Ball State University utilizes Faculty Success (formerly Digital Measures) in annual promotion and tenure and merit reviews.  Refer to the Faculty and Professional Personnel Handbook for University guidelines and connect with your department for further details. 

Need assistance? Please review our FAQ's or submit a Faculty Success Help Request ticket, and a member of our team will be happy to assist you.
Annual Salary & Merit

2025-2026 Annual Merit Cycle

The merit review process begins each spring and covers the previous calendar year (January 1 to December 31).

Although some information will be imported from University records, faculty are responsible for adding or importing data and documents related to their teaching, scholarship, and service.

Quick guides (PDF):

5 Year Post-Tenure Review

The Group B PTR cohort will be reviewed Fall 2025 in alignment with the typical P&T calendar. P&T committees will be reviewing tenured faculty in Group B using the five referenced criteria:

 

35.1.8.2.1 Helped Ball State University foster a culture of free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity within the University.

35.1.8.2.2 Where relevant and appropriate to the faculty member’s discipline, introduced students to scholarly works from a variety of political or ideological frameworks that may exist within the curricula established by the Board of Trustees of Ball State University under IC 21-41-2-1(b) or the faculty of Ball State University acting under authority delegated by the Board of Trustees of Ball State University.

35.1.8.2.3 While performing teaching duties, refrained from subjecting students to views and opinions concerning matters not related to the faculty member’s academic discipline or assigned course of instruction.

35.1.8.2.4 Continues to show a pattern of achievement in performing academic duties and obligations.

35.1.8.2.5 Meets productivity requirements based on: (i) the faculty member’s teaching workload; (ii) the total number of students who the faculty member teaches at the graduate and undergraduate level; (iii) the time spent on instructional assignments and the time spent on overseeing graduate students; and (iv) the research and creative scholarship productivity of the faculty member.

In order to assist faculty in meeting the first two criteria, we have prepared resources, best practices, seminars and training, as well as faculty toolkits, which are available both through a website (left margins of this link, particularly, list specific resources). Fall 2025 seminar offerings will be populated soon!

When submitting your materials for review in Faculty Success, you will be able to attest to the activities that you have engaged in to meet criteria 35.1.8.2.1 and 35.1.8.2.2. In reviewing the third criteria, if information is needed by reviewers regarding any substantiated complaints during the review period, additional information will be requested.

To meet the fourth criteria of “continues to show a pattern of achievement in performing academic duties and obligations” and fifth criteria of “meets productivity requirements…,” six types of existing evidentiary materials will be reviewed, per the attached document. These evidentiary materials will be collected in Faculty Success, and each faculty member is expected to upload any such documentation for the last five years, including:

A) student evaluations for every course taught in the last five years;
B) all syllabi from the last five years;
C) existing annual peer and/or chair evaluations;
D) the faculty member’s CV highlighting activities and achievements demonstrating a pattern of achievement in performing duties and obligations, including the research and creative scholarship productivity of the faculty member, during the five year period under review;
E) the record of existing evaluations from the past five years of merit and salary annual reviews (e.g., the rubric or feedback letter); and
F) a written statement of up to 1000 words describing a pattern of achievement in performing academic duties and obligations. In this written statement, you must include the total number of students you taught for each year of the period under review – you’ll notice that those enrollment numbers are included in your Faculty Success CV. We also ask that you describe in sufficient detail your pattern of achievement and productivity overall, including the time spent on instructional assignments (including the time and attention you put towards material and course preparation and assessment), and the time and effort spent advising, mentoring, and working with undergraduate and/or graduate student.

Please reach out to your Dean if you have questions about this process. In addition, Stephanie Simon-Dack and Kristen McCauliff will host informational sessions in early Fall term to answer any questions you may have.

Post-Tenure Review Step Overview:

Promotion and Tenure

The review of materials for promotion and tenure begins each fall.  Each unit follows a unique review timeline.  For information related to your unit's timeline, contact your college champion (listed below).

Although some information will be imported from University records, faculty are responsible for adding or importing data and documents related to their teaching, scholarship, and service.

Other Helpful Resources:

Questions?

Reach out to our team!

Bre New
Technology Administrator and Operations Specialist

  • Bre is responsible for general support for Workflow submissions (annual Salary/Merit, Promotion & Tenure, and Post-Tenure Review). Bre is also responsible for data inconsistencies in the Faculty Success system and loading manual data into the system.

Macy Neff
Graduate Assistant

  • Macy provides support on generating reports, such as the CV, Annual Activity Report, etc. Macy also provides assistance related to general navigation and data entry in the Faculty Success system.

Steve Reed
Senior Systems Specialist for Academic Affairs

  • Steve is ultimately responsible for coordinating and supporting the Faculty Success team. He works behind the scenes with data, reporting, third-party integrations (Banner, Cayuse), and Workflows (Annual Salary/Merit, Promotion & Tenure, and Post-Tenure Review).
For additional assistance, please email FacultySuccess@bsu.edu.