RVCC 2019 NECHE Self-Study

faculty are eligible to move up a level after six successful semesters of teaching at the
College as outlined in Article 16 of the Adjunct CBA. Adjunct faculty must identify their
request for promotion in writing to their supervisor who will ensure that the proper
evaluations have been completed and make a recommendation to the VPAA. The VPAA is
responsible for the final decision.
The process of promotion for full-time faculty is more involved and is outlined in Article XI
of the Full-time Faculty CBA. Faculty are eligible to promote between levels after a
specified period of time at the previous level. Promotion entails the submission of a
portfolio which is evaluated by a committee of Master Teacher Fellows of the faculty
member’s peers. Master Teacher Fellows must hold an academic rank at or above the
rank the faculty member is seeking to promote to. In addition to portfolio review, the
Master Teacher Fellows also observes the faculty member in the classroom, interviews
students, interviews the faculty member’s colleagues and supervisor, and uses a
standardized rubric which grades the faculty member on five areas: Teaching & Learning
Effectiveness, Academic Contributions, Service to Students, Service to
Institution/System/Community, and Professional Growth & Development. To obtain
promotion, the faculty member must meet minimum standards on the promotion rubric for
the level they are seeking.
Appraisal of Faculty & Academic Staff
The faculty and staff at RVCC are a small, but dedicated group of employees who work
together to support the students and the mission of the College. Faculty and staff are
hired, evaluated, retained, and promoted through a clear set of policies outlined by the
CCSNH Board of Trustees and further clarified via the Collective Bargaining Agreements.
Each employee unit; faculty, staff, and adjunct faculty, are represented by their own
unions which negotiate each respective Collective Bargaining Agreement.
One discrepancy related to hiring that has been identified occurred as result of a previous
Interim President, who set a standard that the search committee for faculty should
specifically excluded the Program Director (PD) or Department Chair (DC) to which the
incoming faculty member would be reporting. The thought behind this was that the PD or
DC might influence the hiring committee. However, faculty voiced dissent at this process
and identified that specific necessary qualifications, known intimately by the PD or DC may
not be evaluated if they were not seated on the interview team. Under the current
administration, this has been rectified and the PD or DC is always seated, and often chairs,
the interview team. The team makes a recommendation for the candidate of choice to the
President. The President considers the recommendation of the interview team, but is
ultimately responsible for appointment of the position.
At times the salary discrepancy between practitioner and faculty member causes some
difficulty in recruiting faculty to open positions, particularly in the areas of Allied Health.
For example, the Radiologic Technology program experienced difficulty recruiting a Clinical
Coordinator. This contributed to the program being placed on probation with their national
accrediting agency, JCERT. After one and one half years of vacancy, the Clinical
Coordinator positon was filled in December of 2018. In another example, in Spring of
2018, the position of Fieldwork Coordinator of the Occupational Therapy Assistant program
was vacant during the program self-study visit. This vacancy contributed to the
probationary status of the OTA program. The Fieldwork Coordinator position was filled in
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