Annual Performance Review

The University of Arizona uses an online system, UA Vitae, for the annual performance review of its faculty. Postdoctoral fellows are required to participate in this assessment. The information collected is reviewed first by the Postdoctoral Committee, which provides feedback on each postdoctoral fellow's scholarship taking into account the candidate's career goals, and then by the Department Head.

Purpose of the annual review

The annual performance review provides an opportunity for each postdoc to reflect on their accomplishments and career directions. The Postdoctoral Committee performs a summative assessment of each dossier. It conveys its overall evaluation of the candidate's activities and makes suggestions to improve their teaching, research, or service portfolios. The Department Head reviews this feedback and provides additional comments as needed.

Ratings

Teaching, research, and service contributions are rated against 4 categories:

• 1: Unsatisfactory,

• 2: Needs improvement, 

• 3: Meets (M) / Exceeds (E) expectations, and

• 4: Truly outstanding.

Both the Postdoctoral Committee and the Department Head provide such ratings. Additionally, the Postdoctoral Committee will provide written feedback that distinguishes between meeting and exceeding expectations.

Expectations

The Postdoctoral Committee has high expectations and M  (Meets expectations) is the most frequently assigned rating. Below are elements of a candidate's portfolio to which the committee pays particular attention. A plus (+) means the corresponding activities are favorably viewed, whereas a minus (-) indicates performance below expectations. 

Teaching

• Mentoring students (e.g. as part of the modeling course): +

• Absence of reflection on teaching efforts: -

• Students' comments in TCE reports: (a) if comments are not provided and the TCE scores are average: - (b) if comments are strong or if there is a good reflection on how the candidate plans to improve their teaching based on students' comments: +

• Running independent studies (MATH 399/499 or MATH 320/420): +

• Participating in professional development activities (teaching certificates, participation in teaching or diversity workshops): +

• Developing courses: +

• Running the UTA program: +

Research

• Independence: +

• Research production: (+) if strong, (-) if lacking

• Research visibility (invited talks, participation in conferences): +

• Research grants: +

Service

• Organization of local seminar or postdoc program activities: +

• Organization of workshops or mini-symposia at national or international conferences: +

• Participation in our Math or Teachers' Circles: +

• Participation in outreach activities: +

• Meeting with prospective postdocs at JMM: +

How to enter your information

Go to UA Vitae and log in with your NetID. On the homepage, you should see an item requesting input, with a due date and a link. Follow the link and populate the following sections (no need to work on any of the others).

Teaching: Credit Bearing Courses

• The courses you taught should have been prepopulated (in Section A for Spring and Section B for Fall) .

• Use Section C to upload syllabi and course evaluations. To find your teaching evaluations, go to UAccess and select Analytics / Reporting. Then go to the TCE - Teacher Course Evaluation dashboard. Find and download the print reports, including students' comments. Then upload these files in UAVitae.

CV Upload

• Upload a CV in PDF format. 

• Your CV should be organized following the template provided in our shared folder (access restricted to postdocs).

• You do not have to use the above template, but the order in which the information is presented should be the same as in the template.

• Your CV should include a personal statement and a discussion of your accomplishments and challenges while a postdoc in the department. Do not limit your comments to research activities. It is also important to reflect on your teaching and service contributions.