Faculty Policies Handbook:

3. Faculty

3.1.6 Operational Procedure

3.1.61 Faculty Credentials
A faculty member being reviewed for tenure and/or promotion shall prepare a set of credentials which shall normally include:

   a) A current vitae. The vitae should list the candidate's educational attainments and professional positions held, giving status and rank as appropriate. It should also present the record of achievement of the candidate in teaching, scholarship and creative activity, and service. (See 3.1.3 above for the appropriate sub-categories in which this record might be presented.)

   b) A record of evaluations of teaching performance, which must include judgments by students. The evaluations should note the evidence on which they are based. (See 4.7 below) Information about work done in interdisciplinary areas must also be sought and used in the evaluation.

   c) Attachments showing evidence of scholarship or creative work appropriate to the discipline or interdisciplinary areas of the faculty member.

   d) Attachments showing evidence of effectiveness in service to students, the University, one's profession, and the community.

   e) Attachments showing evidence of effectiveness in advising and mentoring.

   f) Letters of support or recommendation, which will be attached to the candidate's application file or sent directly to the Department Chair for inclusion with the candidate's credentials.

   g) All other evidence the candidate wishes to submit with respect to the his or her achievements concerning the established criteria.

3.1.62 Departmental Review
A faculty member being reviewed for tenure and/or promotion shall submit a set of credentials to the Department Chair in accordance with the time schedule established by the Dean and shall be invited to appear before the Review Committee. The Department Chair shall provide the candidate's credentials to the Departmental Review Committee and shall convene that Committee to discuss those credentials. The criteria to be used for review are outlined in 3.1.31, 3.1.32, 3.1.33, ad 3.1.34 (above) and are supplemented by the Department's own statements on practices and standards. In its deliberations, the Department must consider evaluations of teaching performance by students, peers and department chairs (see 4.7 below) and it shall take into account the candidate's work of an interdisciplinary nature. It will request for consideration letters from knowledgeable persons, including those outside the University, with regard to the faculty member's teaching, scholarship/creative activity, and/or service. In the case of scholarship/creative activity, a Department will seek reviews from persons outside the University who are in a position to speak about the significance and promise of the candidate's work. Persons solicited for these reviews of scholarly/creative work should be provided with the necessary materials and the time to complete such reviews before the College review committee begins its consideration of the candidates. All persons so solicited should be made aware that the candidate may see these letters when they are included in the file, unless he or she has waived the right to see them.

In the event of a positive recommendation by the Department, all documentation, together with the recommendation, shall be forwarded to the Arts and Sciences Promotion and Tenure Committee. In support of the recommendation, the Department may submit evaluations provided by other departments in the same division or school.

In the event of a negative recommendation, the Chair of the Departmental Review Committee shall write to the faculty member stating the Committee's reasons. Upon the request of the faculty member, the Departmental Review Committee shall reconsider its recommendation and the faculty member shall appear before the Committee to provide his or her perspective on the judgment the Committee reached. Should the negative recommendation of the Department stand, the faculty member may submit his or her credentials to the Arts and Sciences Promotion and Tenure Committee for review. Such an appeal of the Departmental Committee's recommendation must be made before the Promotion and Tenure Committee completes its deliberations on the recommendations before it, which is typically December 10 or earlier. In the event of an appeal, the Department shall submit to the Promotion and Tenure Committee a detailed account of its proceedings, including a tally of the vote, and a statement of its reasons for the negative decision.

3.1.63 Promotion to the Rank of Professor
 In general the Promotion and Tenure Committee and Dean of the College follow the criteria in section 3.1.3 and the same procedures as noted above in evaluating a candidate for promotion from associate professor to professor with these clarifications:

a) To merit promotion to Professor a candidate shall have demonstrated continuing development in each of the following categories of evaluation, and shall have demonstrated notable achievement in at least one of the categories (1), (2), or (3).

(1) highly effective teaching.

(2) scholarly or creative achievement and a program for continued research or creative production.

(3) leadership or significant contributions in departmental, college, or university service or in service to the community or profession.

