Promotion & Tenure

Tenure (Revised by Board of Trustees 12/78)

All decisions to grant tenure shall follow review of credentials both by appropriate faculty committees and by administrative officers. Academic units are responsible for developing and applying written criteria for promotion and tenure that have been reviewed and approved by the College Promotion and Tenure Committee, Dean, University Promotion and Tenure Committee, and Provost.

Tenure is granted or withheld solely on the basis of merit as determined both by appropriate faculty committees and by administrative officers.

With the exception of visiting professors, tenure is awarded to tenure-track full professors on initial appointment or on promotion to this rank.

Tenure-track associate professors appointed from outside the University will normally receive an initial three-year contract without tenure. Reappointments at this rank, unless terminal, will carry tenure. Promotion of tenure-track assistant professors to the rank of associate professor from within the University will carry tenure.

Tenure-track assistant professors are appointed to full-time faculty positions for an initial term of two years without tenure. Reappointments at this rank are for a two-year term. The probationary period for assistant professors is six years, divided into three successive two-year contracts. The start of the probationary period coincides with the effective date of initial appointment as assistant professor. This date governs the timetables for peer review for contract renewal and for review for promotion and tenure. Assistant professors are expected to be considered for promotion and tenure not later than the sixth year of full-time academic service, with tenure effective-if the decision is favorable-starting with the fall semester of the seventh academic year. If the decision on promotion and tenure is negative, the seventh year of academic service will be a terminal year. Separate and apart from annual performance appraisal by the departmental chair, assistant professors will be evaluated through peer review regarding progress toward tenure according to the procedures and timetable set forth in the Faculty Handbook. Lack of progress toward promotion and tenure may result in contract non-renewal.

An untenured faculty member who becomes the parent of a newborn or newly adopted child may choose to take a one-year extension of the pre-tenure probationary period for each child, up to a maximum of two years. The notification for such an extension should be made in the year in which the faculty member becomes a parent or adopts a child. The extension shall be granted upon written notification to the department chair or program director, with notification to the Dean of the College and the Office of the University Provost. Faculty who choose this option must indicate in writing that they have done so in their dossier. (Rev. 10/7/91, 11/20/08)

Except as stated in "Non-Tenure Track Faculty," appointments and reappointments for instructors shall be on annual contract only. Tenure is not awarded to instructors. (Editorial revision 6/00)

Whether a faculty position is tenure-track or non tenure-track must be stipulated in the initial letter of appointment, regardless of funding source for the position. For faculty hired on a non-tenure-track appointment who are subsequently appointed to a tenure-track appointment, the probationary period for promotion and tenure begins with the date of initial appointment as a tenure-track assistant professor.

The policy provisions stated above shall apply to both continuous and discontinuous faculty appointments. (Revised by Board of Trustees, 12/78.) (Last Revision 05/03/2002.)