Procedures for Tenure and Advancement in Rank and Recommendations for Salary Increases

[ Section II E of Faculty Handbook]

1. Annually, departmental chairs shall evaluate all members of their faculty with regard to salary. Each chair shall employ a departmental committee or committees in the evaluation process, which shall conform to the department's established written procedures. Any changes to the department’s established written procedures, evaluation process, or criteria will take effect at the beginning of the next evaluation period. This evaluation process must result in recommendations with respect to salary increases for all faculty.
2. To ensure proper recognition of faculty with a single home Department/School who engage in interdisciplinary activities, the home Department/School P & T Committee should ensure that the Department/School P & T guidelines and peer evaluation policies explicitly clarify how interdisciplinary activities (teaching, research/creative activities, and/or service) will be evaluated and to what extent such activities will be included in all annual evaluations and promotion and tenure decisions.

3. Annually, the department chair shall ensure that a departmental promotion and/or tenure committee evaluates all probationary faculty and all tenured faculty eligible for promotion using the departmental criteria for promotion and tenure. Tenured faculty status is required for membership on departmental/school/division promotion and/or tenure committees. By February 1, probationary faculty shall receive a letter from the chair containing the results of this evaluation as specified in Section II.D.1.c . Tenured faculty eligible for promotion shall receive a similar letter if they request it before September 15. A copy of the letter will also be sent to the committee that evaluated the faculty member. Although these evaluations may be indicators of progress toward tenure and promotion, favorable annual reports do not guarantee positive tenure or promotion decisions. This annual evaluation must result in recommendations with respect to the reappointment of all probationary faculty and must also result in decisions whether or not to consider actively each eligible faculty member for tenure and/or promotion.

   The dean of the college may request a copy of the annual evaluation letter for probationary faculty and review with the chair the individual's performance, progress toward tenure, and assignments in service and teaching. This is especially appropriate midway through the probationary period.

4. If the evaluation process results in a decision to consider actively a promotion for the coming year, or to consider actively the award of tenure, the faculty member concerned shall be so notified by the chair of the appropriate departmental committee. The faculty member, thereupon, shall have the opportunity to submit materials in writing that he/she/they believe will be relevant to that decision.

   The annual evaluation of the faculty member's qualification for promotion or tenure is advisory. If a faculty member believes that their case for promotion or tenure would be evaluated differently if a complete promotion (tenure) dossier were available, the faculty member may choose to submit a complete dossier to the departmental committee, even if the annual assessment is negative, provided that department and college rules governing minimum years in rank before promotion are not violated.

5. All awards of tenure and all promotions in rank must originate in a positive recommendation by the appropriate departmental committee or after a formal hearing and presidential review in cases that have gone through the grievance procedure as in Section V.B .

   Promotion and tenure committees customarily cast a single combined vote on both tenure and promotion for probationary faculty, on the grounds that promotion signals the reasons for the institution’s investment in a candidate. It is unlikely that tenure will be awarded to a candidate who has not also been recommended for promotion. This does not apply to candidates who are already Associate or Full Professors.

   1. The departmental promotion and tenure committee, through its chair, will provide the faculty member a written statement of its decision and reasons for it. The statement may include majority and minority views when unanimity is not reached by the committee. The statement shall be submitted to the department chair who, in the event of a positive recommendation from the promotion and tenure committee, shall forward it to the dean together with their own positive or negative recommendation. If the departmental committee does not recommend promotion or tenure for a faculty member, no further evaluation is required, except in the event of an appeal. 
   2. All departmental committee decisions regarding promotion and tenure shall be reported by the last day of fall semester exams, except in extraordinary cases in which prior approval for reporting of a recommendation at some other time during the year has been obtained from the dean and the Provost.
   3. The department shall include the individual's last employment contract in the tenure documentation and shall confirm on the Review Form for Promotion and/or Tenure that the individual has had faculty status throughout the entire probationary period and is thus eligible for tenure consideration.

6. If the dean accepts a positive recommendation for promotion and/or tenure from a department, he/she/they shall submit a written recommendation to the Provost, accompanied by statements and documentation provided by the departmental chair.

   If a recommendation for promotion and/or tenure forwarded from a department to the dean is not accepted and implemented, the dean shall inform the department chair in writing (with copies to all the parties involved, including the candidate) within 45 days, i.e., typically no later than March 1, and shall explain why the recommendation has not been accepted. Such an explanation will include a copy of the full written recommendation of the chair. 

7. If a recommendation for promotion and/or tenure forwarded by the dean to the Provost is not accepted and implemented, the Provost shall inform the departmental chair in writing (with copies to all the parties involved, including the candidate) within 30 days, i.e., typically no later than April 1, and shall explain why the recommendation has not been accepted. Such an explanation will include copies of the full written recommendations of the chair and the dean. 
8. By March 15, all continuing faculty shall be sent a contract, or if that is not feasible, a formal notification of their reappointment and rank. Prior to this, and no later than February 1, departmental chairs shall provide each faculty member with a written statement of their annual departmental evaluation. Contracts specifying both rank and salary shall be issued by May 1. However, if conditions require it, this date may be extended with the approval of the Faculty Senate. 
9. For grievance procedures relating to matters of promotion and tenure, see Section V.B . 
10. Transparency, clarity, consistency, timeliness, and fairness should be overriding goals for all colleges, schools, and departments as they establish guidelines and procedures governing tenure and promotion. The following broad guidelines are offered to aid in achieving these goals. 
    1. Faculty should know in advance, ideally at the time of hire, the criteria that will be used to arrive at a tenure decision as well as workload and balance between expectations for teaching, service, and professional activities. Significant changes to these workload/balance expectations should be a matter for discussion and negotiation with the faculty member. 
    2. The annual “performance and progress toward tenure letter” that probationary faculty receive (see Section II.D.1.c ) should include clear, transparent, and formative information on progress towards tenure. Departments/schools may choose to do a mid-way formal evaluation and/or annual cumulative evaluations that afford the candidate feedback in terms of teaching, service and professional activities.  Those who provide this feedback should be representative of all faculty who will eventually decide promotion and/or tenure. 

    3. The departmental/school criteria for promotion and tenure should be reviewed periodically (at least every five years). Changes in the criteria for tenure may be applied to those faculty members who are already in the tenure track only if those individuals agree in writing to be considered under the new criteria.  

       For changes in the criteria for promotion of a faculty member with tenure, a grace period of at least three academic years from the start of the academic year in which the changes are implemented should be allowed. During the grace period, faculty members who are already on a Tenure Track contract in the department may opt in writing to be considered under either the old or the new criteria.  

       Newly hired faculty members and those who are promoted during the grace period would immediately come under the new promotion and tenure criteria. Procedural changes in departmental tenure and promotion policy may generally be implemented without delay, if so decided by the department faculty. Departments are encouraged to provide faculty mentors for all probationary faculty (see Section II.C.7.d ).

    4. Faculty who are hired with years of credit towards tenure should also be credited for professional accomplishments prior to their hiring.