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Faculty Activity and Merit Evaluation (FAME)

Faculty at Emory College of Arts and Sciences undergo multiple forms of review:

  • Annual Faculty Activity and Merit Evaluation (FAME) of both teaching-track and tenure-track faculty
  • Teaching-Track Faculty 

The annual review that is common to both tenure-track faculty and teaching-track faculty is referred to as the Faculty Activity and Merit Evaluation (FAME). This review occurs at the departmental level and is coordinated between faculty members and the chair of their department or the director of their program. Faculty report their yearly progress and activity through Faculty 180 which is supported through Interfolio/Facet.

Through this merit review process, tenure-track faculty are generally evaluated on four categories of activity: research, teaching, service, and advising. Teaching-track faculty are generally evaluated on three categories of activity: teaching, service, and advising (research evaluations are included when applicable). Chairs and directors who complete faculty evaluations should treat these categories as fluid, since many valuable faculty activities fall into multiple categories. Chairs and directors also have the option to comment on and consider faculty members’ DEI/antiracism efforts and activities in their annual merit evaluation. At all times, faculty should be compared to faculty at a similar rank and in similar fields. Equally important, those who perform evaluations should recognize that the proportion of these activities may differ from one faculty to the next, and as the duties of a faculty member change (for instance, a Director of Graduate Studies will devote less time to classroom teaching and more to administering a graduate program, or a faculty member on leave will not be evaluated on teaching and some service activities). ECAS seeks to take a broad view of the activities of faculty, and to recognize all contributions that faculty make to the university.

Faculty 180 in Interfolio/Facet allows faculty to enter all professional activities into one system that can then be used to also generate CVs, biosketches, annual activity reports, etc. All tenure-track and teaching-track faculty will enter their activity information encompassing the past academic year (i.e. May 2023 – April 2024, or Summer 2023, Fall 2023, and Spring 2024). This reporting was previously done through a system that was referred to as OFARs. An advantage of Faculty 180 is that it is open year-round, and faculty may enter their activities at any time. Faculty 180 features a COVID-19 designation and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) designation that faculty can add to research, teaching, and/or service activities. 

Teaching-track and tenure-track faculty should fill out an annual FAME report in the Interfolio/Facet Faculty 180 system (usually near the end of the spring semester), so that their chair or director has an accurate accounting of their faculty activity. For the AY 2023-2024, all activity reports should be completed by regular faculty by April 30, 2024 in order to be considered for a merit review. Extensions will not be possible. Departments or programs may have an earlier deadline; faculty should check with their chair or director. Chairs and directors will then complete and submit a standard activity and merit evaluation form provided by the College administration within the Interfolio system. This evaluation form assesses faculty activity through the following rankings: exceptional, commendable, meets expectations, improvement recommended, and unsatisfactory. If the faculty member wishes to write a response to the review, a response can be submitted to the chair/director and uploaded within Interfolio. Chairs and directors are also strongly encouraged to discuss their evaluations in person or over zoom with faculty, particularly when faculty may be nearing consideration for promotion to another rank, or when there are concerns about the performance of a faculty member.

Evaluations of regular faculty remain in the faculty file maintained by the Office of Faculty as long as the faculty member remains employed by Emory.

Merit evaluations for faculty members who hold joint appointments will be completed by their tenure home department chair with input from the chair/director of the other department/program. In most cases, the Dean of ECAS will directly evaluate those faculty who are serving as a department chair or program director. They may also directly evaluate ECAS faculty whose status or responsibilities require them to report directly to the Dean.

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