DOC I-06-10

PROPOSAL TO THE ACADEMIC SENATE

 

TITLE:            UNIVERSITY PROMOTION & TENURE POLICY

 

SUBMITTED BY:     Provost Committee (Read original version) (Read February 1 version)

 

DATE:                                    September 25, 2006; revised February 1, 2007;  revised February 20, 2007 

 

ACTION:                    To Be Determined:  The document has been assigned to all standing committees with the Faculty Affairs Committee taking primary responsibility for finalizing the document.  Once this is completed, the action will be assigned.

 

REFERENCE:

 

Will require faculty vote

 

Background.

The purpose of this document is to create consistent University-wide promotion and tenure procedures, and a university committee, established by and under the authority of the Academic Senate, which will review the procedural policies for promotion and tenure across the academic units.  When following resolutions are passed, the Board of Trustees will then delegate its authority to approve promotion and tenure to the President.  The Board of Trustees, however, will retain its authority to act as a court of last resort on all issues related to tenure and promotion.

 

The resolutions below highlight substantive changes in the promotion and tenure process which are included in the policy.

 

Resolution 1.  Tenure will not be granted to a faculty member whose rank is below the level of associate professor.

Purpose:  The purpose of Resolution 1 is to tie the granting of tenure to promotion to the rank of associate professor or above.

 

Resolution 2.  Faculty members who have already been granted tenure at the assistant professor level prior to implementation of this proposal will retain their tenure.

         Purpose:  The purpose of Resolution 2 is to protect the tenure of those faculty

         members who currently hold tenure and the rank of assistant professor.

 

Resolution 3.  A candidate who successfully completes the P&T process will be granted tenure and/or promotion with his or her next contract.

Purpose:  The purpose of Resolution 3 is to eliminate the preliminary tenure year.

 

Resolution 4.  Each academic unit will have an elected, representative unit P&T committee comprised of tenured faculty members from the unit.  The Dean of each unit will have the option to appoint up to two additional representatives for any given year to achieve balance.  Additionally, smaller units in which all tenured faculty serve as members of the unit P&T committee will not be required to conduct elections.

Purpose:  The purposes of Resolution 4 are to assure the establishment of P&T committees in each of the academic units which will review each department’s criteria for promotion and tenure and the application of each candidate from the unit, and to establish the final authority in settling disagreements between the unit and departmental P&T committees.

 

Resolution 5.  The Academic Senate will establish a University Committee to Review Policies and Procedures for Promotion and Tenure which has responsibility for reviewing and approving for procedural consistency the policies for promotion and tenure (P&T) for all academic units (the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Education and Allied Professions, the School of Engineering, the Law School, and the University Libraries) and for presenting an annual report of the process to the Board of Trustees.

Purpose: The purpose of Resolution 5 is to establish a University Committee to Review Policies and Procedures for Promotion and Tenure.

 

A.            Committee Responsibilities

 

(i)                 Review of unit P&T processes and procedures

1.      The Committee will approve those academic unit documents that define clear substantive and consistent procedural criteria and provide clear procedures for communicating these criteria to candidates prior to the beginning of their initial probationary contract. 

2.      All University-wide procedural policies on P&T shall be determined by the Academic Senate and explicated in the Faculty Handbook.  If the Committee notes inconsistencies between documents that are not covered by University-wide procedural policies on P&T, those procedural inconsistencies will be submitted to the Academic Senate for resolution.

3.      After the initial approval has been obtained a given unit P&T committee, that unit’s policies will be reviewed by the Committee every three years.  Additionally, the academic unit P&T documents must be approved for procedural consistency as defined above in A.(i) by the Committee whenever substantive changes are proposed.  Each academic unit P&T committee will determine whether the changes are substantive and require resubmission to the Committee.

4.      In the event the Committee does not approve unit documents or proposed changes thereto, and if the Dean of that unit disagrees with the decision of the Committee, the matter will be resolved by the Provost.

 

(ii)               The Committee will review the process and recommendations each year and the chair of the Committee will annually present a summary to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees.

 

 

B.             Committee Composition

(i)                 The Committee shall consist of fifteen tenured faculty members, with seven from the College, (two from the Humanities, one from the Arts, two from the Natural Sciences, two from the Social Sciences), two respectively from Business, Education, and Engineering, and one each from the Law School and the Library.

(ii)               The Academic Senate will be responsible for oversight of the elections and appointments of faculty members to the Committee.  The representatives from the Humanities will be elected by all tenured and tenure-track faculty from Humanities.  The representatives from the Arts will be elected by all tenured and tenure-track faculty from Arts.  The representatives from Social Sciences shall be elected by all tenured and tenure-track faculty from Social Sciences.  The representatives from Natural Sciences shall be elected by all tenured and tenure-track faculty from Natural Sciences.  All other members shall be elected by their respective academic unit faculties.

 

C.                 Committee organization and terms of service

(i)                  The Committee shall elect a chair from those duly elected.  The chair shall serve for one year, and may serve consecutive terms.

(ii)                Members shall serve three-year terms (maximum of two consecutive terms, with staggered terms within and across units); all members will be tenured with rank of associate professor or professor and cannot hold an administrative appointment (including Department Chairs, Assistant and Associate Deans, Deans, and other full or part-time administrators with line authority).

 

 

Resolution 6.  Common processes and procedures for pre-tenure review and for promotion and tenure decisions will be established.

Purpose:  The purpose of Resolution 6 is to establish common processes and procedures for pre-tenure review and review for promotion and tenure, and feedback from those evaluations to be shared with the candidate, departmental chairperson or P&T committee, and the appropriate Dean.

