Procedures for Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure

Faculty Evaluation and Re-appointment

General Guidelines

Faculty members are reappointed to the College on a yearly basis. In general, the job description should not change markedly from year to year. Stability of job description will allow faculty members the best opportunity to succeed in the career tracks for which they have been recruited and appointed. A statement of reappointment is required for all reappointments. If there are significant changes in a job description or expectations of a faculty member, a letter of reappointment, similar in scope to the letter of appointment, should be generated.

On occasion, it may be necessary to change the responsibilities of a faculty member to meet institutional and patient care needs. The Chair should minimize any such changes wherever possible. If such changes are necessary, they should not be made in a way that makes it more difficult for that faculty member to meet the promotion guidelines of the faculty designation and assigned title series without the faculty member's consent. In the latter scenario, an appropriate change in the faculty member's faculty designation, title series, or both should be considered. If a job description changes in such a way that it may change assigned title series and promotion guidelines, this description must be forwarded to the appropriate area committee for review and approval.

The letter of appointment should form the basis of faculty evaluation and decisions about reappointment. All faculty members should receive regular and constructive feedback. Feedback should include verbal and written comments from the Chair (or Chair's designate) to each faculty member on an ongoing basis. The emphasis should be based on total academic performance. It may include, but should not be limited to, information about financial productivity.

Junior faculty members should be evaluated by the Department Chair (or designate) at least annually. More frequent communication may be appropriate. University-mandated two- and four-year reviews must occur. The two-year and four-year reviews should be performed jointly by the Department Chair and senior faculty members or by a representative group of senior faculty members. This will allow for an improved quality of feedback, especially in departments in which the chair may have a different focus of interest than the faculty member.

The third-year annual review of a junior faculty member must include specific consideration of the appropriateness of the faculty designation and title series given the work in which the faculty member is engaged and the expectations of the faculty member as articulated in the letter of appointment or reappointment. The focus of this specific consideration is on the consistency between these elements, not on whether the faculty member is succeeding. If this review suggests that the faculty designation, the title series, or both are inappropriate to the work and expectations of the position, strong consideration should be given to bringing these elements in line with each other. This may include changing the faculty member's faculty designation, title series or both.

Changes between tenure-eligible University Title Series (i.e., Regular Title Series and Special Title Series) should not occur after the third year in the probationary period and cannot occur after the fourth year in the probationary period. This rule is necessary to ensure that an adequate track record for the demonstration of excellence and scholarship in the faculty member's area(s) of emphasis can be established for the promotion and tenure committee.

If a review concludes that a faculty member is unlikely to achieve tenure, this finding should be communicated to the faculty member. The faculty member and his or her chair should consider the options to continuing in the tenure-eligible position. These options may include changing faculty designation and changing title series designation, among others. Changes among faculty designations and title series are appropriate only when the faculty member clearly is meeting requirements for successful promotion in that area.

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