Guidelines for Consideration of New Faculty for Continuing Appointment

Review of New Faculty Members for Continuing Appointment

The University at Albany has established guidelines and procedures for reviewing faculty members for continuing appointment (tenure) and promotion. It is expected that faculty members will be reviewed for continuing appointment in accordance with the University's established process, involving parallel administrative and peer review of their record of professional attainments in scholarship, teaching and service. The complete process shall be used for new faculty members who have not been previously reviewed for continuing appointment.

In cases where a faculty member already holds tenure at another institution, the following procedure may be used:

1. The departments/schools proposing to appoint a new faculty member who already holds tenure at another institution will prepare a case for recognizing that decision at UAlbany. 
   The case must be made on the basis of the candidate's professional attainments, national reputation and performance in scholarship, teaching, and service. The documentation to support the case shall include:
   • Candidate CV
   • Letter confirming tenure at prior institution
   • Department tenure and promotion guidelines
   • Research, teaching and service statements written by the candidate
   • Copies of the candidate's major publications
   • Professional testimony, in addition to the candidate's application reference letters regarding the quality and impact of the candidate's research
     1. Include a statement describing the procedure for obtaining professional testimony
     2. Professional testimony should include at least four letters from external evaluators from peer or aspirational institutions
   • Evaluative summary of teaching written by a tenured faculty member in the department at UAlbany
   • Student course evaluations, where available
   • Other testimony and documents regarding teaching performance (course syllabi, teaching letters of support, etc.)
   • Evaluative summary of service written by a tenured faculty member in the department at UAlbany
   • Other testimony and documents regarding the scope and impact of the candidate's contributions in service
2. A report of a discussion and faculty vote on the appointment must be included as part of the case.
3. The Chair shall review the case and make a recommendation to the Dean.
4. The Dean shall review the case and make a recommendation to the Provost.
5. The Provost will review the case. Where the Dean and the Provost endorse the case, the Provost will submit the file with a recommendation for appointment with continuing appointment to the President.

Note: Either the Dean or the Provost may require the department to submit the case for review through the University's complete process for continuing appointment, or to request that the Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments review the case. 

Initial Rank of Appointment for New Faculty Members

The initial rank of a new academic appointment shall be determined by the applicable Dean, based on a recommendation from the appointing department(s) and with the approval of the Provost.