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everyone has something of value to offer." ■ What is your position? Faculty 2% Division head 5% Associate/ assistant dean 13% Dean 50% Chairperson 29% Other 1% cent believe that the use of technology is somewhat impor- tant; 9.5 percent believe that it is extremely important. ■ Classroom teaching is the most important element of by just 73 percent of respondents. ■ Within student evaluations, professors' preparation and communication skills are the most important aspects of their from student evaluations, the department mean should carry the most weight, followed by the discipline mean. They con- sider the college mean and university mean far less important. teaching. ■ Respondents believe that, in comparing the mean scores overall annual faculty performance, rated as extremely impor- tant by 94.6 percent of the respondents. It outranks intellec- tual contributions, which is considered extremely important Thoughtful Comments AACSB members who completed the survey noted that fac- ulty evaluations also should be tied to the mission of the insti- tution. This can be problematical, as several respondents indi- cated, when schools with teaching missions are asked to place significant emphasis on intellectual contributions. With all the conflicting imperatives, it's no surprise that ■ What is your Carnegie classification? Master's/ Universities II 15.4% Master's/Universities I 31.6% research-extensive 18.4% Doctoral/ research-intensive 15.2% Doctoral/ 4% 3.8% Baccalaureate —liberal arts Baccalaureate —general Don't know 9.2% Other 1.8% Baccalaureate —associate's 0.6% faculty evaluations remain a "bucket of worms," in the words of one respondent. Another respondent succinctly summed up the views of many: "For tenured faculty, there are no con- sequences, good or bad, attached to evaluations." The process weighs heavily on administrators, many of whom would agree with this comment: "Faculty evaluation is one of the most difficult areas to quantify precisely. I can rank most of my faculty roughly. The best and worst are easiest to iden- tify. It is the middle that is difficult." One of the reasons faculty evaluations might be so prob- lematic is that many administrators perceive that every pro- fessor brings some value to the school. One dean said, "I try to consider all aspects of each faculty's contribution to our overall mission. Not everyone makes strong contribu- tions in the same areas, but everyone has something of value to offer." It is clear that different administrators place weight on dif- ferent components of the evaluation process, and many tools are necessary to determine whether or not a teacher is doing a good job. Knowing how other deans judge their professors should help administrators at all business schools design an evaluation process that is rigorous, fair, and accurate. ■ z Lawrence P. Shao is division head of economics and finance at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Lorraine P. Anderson is associate dean of Marshall's Lewis College of Business. BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2002 39