|
Last Updated: Oct 22nd, 2008 - 01:45:45 |
It’s been a long road for Metro’s pay for performance program, but the completion is in sight.
Pay for performance (P4P) is a merit-based pay system, used to reward faculty members for work annually in four areas: teaching; advising and student support; college and community service; and scholarship.
|
Professor Larry Collette entertains Jared Ming and the rest of his students with the many different facts about the history of TV and radio during his introduction to TV and radio class. Beginning in the spring semester, professors will be eligible for rewards for their performance. (Photo by Cora Kemp•ckemp4@mscd.edu)
|
Faculty are rated in each of the four areas on three levels: excellent, exceptional and extraordinary, and would receive an award for their work during the previous year based on that rating.
Faculty members could get in award for their work in all four areas.
Work is being completed on the final part of the P4P guidelines, which will outline the amount faculty members will be awarded for each of the areas.
“The trustees wanted to give something to recognize performance,” Provost Linda Curran said.
No other college in Colorado has a P4P system, Metro spokeswoman Cathy Lucas said, meaning all eyes will be on Metro to see how the program works.
The money for the awards comes from a $2 million fund built into the budget set aside for the program by the Metro Board of Trustees.
The award will be added into the faculty member’s yearly salary, with the program officially beginning next semester. Awards will be added to the 2009-2010 salary.
As P4P is non-base building money, or different from a pay raise, faculty members were concerned that it would replace salary adjustments.
“Faculty were really concerned this not be used in place of cost-of-living adjustments,” Curran said, noting that the college is addressing other ways to fix the problems with equity, or annual salary amounts, starting with changes to the annual departmental evaluations.
“Annual evaluations guidelines weren’t a level playing ground,” Curran said.
Those evaluation system will be altered, doing away with the previous system of letter grades and replacing them with the categories “needs improvement,” “meets standards” or “exceeds standards.”
“If you don’t have some sort of rules, certain people are apt get recognized,” Curran said.
These new guidelines were given to Metro deans on Oct. 13. They must be approved and passed onto the vice president of academic affairs by Nov. 3.
Faculty and department chairs must then also approve the new guidelines by Dec. 15, so that the program can begin when school reconvenes for the spring semester.
Metro will also continue to look at ways to make adjustments to equity, something the faculty has made a point of bringing up during discussions about P4P.
“If you don’t fix all of these things, it undermines what you’re trying to do with pay for performance,” Curran said.
The faculty was also concerned that the program could be divisive and cause competition among professors, Faculty Senate President Lynn Kaersvang said. “Initially, there was a lot of trepidation,” she said.
Faculty concerns about this and several other issues delayed the institution of the plan, Kaersvang said.
“Part of the question is ‘Do we like and can we live with it?’” Kaersvang said.
Though the faculty does not unanimously approve of the plan, it’s moving ahead and a committee will be formed to oversee the program, evaluating how well it is working and what areas need to be fixed. “We need to be able to address issues and concerns as they come up,” Kaersvang said.
Curran said Metro will continue to look at and overhaul other areas, including departmental evaluations and salaries, that must be fixed for the P4P program to work.
“It was a trust issue. The faculty had to trust that these issues would be fixed,” she said.
The P4P funding will not be affected by the recent cost containing measures instituted by President Stephen Jordan.
“In order for the trustees to cut funding, we’d have to declare a state of financial exigency,” Curran said.
|
|
|
