Part III. College Policies and Procedures

The College Tenure and Promotion Committee shall review the written standards from the candidate's department and make a judgment regarding the candidate's achievement of those standards. The College Committee also shall examine the candidate's credentials relative to the College guidelines and the Faculty Handbook to ensure that the professional expectations of the College and University have been achieved. Finally, this Committee shall review the candidate's potential for future growth and development based on the evidence presented in the candidate's materials as well as the evaluative comments of the Department Tenure and Promotion Committee and Department Chair.

The College of Arts and Sciences shall maintain two committees that shall review tenure and/or promotion applications. One committee shall review all applications for promotion to the rank of associate professor and tenure. The second committee shall review all applications for promotion to the rank of professor. Two-thirds of the members of each committee shall be appointment by their departments; one-third of the members of each committee shall be appointed by the Dean. When possible, the college shall arrange for appointment of members to college promotion committees from departments that do not have candidates applying for promotion to the rank handled by that committee, while making every effort to ensure college promotion committee service is rotated through the college departments. Committee members may serve two-year terms. Department tenure and promotion committee chairs will be available to the college promotion committee to address questions about disciplinary norms and expectations prior to college committee discussion and vote on their department’s candidates.

The College Committee for Promotion to Associate Professor shall include two tenured faculty from different departments within each grand division (humanities, social sciences, natural sciences) and one faculty member with a teaching, research, clinical, or practice appointment type from a third department of each grand division. All members shall hold a rank at or above associate professor in their appointment type. Each department shall define a selection procedure for department representatives to the College Tenure & Promotion Committee, within the College guidelines. Tenured faculty shall discuss and vote on applications for promotion and/or tenure for all appointment types. Faculty with teaching, research, clinical, or practice appointments shall discuss and vote on applications for promotion within their own appointment type.
The College Committee for Promotion to Professor shall include two tenured faculty from different departments within each grand division (humanities, social sciences, natural sciences) and one faculty member with a teaching, research, clinical, or practice appointment type from a third department of each grand division. All members shall hold a rank at or above professor in their appointment type. Each department shall define a selection procedure for department representatives to the College Tenure & Promotion Committee, within the College guidelines. Tenured faculty shall discuss and vote on applications for promotion of tenured and non-tenured faculty. Faculty with teaching, research, clinical, or practice appointments shall discuss and vote on applications for promotion within their own appointment type.

The College Tenure and Promotion Committees shall be self-governing within the following expectations:

The dean’s office shall schedule meetings. The Dean shall assemble each Committee for its initial meeting in late September or early October of each year to provide the committee with its charge.
The Committee must have a quorum of two-thirds (2/3) members eligible to vote on a dossier present to review and vote on the dossier.
Candidate materials, including the recommendation documents of both the Departmental Tenure & Promotion Committee and the Department Chair, shall be made available to the committee electronically by the dean’s office.
Each Committee member shall be expected to review the files of all applicants the committee member is eligible to discuss and vote on.
All candidates shall be considered individually, without comparison to other candidates. The vote on all candidates shall be reported to the Dean after all voting is completed. The ballots must be retained by the dean’s office for three years.
Committee members must excuse themselves when candidates from their departments are discussed and voted upon.
All members eligible to vote as noted in the description of the committee composition above shall vote by secret ballot. Each member shall vote yes, no, or abstain. Abstentions shall not be considered in determining the majority. Tie votes shall be reported simply as such, not as positive or negative recommendations.
In all decisions on tenure and/or promotion, the Committee shall include a written rationale for its vote that accurately reflects both strengths and weaknesses of the candidate’s performance and how those were balanced into the committee recommendation.
Committee members shall maintain complete confidentiality regarding deliberations of the Committee.
The Committee Chair shall complete and sign the recommendation reports and forward them to the Dean.
The Dean shall prepare a recommendation and report based on available material. Subsequently, the Dean shall forward all appropriate forms and his/her report/recommendation as well as those of the Department Chair and both the College and Department Tenure and Promotion Committees to the Office of the Provost.
When a senior faculty member is hired with the expectation of tenure, the Committee shall convene a special meeting to examine the faculty member's credentials. The Committee's recommendation shall then be sent forward through the Dean, Provost, and President for consideration at the earliest possible Board of Trustees meeting.

Part I. The Dossier for Tenure and Promotion
Part II. Department Policies and Procedures
Part III. College-Level Policy and Procedures for Tenure and Promotion
Part IV. Approvals
Tenure and Promotion Calendar