ELAF 786 Academic Leadership in H.E.
Summary 2 – Faculty Productivity
By: Ronald M. Oler, Ph.D. – First Published on October 4, 2006.

Measuring Faculty Productivity is a sensitive topic in academe and it seems to have shifted over recent decades from the individual’s to the institution’s perspective. Every institution will have its own rubrics for measuring faculty productivity. Some larger institutions, especially research universities, will be divided into colleges and schools which may have a different set of rubrics. Furthermore, these colleges and schools may be sub-divided into departments and programs. Therefore, no one simple tool exists with which all faculty can be measured. Productivity must be calculated in light of the individuals, programs, departments, schools, colleges, and university’s mission, vision, and goals.
Working toward agreed-upon and well-defined short- and long-term goals, that lead to fulfillment of a group’s goals should be the first rubric in measuring faculty productivity. Because goals lead to mission fulfillment and mission fulfillment lead to the success of the institution, which should be the end game. The following are some areas that should be considered when creating a formula to measure faculty productivity:
 Evidence of working toward and meeting or exceeding the faculty member’s individual goals and objectives
 Evidence of working toward and meeting or exceeding the group’s goals and objectives including:
o Teaching load
 Quantity of courses taught
 Quality of instruction (measured by students, peers, and supervisors)
o Research load
 Number of publications
o Service load (both internal and external to the institution)
 Quantity of student advising
 Quality of student advising
 Departmental meetings attended and level of participation on committees (also ties into service load)
 Office hours posted and kept
o Continuing education
o Conferences attended and presentations delivered

Further development of a rubric for measuring faculty productivity would include weighting or factoring the items listed above by rank of importance to the faculty member and their working group – program, department, school, college, etc. Also, any rubric developed to measure faculty productivity must also consider quality in the mix. Some evaluative measure of the quality of teaching, research, and service must also be considered.
Also, some stakeholders have recommended that student learning, persistence, graduation rates, and employment after graduation statistics should also be factors when measuring faculty productivity. But, student persistence, graduation rates, and employability will include factors outside of the faculty’s control including: socio-economic status, cognitive abilities, personal preferences, and other choices and activities pursued by the students. In closing, faculty should only be held accountable for those factors they can control.