 

A.                Pre-tenure review.

(i)                 During the pre-tenure period, every candidate will receive a minimum of two reviews of his or her teaching, scholarship, and service by his or her department, with the final review conducted the year prior to the final departmental tenure recommendation.

(ii)               Candidates who have received credit toward tenure due to prior service

1.      Those candidates who are given 2 or fewer years credit toward tenure will receive two comprehensive reviews as described in A(i).

2.      Those candidates receiving 3 or more years credit toward tenure will receive a minimum of one review of his or her teaching, scholarship, and service by his or her department, with the final review conducted the year prior to the final departmental tenure recommendation.  The number of and timing of the review(s) will explicated in the candidate’s first letter of hire.

(iii)             A candidate will submit his or her review materials and supporting documentation for review to the responsible persons (e.g., departmental chairperson, departmental P&T committee) at the departmental level.

(iv)             After giving adequate consideration to the materials, each department will provide written feedback to the candidate regarding his or her progress toward tenure.  In addition to a statement regarding progress toward tenure, feedback will include comments of a developmental nature, in line with the departmental criteria for tenure, indicating areas of concern and suggestions for improvement.  .

(v)               The candidate’s review materials and supporting documentation and the written feedback will be forwarded to the appropriate unit Dean no later than November 1.  The Dean will then review the materials and provide written feedback to the candidate no later than December 1.

 

B.             Departmental Review Process

Each academic department will develop a Procedural Form that itemizes the P&T steps that are to be followed in the department and unit.  As steps are completed, the responsible persons (e.g., departmental chairperson, departmental P&T committee, chairperson of the unit P&T committee, and Dean) in the unit will provide his or her signature, acknowledging that steps were completed in accordance with the department and unit procedural policies and indicating the date in which steps were completed.  Candidates will be provided an opportunity to sign, acknowledging receipt of written documentation and the date upon which it was received.

(i)                 The specific administrative process for submitting material, including to whom, must be specified in each academic department’s P&T policies.

(ii)               A candidate will submit his or her application and supporting documentation for promotion and/or tenure to the responsible persons (e.g., departmental chairperson, departmental P&T committee) at the departmental level.

(iii)             After giving adequate consideration to the application, each department, in accordance with its unit P&T procedures, will make a P&T recommendation in writing to the appropriate unit P&T committee and will explain to the candidate, in writing, the reasons for the recommendation. 

(iv)             If the candidate chooses, he or she can respond in writing.  This response will be forwarded with all related materials to the unit P&T committee.

 

C.             Unit Review Process

(i)                 The specific administrative process for submitting material, including to whom, must be specified in each academic unit’s P&T policies.

(ii)               After giving adequate consideration to the applications, each academic unit P&T committee will make P&T recommendations in writing to the appropriate academic Dean.

(iii)             Each academic unit Dean will inform candidates in writing regarding his or her recommendation and will explain to the candidate and the appropriate departmental chairperson or P&T committee the reasons for his or her recommendation.

(iv)             Candidates, departmental chairpersons, or departmental P&T committees who wish to submit a written response to the Dean will have two weeks to do so.

(v)               The Dean will send a recommendation in writing to the Provost, along with the completed Procedural Form, and any candidate’s, departmental chairperson’s, or departmental P&T committee’s response(s).  The Dean will also inform the candidate and the respective departmental chairperson or P&T committee of his or her recommendation, no later than the first business day following January 30.

 

D.            Provost Recommendation Process

(i)                 Candidates, unit promotion and tenure committees, departmental chairpersons, and departmental promotion and tenure committees have until February 15 to file a written challenge with the Provost.  Such challenges must specify the grounds for the challenge.

(ii)               The Provost will review all materials and make recommendations to the President no later than March 15.  Each candidate will be informed in writing of the Provost’s recommendation.

(iii)             If the candidate disagrees with the Provost decision, he or she may use the mediation process in accord with the Faculty Handbook, Section IV.E.  If mediation does not resolve the complaint, the candidate may make use of the appeal processes set out in the Faculty Handbook (Sections IV.C.1, IV.E, and XIII.E.)

 

E.             Final Administrative Authority and Report to the Board of Trustees

(i)                 Final administrative authority rests with the President.  The President will provide the Board of Trustees with a report of promotion and tenure actions at the spring meeting.

 

 

Resolution 7.  A plan for implementing the proposed application and review process will be established.

Purpose:  The purpose of resolution 7 is to establish a plan for implementing the pre-tenure review and review for promotion and tenure decision processes.  It specifically addresses faculty who are currently in their probationary period.

A.                Faculty members who have received 3 or more probationary contracts prior to May 15, 20081 will be evaluated relative to the procedure and criteria for tenure and promotion which were in place at the time of their most recently affected probationary contracted.  If a faculty member in this position chooses to be evaluated relative to the resolutions presented here, he or she must inform the appropriate departmental chairperson and departmental promotion and tenure committee in writing within six months of the passage of these resolutions. 

 

B.                 Faculty members who have been granted the rank of associate professor as of May 15, 20081 will follow procedures for promotion to full professor as explicated above.

 

C.                 The elimination of the provisional tenure year will be implemented with contract distributed in Spring 2008, the first set of contracts distributed following the approval of these resolutions.

 

D.                Work of the Committee

                                         (i)              Elections for Committee members will be conducted in Fall 20081.

                                         (ii)            Each academic unit will submit its procedural policies for promotion and tenure by February 20081. 

                                       (iii)            The University Committee to Review Policies and Procedures for Promotion and Tenure will review all tenure and promotion procedural policies by May 15, 20081. 

 

1 Dates assume passage of the above resolutions by Fall 2007.