Faculty Expectations

Reformed Christian Commitment: Faculty Expectations for Reappointment at Tenure/Five-Year Renewable Term

At times of reappointment and promotion, Calvin University faculty are evaluated in four categories:

• Reformed Christian Commitment,
• Teaching Effectiveness,
• Scholarship and Research,
• and Service,

using identified areas of evaluation in each category.

The category of Reformed Christian Commitment is a new category in Calvin University’s review of faculty. The expectations in this category make explicit was has long been implicit in Calvin’s review of faculty. At the time of review, faculty are expected to engage each evaluative area thoughtfully and asked to respond to a set of essay prompts that draw from the expectations. Their colleagues, students, alumni, and pastors are invited to reflect on the faculty member’s performance.

Calvin University equips faculty to be successfully reappointed through a range of opportunities for ongoing professional development. A faculty member’s active participation in these faculty development opportunities, either as a participant or a contributor, is one mark of success as a Calvin faculty member. Faculty development opportunities are offered through several offices on campus, including the Global Faculty Development Institute, the Teaching and Learning Network, and the Office of the Executive Associate to the President for Diversity and Inclusion.

The expectations at tenure/five-year renewable term are rooted in Calvin University’s Statement of Identity and Mission: Believing and Belonging and From Every Nation.

The expectations for Reformed Christian Commitment, in summary form, are these (with more detailed policy language that follows):

A longer explanation of each evaluative area in the Reformed Christian Commitment category follows.

Reformed Christian Commitment

A central question in the evaluation of faculty is a colleague’s commitment to and enactment of the university’s Reformed Christian mission. Calvin’s mission is rooted in its identity as a confessional Christian institution in the Reformed tradition that is invigorated by a global vision of Reformed Christianity and welcomes dialogue with diverse trusted partners. Calvin University draws upon historic ecumenical creeds and Reformed confessions to understand and shape its participation in God's ongoing redemptive work. Because Reformed Christianity influences all aspects of the life and work of the university, faculty members affirm these creeds and confessions even as they continue to deepen their understanding of essential Reformed Christian theological ideas and values; they participate in a Calvin-supporting Christian congregation; and they demonstrate their commitment to a transformational vision of the world by integrating their Reformed Christian faith with their teaching, scholarship, service, and community life.

The evaluative areas are these:  

1. Calvin University faculty members are expected to understand and affirm the historical creeds and Reformed confessions contained in the Covenant for Faculty Members.

The Covenant for Faculty Members consists of three ecumenical creeds that express the Christian faith (the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed) and three historic Reformed forms of unity (the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort). Faculty members pledge to teach, speak, and write in harmony with these statements. Faculty members are expected to affirm the Covenant for Faculty Members in their first year of their employment by signing the Covenant document. As part of their tenure or five-year renewable term review, faculty are expected to articulate a Christian commitment and demonstrate an understanding and affirmation of essential Reformed Christian theological ideas by re-affirming their commitment to the Covenant for Faculty Members in writing.

For further discussion of what it means to affirm the Covenant for Faculty Members or to express a confessional difficulty with the Covenant, see sections 3.5.1.1. and 3.5.1.1.1 in the Handbook for Teaching Faculty.

2. Calvin University faculty members are expected to engage in Christian practices that are sustained by membership in a congregation of the CRCNA, a church in ecclesiastical fellowship with the CRCNA, or a Calvin University–supporting Protestant congregation.

Given the university’s special relationship with the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) as the denomination that founded, supports, and governs the university, and given the mutual benefits that accrue between the university and the Christian Reformed Church, faculty are warmly encouraged to be members of Christian Reformed churches (or churches in ecclesiastical fellowship with the CRCNA).

At the same time, the university recognizes that some churches are heavily influenced by Reformed theology, and persuaded by much of it, while nevertheless disagreeing with certain theological conclusions voiced in historical confessional documents. Some faculty may find such congregations supportive of both their spiritual development and their vocation as a Christian teaching from a Reformed Christian perspective. Calvin University wishes to develop partnerships with those congregations, recognizing that partnerships with other Christian denominations can enrich both the church and the university. Faculty may join Protestant congregations that affirm the content of the three ecumenical creeds, support the faculty member’s faith journey, and support the faculty member’s vocation as a Christian teacher who has affirmed the Covenant for Faculty Members.

