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Promotion and Tenure

Decisions to promote faculty and to award tenure are among the most important judgments made by any university. These decisions determine the future quality of our academic programs. The educational unit faculty play a central and critical role in the granting of tenure and promotion. It is within the educational unit of the individual under review that the criteria for assessing faculty performance are best understood. The Dean's Office and the Department Chairs in the College of Arts and Sciences together ensure that promotion and tenure processes in our College are objective, rigorous, and equitable. We encourage faculty members to attend the annual promotoin and tenure workshops offered by the Dean's Office and to engage in regular conversations with department chairs, mentors, and the Associate Dean of Faculty regarding their individual progress towards promotion and tenure. 

Timelines

Promotion and Tenure Dossiers are due to the Dean's Office by November 1st of the academic year that the faculty member is going up for promotion. If a faculty member has a secondary appointment in another department, the chair should notify the chair of that department during the spring prior to the fall when the faculty member is coming up so that your candidate can be promoted in his or her secondary appointment during the same academic year. 

College of Arts and Sciences: General Promotion and Tenure Timeline

College of Arts and Sciences: Promotion and Tenure Timeline for Faculty with Off-Cycle January Start Dates

 

Tenure and Promotion Resources

MEMO from the Provost
Guidelines for Expediting Initial Faculty Appointments at the Rank of Associate Professor or Professor
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cademic Area Advisory Committees
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ppeals
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rocedure to File an Appeal
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rocedures for Teaching STS Faculty

Promotion to Higher Rank

Tenured Faculty Eligibility for Promotion

A department can put up a tenured assistant or associate professor for promotion to higher rank in any year after the professor concerned receives tenure.  College guidelines intend that all tenured associate professors will go up for full no later than in the seventh or eigth year after receiving tenure, although this is not a requirement.  According to the University's Administrative Regulations, a tenured assistant or associate professor whose promotion to higher rank has not been considered by an Academic Area Advisory Committee for a period of six years can request a promotion review by September 1 of the seventh or a subsequent academic year.  It is the responsibility of department chairs to notify faculty members who qualify under this rule that they do so before September 1st.  Refer to AR2-1-1 pages 6&7

 

Promotion to Senior Lecturer

According to the lecturer ARs that went into effect June 8, 2010, a lecturer can be promoted to senior lecturer after five years of continuous service as lecturer.  Note that the promotion process cannot be officially initiated until after the five year span has been completed.

To begin the process of promotion, construct a promotion dossiers similar to the ones constructed for promoting faculty in the regular title series.  A list of dossier contents is found on another link. The centerpiece of the dossier should be the teaching portfolio.  Sections on professional development, administration, and service should be included only if these areas of activity have been part of the candidate’s DOE.  Letters from all regular and special title series faculty and senior lecturers in the department are required, as is a chairs letter.  No external letters are required.

After the dossier has been compiled in the department, please submit to the Associate Dean of Faculty in the College following the instructions found on the 'Submitting Electronic Dossiers' page.  Dossiers are due to the Dean’s Office by November 1st. Appointments are effective the following July 1. The Associate Dean will release the dossiers to the appropriate Advisory Committee, who will advise the Dean on the merits of the promotion.  The letters of the Dean and the Advisory Committee are added to the dossiers, which then proceeds to the Provost’s office.  The Provost makes the final decision on the promotion, without reference to an Area Committee.