Overview of the Tenure and Promotion Review Process

The tenure and promotion review process takes about 15 months from start to finish. For assistant professors and librarians, the tenure review typically begins in the middle of the candidate’s fifth year of employment. For associate professors and librarians seeking promotion to full, there is no mandatory time for review; rather, the review occurs whenever the candidate and their department initiate the process.

All cases go through two or three levels of review — department, school/college and university levels — as illustrated in the table below. Appendix B also provides an illustration of the review process for each college and school.

At every level there is peer (faculty) review and vote, as well as an administrative (Chair, Dean and Provost) review and recommendation. The entire review process is advisory to the President who has sole authority to award continuing appointment and promotion. The President’s action is subject to confirmation by the Chancellor.
 

The process begins with the candidate and their department notifying the Dean and Provost of the intent to request tenure and/or promotion, and assembling a file, or dossier, of required materials for review. The candidate is responsible for preparing some elements of the file, and the department is responsible for preparing and assembling other elements.

Many departments appoint an ad hoc faculty committee to oversee and coordinate the file assembly. In these cases, it is often a three-member committee, with each member overseeing one of the three areas under review: research, teaching and service. When departments have such an ad hoc committee, the committee is usually responsible for presenting the case during the department faculty meeting.

The review process does not stop if there is a negative vote at any level of review, unless the candidate chooses to suspend the review process.

Copies of the recommendation at each level of review will be made available to the candidate, who will have the opportunity in reply in writing. Such a reply becomes a part of the record. The candidate will be given at least five working days to examine the file and respond in writing to the non-confidential portions of the dossier before it is presented to the President for a decision.