A Bauer College staff leader is exploring the appraisal system in her Ph.D. Candidacy research study “A Phenomenological Study of Latina Faculty Experiences with the Performance Appraisal at Public Research Universities in Texas.”

Through this research, Maria Honey, who serves as director of the college's Stanford Alexander Center for Real Estate (SACRE), is raising the question of how social contributions should impact higher education faculty performance appraisals, which typically assess quantitative measures like number of publications and teaching evaluations.

“I found that a lot of the meaningful work they do — community outreach, facilitating communications, and their equity-focused research and scholarship — is appreciated and valued within their institutions, but aren’t counted in their performance appraisals,” Honey said.

With a career in higher education spanning more than 25 years, Honey said she has heard from many colleagues who believe work outside academic parameters should be considered.

She then narrowed the scope of her study further to focus on Latina faculty, a group she aspires to one day join after she earns her doctoral degree.

“I wanted to know why Latinas are under-represented in academia,” Honey said. “I know that performance appraisals are an important to advancements into tenure.”

In her research, she interviewed a small group of Latina-identifying faculty to learn more of their experiences in higher education and their perception of performance reviews that are often limited to traditional academic criteria.

The participants of her study expressed how happy they were to talk about the social contributions they make to their institutions, Honey said.

“I think that speaks to the need for research like mine,” she said. “It brings awareness to the experiences of faculty, not just Latina... a lot of the work they do don’t actually get counted for.”

Even with the challenges presented with performance appraisals, they also present opportunities for growth, Honey said.

"(Faculty) contribute so much — culturally, academically, emotionally — to their institutions and to their students."

These yearly reviews are a way for faculty to track their progress over time, as well as hold themselves accountable and make adjustments to their work in order to advance in their careers, she said.

“This was a man-made system, so there will be flaws, but we can learn from them,” Honey said. “My study was never intended to criticize appraisals because they are necessary. It was more about doing investigative work that could reveal some insights on ways we can improve it.”

With the successful passing of her Ph.D. candidacy defense, Honey will move on to writing and defending her dissertation.

She plans to expand the research she’s already conducted to include a larger group of participants. The more she understands the experiences of a wide range of faculty, the more likely she is to make a meaningful impact, she said.

“I would hope this pushes institutional leaders to rethink how faculty are evaluated,” Honey said. “They contribute so much — culturally, academically, emotionally — to their institutions and to their students. There’s so much more than the quantitative metrics and that work deserves to be seen.”