefits
Like regular members of the faculty, adjunct faculty are invited to attend faculty meetings, where they may vote on faculty issues. They also have access to funds for professional travel, can participate in faculty development workshops, and have use of shared office space with computers, printers, telephones and support from a program secretary. Health and retirement benefits are provided for adjunct faculty teaching at least half time for two consecutive quarters. If you are entitled to retirement benefits, please note that one can refuse retirement benefits for the first two years of teaching, but after that, contributions are automatically deducted and forms must be filled out or the money will sit in account drawing no interest.
Evaluation of Adjunct Faculty in Evening and Weekend Studies
At Evergreen we assess everything we do, including our own teaching and that of our colleagues. In your first year of teaching at Evergreen, you will go through an evaluation process described below. Then, every three years of teaching, you will have another evaluation. Your first evaluation will review only one year of teaching, but the subsequent ones will review the intervening years, so you need to organize and keep all relevant material.
It’s important to keep your teaching materials and all evaluations well-organized so that you can assemble your portfolio for review. Be sure to write a self-evaluation and evaluations of your colleagues every year, even if you will not be evaluated that year.
Steps in Evaluation of Evening and Weekend Studies Adjunct Faculty:
Your Dean will observe a class, generally a seminar or interactive workshop of your choosing.
- Within a week or two, by phone or in person, the dean will briefly share their observations with you so you have some immediate feedback.
- After you receive all copies of the evaluations of students you have written, you need to assemble your teaching portfolio. You should write a one-to-three page self-evaluation which discusses your teaching. Identify your goals, techniques used and personal assessment of their effectiveness. You should also discuss your governance and/or community service and your professional development activities. You may want to include other issues such as curricular innovations, your personal research, and other issues related to Evening and Weekend Studies. For full portfolio requirements, see the article of the Collective Bargaining Agreement entitled, Adjunct Faculty Review. See the Union Representation section, above, for the link to the CBA.
Please do not make copies of your portfolio, since it will be returned to you. Your dean will write an evaluation of your teaching based on observation of your teaching, the subsequent conversation, and information in your portfolio. You will have the opportunity to discuss the dean’s evaluation of you in an evaluation conference, and you will place that evaluation in your portfolio.
Creating a portfolio is a useful reflective process that helps you develop and grow as a teacher. For this reason, the organization of your portfolio is important. You can submit your portfolio in a variety of forms, and as long as it is well organized, your dean has no preferences. Most faculty put the required materials for each course or program in a 3-ring binder or in separate folders in a box. Please submit your portfolio to the Academic Deans front desk one week in advance of your scheduled evaluation conference so the dean has a chance to review it thoroughly.
The most important outcome of this evaluation process has been a greater understanding on the dean’s part of each and every faculty member’s dedication to teaching and to Evergreen. For the faculty in Evening and Weekend Studies, it has been an honoring and valuing of their contributions which, too often, are hidden from others.