Process for Promotions for Junior Tenure-Track Faculty
The tenure track means that all assistant professors are guaranteed a promotion review to associate professor and all associate professors are guaranteed a promotion review to professor.
Promotion from assistant professor to associate professor requires promotion committee review with external letters, followed by departmental review, Senior Faculty Council review, recommendation by the dean, and approval by the provost. The departmental senior faculty may serve as the promotion committee if requested by the department chair and approved by the dean. It should be understood that the guarantee of a promotion review is not the same as a guarantee of promotion. Candidates for promotion review may decide for whatever reason not to seek a promotion review. Candidates will normally be reviewed for promotion in the penultimate year of their term of appointment, although the department chair and senior faculty of the department, with the agreement of the candidate, may decide that the promotion review should occur earlier than the penultimate year or in the last year of the appointment.
Formation of Promotion Committee
Promotion reviews for junior tenure-track faculty from assistant professor to associate professor and from associate professor to professor commence with the formation of a promotion committee to review the case. The dean, in consultation with the department chair, shall form a promotion committee, normally composed of four faculty members from the department in which the position resides along with one faculty member from another department in the school. The dean, in consultation with the department chair, shall select one faculty member from the department in which the position will reside to chair the promotion committee. The promotion committee shall normally be formed at the end of the academic year preceding the candidate’s penultimate year of the existing appointment.
Candidate Submissions, Presentations, and Meetings
The candidate shall be asked to submit a curriculum vitae, a statement about the candidate’s past accomplishments, a statement about the candidate’s intellectual agenda for the future, and materials documenting the candidate’s creative work in scholarship, design/research work, or professional practice, or a combination thereof.
The candidate shall give a presentation that shall be publicized to faculty and students unless the promotion committee and candidate agree that the promotion aspect of the presentation must remain confidential. The chair of the promotion committee and administrator in charge of faculty affairs shall solicit faculty and student views of the candidate’s presentation and report the results to the promotion committee. All senior faculty shall be given the opportunity to meet individuallywith the candidate. Students shall be given an opportunity to meet with the candidate unless the promotion committee and candidate agree that the promotion review must remain confidential. The chair of the promotion committee and administrator in charge of faculty affairs should solicit faculty and student views and report the results to the promotion committee.
External Letters
Unless the promotion committee after the presentation is unanimously not in favor of the promotion, letters from at least 8 letter writers in the case of promotion from assistant professor to associate professor and at least 12 letter writers in the case of promotion from associate professor to professor shall be sought. Candidates shall not be asked to provide names of potential letter writers. Reviews for promotion from assistant professor to associate professor shall require evaluation letters and reviews for promotion from associate professor to professor shall require comparison letters. A dossier of the candidate’s materials shall be provided to the letter writers.
The promotion committee, in consultation with the administrator in charge of faculty affairs, shall select external letter writers, who should be prominent scholars and/or practitioners knowledgeable about the field of the candidate who are likely to hold diverse perspectives. External letter writers typically are tenured full professors at peer schools or practitioners who are recognized as at the top of their profession. Letter writers shall be asked to reveal in their letters any advising, professional, collaborating, or personal relationship with any individual named in the letter. Yield from invited letter writers is a factor to consider so the choice of letter writers should be made carefully. The invitation to write a letter sent to external letter writers should be issued on behalf of the dean or department chair with responses returned to the administrator in charge of faculty affairs.
Promotion Committee Deliberation
The promotion committee shall deliberate and vote on the candidate. The chair of the promotion committee, in consultation with members of the promotion committee and the administrator in charge of faculty affairs, shall prepare the promotion committee’s report that includes the following:
- A detailed evaluation of the candidate’s record of creative work and teaching and proposed future creative work and teaching
- A detailed analysis of the external letters and other indicia of the candidate’s standing in the field
- A description of the promotion committee vote and reasons expressed by any committee members who dissented or abstained from the committee’s vote.
The promotion committee report, along with appropriate materials such as curricula vitae, exhibits of creative work, and teaching evaluations assembled by the administrator in charge of academic affairs, shall be submitted to the relevant department for departmental review as the next step in the promotions process.
Departmental Review
The department chair shall convene the departmental senior faculty to discuss the report of the promotion committee and to vote on the candidate. In cases where the departmental senior faculty as a whole served as the promotion committee, a separate meeting is not necessary. The department chair shall prepare a letter describing the discussion and vote of the departmental senior faculty. The letter, along with the promotion committee report, external letters, and other relevant materials shall be submitted to the dean and, in cases where the department has voted in favor of a candidate, to the Senior Faculty Council.
Senior Faculty Council Review
In cases where the departmental senior faculty has voted in favor of a promotion, a letter prepared by the department chair describing the discussion and vote of the departmental senior faculty, along with the promotion committee report, external letters, and other relevant materials, shall be submitted to the Senior Faculty Council at least one week before the next scheduled meeting. At the meeting, the Senior Faculty Council shall discuss the case and vote at that time or after the meeting. If the vote is taken after the meeting, the dean shall announce the results of the vote at the next Senior Faculty Council meeting. A quorum for attendance shall be met if at least fifty percent of the senior faculty in residence during the semester in question is present. Each member of the Senior Faculty Council shall provide the dean with a brief letter announcing their vote and reasons for it. Senior faculty members of the candidate’s department are expected to write more detailed letters than senior faculty from other departments. Such letters shall be included with any recommendation that the dean submits to the president or provost.
Recommendation by the Dean
Upon a favorable vote of the Senior Faculty Council or a vote of the senior faculty of the department in cases where only notification of the Senior Faculty Council is required, the dean may recommend or not recommend to the president or provost that the candidate be approved for promotion.
Provost’s Approval
Promotions from assistant professor to associate professor require approval by the Provost’s Appointments Review Committee which is administered by the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity.
President’s Approval
An appointment to a tenured position requires the president’s approval. The dean shall confer with the president or the president’s designee and agree upon the form of the review and the faculty and/or outside consultation, if any, that will be sought. In those instances where the president or the president’s designee convenes an “ad hoc committee” to advise on the appointment, the dean shall not reveal their recommendation for or against the appointment until after the presidential review has been conducted. At the conclusion of the presidential review, the dean shall recommend to the president or the president’s designee for or against the appointment. The approval of the president or the president’s designee must be obtained before an appointment can begin or be announced.