Guidelines When Evaluating Candidates Who Had an Academic Year During the COVID Period

* Guidance provided by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs review committees can be found here. All HHD review committees are expected to review, and be familiar with, this University guidance.

P&T committees are advised to initially review the dossier as per usual. If there are no concerns in the scholarship of education, research, or service:

Committee deliberations and reporting can proceed as usual.
Committees need not consider any comment on COVID-related issues contained in candidate narrative statements and COVID adaptation should not be an additional criteria to be evaluated.

If there are concerns (including an inability to address concerns from a prior review) in teaching, research, or service:

Committees should carefully consider:
- Any comments the candidate has made concerning COVID impact in their narrative statement, and determine whether the concerns identified could have reasonably resulted from COVID impact.
  - Concerns in scholarship of education considered COVID-related may include (but are not limited to) those resulting from COVID-prompted adjustments to teaching assignment, teaching format, or assessment.
  - Concerns in scholarship of research considered COVID-related include (but are not limited to) those resulting from University placed restrictions on research involving in-person contact with participants, access to campus, restrictions on travel, postponement or cancellation of scientific or professional meetings, administrative issues related to grants or contracts, or delays associated with peer-review.
  - Concerns in scholarship of service considered COVID-related include (but are not limited to) those resulting from diminished opportunity for department, college or university service or diminished opportunities for professional or community service.
- Any efforts described by the candidate in their narrative to adapt to the obstacles and challenges created by COVID
- Any actions described by the candidate in their narrative to position themselves to move forward in terms of scholarship, teaching, and service.
- The possibility that unplanned re-balancing of scholarship due to COVID-related impact, while creating challenges in one area, can create opportunities in another.

Committees should recognize that, while the candidate’s own narrative explanations regarding COVID impact should be considered, those explanations also need to be placed in the larger context of the general COVID impact on the candidate’s discipline and field (in particular with respect to research and professional service). The academic unit committee and head reviews will play particularly important roles in providing this context.