When questions arise about the alignment of a congregation with the university’s expectations for faculty membership, the Professional Status Committee (PSC) is charged with adjudicating membership requests.

Because Calvin University is under the authority of the CRCNA, when confessional or controversial issues arise with respect to confessional matters, the CRCNA, Calvin’s Board of Trustees, administration, and faculty work collaboratively to adjudicate these within the context of the Handbook for Teaching Faculty and the university’s Confessional Commitment and Academic Freedom document. If faculty are members of churches where doctrinal differences exist from the CRCNA, faculty are expected to do their work in affirmation with the creeds and confessions identified in the Covenant for Faculty Members. 

As part of a tenure or five-year renewable term review, faculty are expected to demonstrate membership and active participation in a congregation of the CRCNA, a church in ecclesiastical fellowship with the CRCNA, or a Calvin University-supporting Protestant congregation.

3. Calvin University faculty members are expected to demonstrate their commitment to a Reformed Christian view of education.

Calvin University embraces Reformed Christian theological ideas as the basis for integrating faith and learning and expects that its faculty members acknowledge the value of integrating faith and learning at all stages of learning.

Historically, one way to demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to a Reformed understanding of education has been to send one’s children to Christian day schools, a practice that is supported by the Christian Reformed Church and described in Article 71 of the Church Order, in which church councils are instructed to

“diligently encourage the members of the congregation to establish and maintain good Christian schools in which the biblical, Reformed vision of Christ’s lordship over all creation is clearly taught. The council shall also urge parents to have their children educated in harmony with this vision according to the demands of the covenant” (Church Order and Its Supplements, 2018, p. 96).

Calvin University cherishes its relationships with Christian schools, recognizing that these schools have served and continue to serve a generative and critically important role in supporting the university’s Reformed Christian mission. Our relationship with Christian schools also provides a world-wide witness of a Reformed Christian worldview of education.

As part of the tenure or five-year renewable term review, faculty are expected to articulate a Reformed Christian view of education and to describe how they actively support Christian education. The university recognizes that support for Christian education can be enacted in many different ways.

4. Calvin University faculty members are expected to promote diversity and inclusion in ways consistent with Reformed Christian theological ideas.

Calvin University’s From Every Nation (FEN) document serves as a primary context for this expectation. Three broad themes inform the work of faculty: the need for cross-cultural and intercultural competencies in a global environment, the need for enhanced institutional anti-racist accountability, and the need to be agents of reconciliation and restoration. These themes do not function sequentially but rather simultaneously; one will always be incomplete without the other. As a part of the of tenure or five-year renewable term review, faculty are expected to demonstrate an understanding of diversity and inclusion that is consistent with Reformed Christian theological ideas and to contribute to the university’s diversity and inclusion goals.

5. Calvin University faculty members are expected to demonstrate the dispositions that mark a life of Christian faith and service and support students and colleagues as they do the same.

Calvin University expects every employee to contribute to a Christian community in which we are accountable to and responsible for each other. An essential element of our responsibility to the community and to one another is to strive always to “lead a life worthy of God, who has called you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:12).

Faculty members at Calvin University are expected to exemplify integrity, honesty, respect, humility, courage, liberality, gratitude, gentleness, kindness, patience and self-control in their words and actions. Many of these qualities are identified by the apostle Paul as the “gifts of the Spirit” (Col. 3; Gal. 5), and faculty members strive, with God’s help, to demonstrate these virtues in their professional activities and in their personal lives. It is part of the calling of the faculty to speak out against wickedness and injustice in society and in the world and to be agents of God’s righteousness and peace. Members of the Calvin faculty are called to build one another up in faith and in virtue and to serve others as citizens of God’s kingdom (Handbook for Teaching Faculty, section 3.5.2).

As part of the tenure or five-year renewable term review, faculty members are expected to demonstrate dispositions that mark a life of Christian faith and service and to support students and colleagues in doing the same.

6. Calvin University faculty members are expected to integrate Reformed Christian perspectives into their teaching, scholarship, and service.

Calvin University expects that faculty think deeply about how Reformed Christian ideas and values inform the presuppositions, theoretical bases, methods, and practice of their discipline, and integrate Reformed Christian perspectives with their teaching, scholarship, and service. This evaluative area is addressed in the respective category descriptions.