WNCC 2010 Self-Study Report - Western Nebraska Community ...

Faculty and Staff
The integrity of a College’s employees is a vital component to the success of the institution.
WNCC sustains the integrity of internal constituents, namely faculty, administrative, professional,
and support staff through the direction of the Office of Human Resources and by following policies
and procedures outlined in the Board of Governors’ Policy Manual and the Faculty and Staff
Handbook.
The current Vice President of Human Resources and Institutional Development has been in this
position since 1981, providing stability and knowledge to the operations of the office. WNCC
assures integrity in its hiring practices by following the hiring policies established and published by
the Board of Governors (RR 27). This policy assures consistency and fairness related to
announcements of vacancies, criteria for selection, and procedures for selection, including the
transfer of employees. The selection committee is also given the charge of routinely conducting
reference checks and degree audits for new hires. Additionally, WNCC adheres to federal
guidelines for equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion,
national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, or military veteran status (RR 28).
Employee performance quality for administrative, professional, support, and part-time staff is
maintained through an evaluation process generated through the office of Human Resources.
Yearly collaborative evaluations occur at conferences between supervisees and supervisors in
which attainment or achievement goals set previously are evaluated, along with job performance.
New goals are established and endorsed by both individuals. These staff evaluations are filed in
the Human Resources office.
Faculty evaluations are generated through each Division Chair and reviewed by the Dean and the
Vice President of Educational Services. New full-time faculty members are evaluated each
semester during the first two academic years of employment. Veteran full–time faculty members
were originally scheduled to be evaluated every sixth semester, although the College attorney has
recently recommended that these evaluations should be conducted only on an as-needed basis
(need being based upon a reasonable cause such as a number of serious student concerns). All
evaluations for full-time faculty members are kept in individual personnel files housed in the Office
of Human Resources. Adjunct instructors are also evaluated. Those evaluations are kept in files
at the Dean of Educational Services area.
Faculty and staff policies and procedures are found in the Board of Governor’s Policy Manual
available on line via the WNCC homepage, www.wncc.edu and in the Faculty and Staff Handbook,
which informs the internal constituency of the organizational structure, shared governance
structure, council and committee organization chart, policies and procedures, faculty professional
responsibilities and academic freedom, educational service departments, and student support
services. The Faculty Handbook, revised in fall of 2008 and generated through the Educational
Services office, preserves the integrity of WNCC by specifically stating the institution’s
expectations, policies and procedures in one convenient document applicable to both faculty and
staff. The manual is also available online.
The Dean of Educational Services handles complaints and grievances from instructional personnel.
According to the Dean, most complaints are handled at the lowest level possible. The Vice
President of Human Resources indicated that to the best of his knowledge WNCC has had four
Western Nebraska Community College Page 59