Faculty Handbook

Mission:  The Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, as an integral part of Florida Atlantic University, is committed to the pursuit of higher education grounded in the arts, sciences and humanities. Faculty of the College support the University mission of teaching, research/scholarship and service within an environment that fosters inclusiveness.

Vision: The Florida Atlantic University Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing will be the international preeminent leader in advancing caring science through its dynamic, innovative caring based education, research, scholarship, and practices.

Philosophy: Nursing is a discipline of knowledge and professional practice grounded in caring. Nursing makes a unique contribution to society by nurturing the wholeness of persons and environment in caring. Caring in nursing is an intentional mutual human process in which the nurse artistically responds with authentic presence to calls from persons to enhance well-being. Nursing occurs in nursing situations: co-created lived experiences in which the caring between nurses and persons enhance well-being. Nursing is both science and art. Nursing science is the evolving body of distinctive nursing knowledge developed through systematic inquiry and research. The art of nursing is the creative use of nursing knowledge in practice. Knowledge development and practice in nursing require the complex integration of multiple patterns of knowing. Nurses collaborate and lead interprofessional research and practice to support the health and well-being of persons inextricably connected within a diverse global society.

Persons as participant in the co-created nursing situation, refers to individual, families or communities. Person is unique and irreducible, dynamically interconnected with others and the environment in caring relationships. The nature of being human is to be caring. Humans choose values that give meaning to living and enhance well-being. Well-being is creating and living the meaning of life. Persons are nurtured in their wholeness and well-being through caring relationships.

Beliefs about learning and environments that foster learning are grounded in our view of person, the nature of nursing and nursing knowledge and the mission of the University. Learning involves the lifelong creation of understanding through the integration of knowledge within a context of value and meaning. A supportive environment for learning is a caring environment. A caring environment is one in which all aspects of the person are respected, nurtured and celebrated. The learning environment supports faculty-student relationships that honor and value the contributions of all and the shared learning and growth.

The above fundamental beliefs concerning Nursing, Person and Learning express our values and guide the actions of Faculty as they pursue the missions of teaching, research/scholarship and service shared by the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and Florida Atlantic University.

Caring: Guiding the philosophy and objectives of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing is one prevailing concept: caring. It is caring that informs how we study nursing, how we practice our profession and how we interact with others throughout our lives.

At the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, we study caring as lived in the ordinariness of life and as a central domain of our profession. We recognize each individual as caring and uniquely connected with others and the environment. We also believe that every interaction we have with others is an opportunity to demonstrate and live this caring philosophy.

Model of Relating:  The Dance of Caring Persons depicts the College of Nursing’s Model of Relating

Introduction:  This section provides you an overview of the important documents which guide the College of Nursing process, function and model of relating.

Bylaws:  The Bylaws of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing  guide the role of shared governance within the college. The Bylaws are reviewed and approved by the faculty yearly, with any changes approved by the Provost.

Evaluation Plan:  The College of Nursing Evaluation Plan  provides an overall evaluation process for the Mission and Governance, Resources, Curriculum, Teaching-Learning Practices, and Individual Student Learning Outcomes, and Aggregate Student Performance and Faculty Accomplishments.

University Graduate College Governance: This document describes the implementation of the  University Graduate College Governance Document (April 30, 2021)  in the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the CON Implementation Plan

This section provides an overview of faculty evaluation and promotion and tenure guidelines.

Criteria for Annual Faculty Evaluations and Distribution of Merit Salary Increases:  Faculty members are required to submit an Annual Self‐Evaluation of their contributions to the College missions of teaching, research/scholarship and service via interfolio. This document depicts evaluation criteria and process of evaluation. A Template for the Self Evaluation provides you with a guideline for writing your self-evaluation in interfolio (hyperlink). As part of the annual evaluation, a peer review of your teaching may be required. Please follow the Policy for  Peer Review of Faculty Teaching Effectiveness. Appointment and Evaluation of Adjunct Faculty and Appointment and Promotion for Clinical Affiliate and Affiliate Faculty guidelines are also part of the faculty evaluation process. Information for Interfolio and process for submitting annual evaluation.

• Criteria for Annual Faculty Evaluations and Distribution of Merit Salary Increases
• Template for the Self Evaluation
• Policy for Peer Review of Faculty Teaching Effectiveness
• Appointment and Evaluation of Adjunct Faculty
• Guidelines for Adjunct Faculty Evaluation
• Appointment and Promotion for Clinical Affiliate and Affiliate Faculty
• Interfolio Login and Information

Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure: The University provides guidelines for promotion and tenure and can be found on the Provost website (https://www.fau.edu/provost/for-faculty/promotion-tenure/). Each College/Department in the University develop their own promotion and tenure guidelines following the University guidelines and articulate the expectations and identify guidelines for appraisal of faculty with respects to appointment, promotion and tenure. The guidelines for development of your curriculum vitae, Third Year Review, Promotion and Tenure, and Post Tenure guidelines are below.

Comprehensive Curriculum Vitae Promotion and Tenure eportfolios  :  https://www.fau.edu/provost/documents/cv-template-for-promotion-2019-2020.pdf

Promotion and Tenure Calendar

• CON Guidelines for Third Year Review of Progress Toward Tenure
• CON Guidelines for Faculty Appraisal for Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure (Tenure Track)
• CON Guidelines for Appointment and Promotion to Practice Teaching Track (Non-Tenure Track)
• CON Sustained Performance Evaluation Policy
• CON Guidelines on Post Tenure Review (PTR) and Criteria

Interfolio:  Interfolio is a new platform for placement of promotion and tenure materials. Additional information can be found at:  https://www.fau.edu/provost/for-faculty/promotion-tenure/

• Login URL:  https://account.interfolio.com/login