Procedures for Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure

Underlyng Principles

The following principles provide the foundation for this document.

* The mission of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine has three equal and interrelated parts: education, research, and service. The success of each part of the mission is fundamental to the well-being of the entire organization. The College of Medicine's faculty structure and its policies and procedures for appointment, promotion, and tenure should flow from, and be consistent with, the mission and the strategic plan of the College.

* The College of Medicine is one college of the University of Kentucky. This document recognizes the supervening nature of University regulations and is intended to be consistent with those regulations. The procedures in this document are intended to govern all faculty members appointed in any basic science or clinical department of the College (with or without concurrent medical staff privileges in Chandler Medical Center). This includes full-time and part-time, salaried and unpaid, on-site and community-based faculty members.

* Faculty members must know the expectations for success and the process that will be used to judge whether those expectations have been met. The process used for judging faculty members should be known to them prospectively and should be consistent across departments.

* Junior faculty members must be given the necessary resources, including time, to meet the guidelines for promotion. An initial investment of institutional resources is particularly important at the Assistant Professor level in tenure-possible positions, given the limited probationary period.

* The College supports the principle of academic freedom and the role of tenure as a means of helping to ensure academic freedom in the College setting.

* Scholarship and excellence are career-long commitments of a member of the academic community. Ongoing productivity throughout a career is expected. Time spent in various activities should correspond to the mission and needs of the College and the Department, the faculty workload policy, and the interests and productivity of the faculty member. Ongoing review of a faculty member's success in using allocated resources, including time, should occur. Except for bridge periods and other unusual events, research time allocated to senior faculty members should be justified on the basis of research productivity.

* Division chiefs, department chairs, and other administrators must be evaluated, in part, on their ability to appoint, develop, and promote faculty members who are successful.

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