(4) quality advising and mentoring.

b) A candiate for promotion to full professor must present a statement of self-reflection and evident of achievement in each category since the date of promotion to associate professor using the same outline of required materials as stated above. Normally, the candidate will notify the department/program chair of intent to seek promotion by October 1 one year before submitting materials to the department and Promotion and Tenure Committee. The Department should constitute an evaluation committee including at least two members with the rank of professor, drawing such faculty from outside the department if necessary. The committee should carry out observations of classroom teaching as well as review evaluations for all courses taught in the two semesters prior to consideration for promotion. (This is a minimum. It is recommended that departments set up a more regular schedule for peer teaching observations of tenured faculty in order to help demonstrate the consistent effectiveness of that teaching.) The department/program must provide evaluative letters from at least three persons outside the University who are in a position to speak about the significance of the candidate's scholarship or creative activity. These external reviewers should not be close acquaintances or direct collaborators of the candidate.

3.1.64 Arts and Sciences Committee on Promotion and Tenure
The Dean of the College shall call the initial meeting of the Arts and Sciences Committee on Promotion and Tenure to elect a Committee chair, to review operational procedures, and to outline the Committee's workload. In addition to providing the Committee with the materials presented by the candidates for tenure, the Dean shall give the Committee a complete set of the Professional Activities Records and Evaluations and recommendations for reappointment during the candidates' tenure-track years. For candidates for promotion, the Dean shall give the Committee the Professional Activities Records and Evaluations for the previous five years. The Dean shall be present as an observer at the subsequent meetings of the Committee.

The Promotion and Tenure Committee shall maintain minutes of its proceedings, showing all motions, recording all votes (which are registered by secret ballot), and noting the principal issues debated regarding each candidacy. Verbatim minutes are not required. The Committee shall request that the Department Chair and/or the Chair of the Departmental Review Committee, appear before it to provide additional information and answer questions concerning the credentials and performance of the candidate under review. Committee members shall absent themselves from discussion and debate when colleagues in their departments are under consideration. Associate professors may not serve on the Committee during the year they apply for promotion.

After reviewing the recommendations and credentials of the faculty member and other materials relevant to the decision, all members of the Promotion and Tenure Committee shall vote to recommend or not recommend the candidate for promotion and/or tenure. The chair of the Promotion and Tenure Committee is a participating, voting member. A tie vote is a negative recommendation.

For each candidate for tenure and/or promotion, the chair of the Promotion and Tenure Committee shall prepare the recommendation for the Committee. The recommendation should be accompanied by an explicit, thorough rationale for it. The recommendation and the accompanying rationale shall be sent to the Dean. The same statement, minus the numerical vote on the Committee's decision, shall be sent to the candidate. This statement must be placed in the mail to the candidate or made available to her or him on campus within two working days of the time it is delivered to the Dean. The faculty member may respond to the statement. Such a response should be sent to the Dean within two weeks of receipt of the Committee's statement during the regular term. If a response is submitted, it becomes part of the official tenure [and/or promotion] materials and must be included in the Dean's considerations and submitted with the other materials accompanying the Dean's recommendations to the Provost.

The Dean, upon receiving the recommendations from the Committee, shall consider them in the light of her or his own review of each candidate's credentials and record of performance. The Dean may be given an opportunity to question the Committee concerning its recommendations, after they have been presented, in order to gain information to be used in forming her or his independent judgment on the strengths of the candidates.

On the date established by the Provost, he or she shall submit to the Provost his or her recommendations for action along with a copy of the Promotion and Tenure Committee's recommendations, giving the reasons for these recommendations and noting explicitly whether his or her recommendations concur with or differ from the recommendations of the Promotion and Tenure Committee. The Dean shall also invite the Provost to meet with the Promotion and Tenure Committee to discuss any recommendations about which the Provost may have questions.

When the University acts formally upon the recommendations and notifies the Dean of the College of its actions, the Dean shall notify the candidates in writing of the actions and the reasons for them.

If a candidate wishes to appeal the University's decision, he or she shall use the University-wide appeals process.