SME Video Transcript

>> Hi, I’m Katharine Stewart, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professor of Psychology, here at NC State.

>> This video is designed to answer three common questions about statements of mutual expectations or SMEs. Not every institution uses SMEs. So if you’re new to NC State, the concept of SMEs may be new to you, too. Even if you’ve been here a while, you still may have questions about what they are and how they can be used.

>> Faculty develop their SMEs in collaboration with their department head to clarify how the faculty member’s goals connect to the overall work of the department. Different departments have developed their own ways of creating and using SMEs, however, there are some core principles that should apply across the board.

>> One of the most common questions I hear, is what should be included in an SME. First, it should include approximate percentages of effort that you’ll spend across the various realms of faculty responsibility. Note that these percentages don’t always correspond with funding. You might be doing some mentoring during your research work, or doing scholarly work during your engagement activities, so these percentages are rough estimates by their nature.

>> Your SME should include brief descriptions or examples of the type of work you’ll be doing across the various realms. Be careful about misplaced precision here. It’s not required that you specify exact course names or journals, etc. Although, some departments like to include some guidelines or examples along these lines.

>> Your SME should also reference how the work described relates to the standards for reappointment, promotion, tenure, or post-tenure review within your department or college. And finally, each time a change is made to your SME, include the date and a one or two sentence summary of the change that was made.

>> A second common question is how does an SME relate to the tenure or promotion process. SMEs provide the context for applying departmental and college standards. For example, how much emphasis should be given to the standard surrounding teaching or scholarship to someone with an 80% scholarship effort, versus an 80% teaching effort. Therefore, it’s important that your SME be an accurate picture of how you have balanced your effort across the realms of responsibility and how that effort has changed over time to provide context to departmental voting faculty and college RPT committee members, especially people who may be less familiar with your work. However, fulfilling the responsibilities outlined in the SME is not sufficient for award of tenure or promotion in rank. Those decisions are based not only on what you’ve done, but the quality and impact of your work, which is documented in your promotion or tenure dossier.

>> Based on what I have said so far, it should be clear that SMEs are likely to change over the course of a career. So when should SMEs be reviewed and revised? Key times to review your SME with your department head and consider any needed revisions include your annual review, when you receive a promotion in rank or receive tenure, when you have a significant change in responsibility, such as an administrative appointment, a major service role, or substantial change in your teaching load, or when you have an incoming new or interim department head.

>> I hope this video’s been helpful for you. For more information, I encourage you to first contact your department head. You may also reach out to your college’s RPT liaison, or to me. And please also check out the links at the end of this video, which include a link to NC State’s policy on SMEs as well as a link to a template you may find useful. Thanks for listening.