Each award shall be made in one of four categories. Faculty must specify only one of the categories on the application form. Awards will be made for exceptional performance in one or more of the following areas:

Outstanding Teacher-Scholar: Awards for faculty who have records of outstanding effectiveness in teaching or in other academic assignment. Examples include but are not limited to curriculum development and student advising and mentoring. Student Opinions of Teaching Effectiveness may be considered, but they may not be the sole basis for evaluating the performance of a teacher-scholar;

Exceptional Professional Attainment. Awards for faculty with exceptional professional or scholarly achievements. Examples include but are not limited to a major publication or other scholarly achievement, demonstration of excellence in the scholarship of teaching, a significant performance or other creative activity, exemplary contributions to knowledge or competence in one's professional discipline, etc.;

Exemplary Service: Awards for faculty who have made significant contributions to campus, campus community, the surrounding metropolitan area, the California State University, or regional, state, national, or international arenas. Examples include but are not limited to significant contributions to college and/or university governance, contributions to student organizations, leadership roles in important professional organizations, service to community organizations and public schools, etc.;

Combined Performance: Awards for faculty with a record of meritorious performance and/or outstanding accomplishments in more than one of the above areas.

In addition to these four categories of PSSI awards, the President may make Presidential Special Recognition Awards -- which may consist of a step or steps added to the number of steps recommended by the college dean or may be awarded to an applicant not recommended by the dean -- as provided in "9" below.

The period of consideration or review for outstanding or meritorious performance shall be the five years immediately preceding submission of the nomination/application, the period of employment at San Jose State University, or the period since the most recent award of a PSSI at San Jose State University, whichever period is shorter.

A one-page application form developed by the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate in consultation with the Office of Faculty Affairs shall be used. Nominees/applicants must sign this form and may include a personal statement and/or a list of activities and accomplishments or other documentation relevant to the application. Such material must be limited to five pages, printed in standard 12-point font. The applications are to be brief and uncomplicated. Only one nomination/application may be submitted for any candidate, and only one of the four categories of award shall be applied for.

Each department shall, according to regularly established departmental policy, either forward all nominations/applications directly to the College (unit) committee (as described below), or shall review them at the departmental level. If there is a departmental review, an appropriate departmental personnel committee consisting of tenured Unit 3 faculty will review the nomination/application materials and make a recommendation (favorable or unfavorable) before sending the materials on to the college (unit) committee, or else this function shall be delegated to the Department Chair. Applicants shall not serve on any departmental or college PSSI committee.

All nominations and applications shall be submitted to the appropriate College (or appropriate unit), unless withdrawn by the nominee or applicant. College (unit) PSSI committees shall be elected in accordance with college policy, except that no faculty unit member applying or nominated for an award may serve on a College committee, and no department may have more than one representative. College committees should whenever possible have among their members recipients of PSSIs, with all categories represented.

College (Unit) PSSI committees shall review and categorize all applications as "not recommended," "recommended," or "strongly recommended" distinguishing, in effect, among cohorts of "good," "strong," and "truly exceptional" applicants according to appropriate disciplinary criteria. Normally one-step awards will be recommended by college committees, but "strongly recommended" applicants may be recommended for more than one step (such a recommendation will be affected by the resources available and the relative sizes of the faculty cohorts in the pool of applicants).

College committees may recommend "Presidential Special Recognition Awards" for faculty who applied for one of the four application categories and who may in the judgment of the college committee also merit such an award. College committees should append a statement of reasons for both favorable and unfavorable recommendations.

The College (unit) committee recommendations shall be in writing and sent to the President, with a copy to the Dean (or equivalent administrator) and the nominee/applicant. The Dean shall append a statement of agreement or disagreement with the committee's recommendation, and a copy of this shall also be sent to the nominee/applicant. The Dean should state reasons for his/her favorable or unfavorable recommendation.

The nominee/applicant may submit a one-page response to the dean within five days of receipt of the recommendations of the committee and the Dean. The Dean shall consider these responses before forwarding his/her final recommendations to the President. The Dean must give reasons for his/her decisions. The Dean may recommend steps up to the allocation but not beyond. The President may set aside unspent funds for use by the college for PSSIs in the next year.

All recommendations and accompanying materials are to be forwarded to the University President or his/her designee no later than December 1 of each year that PSSIs are available. Failure to meet these deadlines for recommendations shall automatically result in the forwarding of all nominations/applications to the President.

The President or his/her designee shall review the nominations/ applications and select the recipients no later than January 1. He/she shall also determine the appropriate number of salary steps to be granted for each award. In selecting the recipients and the number of salary step increases for each, he/she shall take into consideration the suggested allocations to colleges, as described in Section 4 above. No candidate shall receive more than five (5) PSSIs in a given year. The effective date of all PSSIs shall be July 1 of each year.

In addition to the awarding of PSSIs in the four established categories, the President may also award President's Special Recognition Awards for faculty who have significantly advanced the University's mission and/or the success of their respective units. The PSRAs may also be awarded to designated groups of faculty whose cooperative work may have resulted in notable accomplishments of value to the University.

All nominees/applicants shall be provided notice in writing of the President's decision.

The decisions to grant or deny a PSSI award, and the number of steps to be granted, shall not be subject to the grievance procedure.

Candidates who fail to receive a PSSI may have the denial reviewed by a University Peer Review Panel constituted in accordance with Articles 31.36-31.42 of the Agreement.

All requests for peer review must be submitted in writing to the Provost (or his/her designee) no later than January 15. The President or designee may submit a written response to the request. The Peer Panel's review shall be limited to the affected employee's allegations and, if applicable, the response of the President or designee.

The President (or his/her designee) shall consider the University Peer Review Panel's recommendations and all forwarded materials and, no later than fourteen (14) days after receipt of these recommendations and materials, shall notify the affected faculty member and the University Peer Review Panel of his/her final decision, including reasons for it. Notification to the faculty member of the President's decision concludes the peer review procedure, and such decision shall not be reviewable in any forum.

The President (or his/her designee) shall report to the Academic Senate, the SJSU chapter of the CFA, and to the CFA/SJSU Labor/ Management Committee annually, the appropriate aggregate statistics by College (Unit) regarding the numbers of candidates in each category, the number of awardees, and the number of steps for each award. The President (or his/her designee) shall report to the CFA/SJSU labor relations committee annually, the names of the faculty unit employees awarded PSSIs and the number of PSSIs awarded, indicating which PSSIs were recommended for awarding by the College (unit) committee of tenured faculty unit employees. In addition, a list of individual faculty unit employees receiving Performance Salary Step Increases, their rank, the number of steps received, and their department shall be made public on the campus no later than one month after final decisions regarding such increases, including final decisions resulting from the Peer Review process.

After final decisions are made, the nomination/application records shall become part of the faculty unit employee's Personnel Action file, but neither the award nor the denial of a PSSI may be used as evidence in deliberations about retention, tenure, and promotion, or used in subsequent PSSI applications.