DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
CRITERIA FOR PROMOTION, TENURE, AND REAPPOINTMENT
Candidates for promotion, tenure, and reappointment will be evaluated on their performances in the
following three areas:
A) TEACHING
Since teaching is our primary function, effectiveness in this area is a necessary but not sufficient
condition for all candidates for promotion and tenure. A candidate's credentials must include Faculty
Class Visit Reports and Student Evaluation Forms, and may also include: course outlines, awards, or
nominations for teaching excellence; contributions to course and curriculum development;
pedagogical innovations; and any communications from facuIty and students which are judged
relevant and authoritative.
B) SCHOLARLY OR CREATIVE WRITING
Even though quality is more important than quantity, candidates must demonstrate sustained
scholarly or creative writing which may include articles, books, poems, short fiction, novels, book
reviews, abstracts, and papers presented at professional meetings. Written materials must be
published through established, scholarly, professionally and academically recognized channels. The
candidate may also submit reviews and other written evaluations of his or her writing and cite awards
for research and writing.
The Promotion and Tenure Committee expects that a candidate will have published, or have had
accepted for publication, substantial scholarly work in refereed journals, or other reputable
professional media. Work published in un-refereed journals or their equivalent, as well as
unpublished material of significant length, will be evaluated by the Committee. Professional writing,
including text-books and pedagogical texts in the professor's area of expertise, will also be judged by
the committee.
Letters to the editor, interviews, editorial or prefatory notes, lectures and book reviews, notes,
review articles, and credit for supervision of Ph.D. theses, are normally excluded from consideration,
but a case may be made for a body of such work where it constitutes a significant original
contribution.
C) PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Due and reasonable committee service at the departmental and other levels shall be expected of
all candidates for tenure, promotion, and reappointment, as it is for all faculty.
I. REAPPOINTMENT
Reappointment is based upon the same criteria as promotion and tenure and is made on an annual
basis for probationary facuIty. The candidate for reappointment must show definite promise of being able,
in the normal length of time, to meet the requirements for promotion. Reappointment does not, however,
constitute a commitment by the Department of eventual promotion and tenure.
II. TENURE
The requirements for tenure are described in Chancellor's Memoranda # 35 and # 77. Departmental
"procedures" for judging whether these requirements have been satisfied are described below.
III. PROMOTION TO ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
The Department ordinarily hires at the rank of Assistant Professor or above. However, in case a
candidate for reappointment unexpectedly does not finish the Ph.D. or fails to meet other requirements
established at the time he or she is offered an appointment, the candidate may be appointed at the rank of
Instructor. He or she would ordinarily be expected to meet the conditions of his or her employment by no
later than one year after beginning employment. The Tenure Committee shall decide whether the failure
to meet these conditions shall constitute grounds for offering a terminal contract. The acquisition of a
Ph.D. ordinarily makes one eligible for recommendation for promotion to Assistant Professor, although
appointments to the professorial ranks may be obtained without the Ph.D. in special circumstances, such
as for an MFA in Creative Writing.
IV. PROMOTION FROM ASSISTANT TO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
The candidate must clearly demonstrate competence in all three areas and promise of excellence in
teaching or in scholarly or creative writing. Ordinarily he or she will have served in this rank here, or in
an equivalent rank at another university for five years before being considered for promotion to Associate
Professor.
V. PROMOTION FROM ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR TO PROFESSOR
The candidate is expected to be an accomplished teacher, to have achieved and maintained a
recognized ability in scholarly or creative writing, and to have carried out responsibly the commitment to
professional service. He or she is expected to have achieved excellence in teaching and in scholarly or
creative writing through publication of a substantial body of work. Ordinarily, the candidate for full
Professor will have served in the rank of Associate Professor here, or in an equivalent rank at another
university from five to seven years before being considered for promotion to Professor.
I. YEARLY REVIEW
It is the obligation of the Promotion and Tenure Committee not only to make final recommendations
about tenure at the end of the probationary period, but also to guide the non-tenured faculty in the
performance of their professional duties, whether or not their progress has been satisfactory. Each year,performance objectives for the coming year will be provided in writing to the faculty member by their
immediate supervisors (Mentor and Chair) to assist faculty members in their professional development.
Each candidate will provide written evidence of his or her performance during the preceding year in
teaching, writing, and service. The Promotion and Tenure Committee will provide a written statement
outlining its conclusions and recommending either a one-year reappointment, suggesting areas of possible
improvement, or a terminal contract.
Two full-time faculty members will be chosen annually to evaluate the teaching of each candidate for
tenure. Each member will attend the candidate's classes and file a written report with the Committee.
The candidate shall have access to these reports, and the visitors shall make themselves available for
discussion with the candidate prior to turning in the evaluation report, in order to give the candidate the
opportunity to provide clarifications. One visitor will be selected by the candidate, and one will be
selected by the Chair with the approval of the Promotion and Tenure Committee. The candidate or the
Committee may request additional visits at any time. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the classes
of a candidate for tenure below the rank of Associate Professor will not be visited during his or her first
semester of appointment.
After three years of the probationary period have elapsed, the Promotion and Tenure Committee will
provide a more comprehensive progress report in writing to candidates for tenure and will recommend a
continuation of the appointment or a terminal contract. If reappointment is recommended, the committee,
in addition to citing areas of growth and accomplishment, will make a special effort to identify those
areas, if any, which must be improved if the candidate is to have a realistic prospect of receiving the
Dean's and the Department's recommendation for tenure. If a terminal contract is offered, the Committee
will provide a written statement to the candidate explaining its decision.
III. RECOMMENDATIONS AND REVIEW OF EVIDENCE
Each spring term, the Chair will review the situation of every Department member below the rank of
Professor and make recommendations for promotion and tenure by the first week in September. If tenure
and/or promotion is recommended, the candidate will prepare his/her file for consideration by the
Promotion and Tenure Committee. (See Criteria for Promotion, Tenure, and Re-Appointment above.)
A) Scholarly and Creative Writing
Candidates for promotion and tenure are required to submit the names, addresses, and phone
numbers of eight potential outside evaluators of their written work. Outside evaluators may include
scholars from other departments within the College of Arts and Sciences, the University of Missouri,
and other institutions. These outside evaluators should be recognized scholars in the candidate's
field. The Dean should select at least three of the evaluators from the Department's list. The
Promotion and Tenure Committee will select two names from the remaining six. Evaluator letters
will serve as significant indices of the candidate's achievement and promise of excellence in future
work. Although the judgment of these referees will be taken into account; their recommendations
will not be binding on the Committee.
B) Teaching
All Candidates for promotion to Professor will provide the Promotion and Tenure Committee
with all student evaluations for all courses taught in the last three years. In addition, candidates for
promotion to Professor will provide the Promotion and Tenure Committee with letters from four peer
visitors-two
shall be chosen by the candidate, two by the Committee. Candidates for promotion to
Assistant and Associate Professor will follow the procedures for peer visits described in Section I,
Yearly Review.
A) The Promotion and Tenure Committee will consist of all tenured members of the Department. The
Chair of the Department will be the permanent Chair of the Committee.
B) When the Committee considers recommendations for promotion or tenure, a quorum will consist of
two-thirds of the tenured members of the Department not on leave.
C) Tenured members on leave or sabbatical may write memoranda to be read during the debate, but
normally they may not vote on questions of tenure of-promotion. However, if a member is able to
attend the debate, he or she may vote.
D) Proxies will be accepted only from those who have been present for most of the discussion on the day
the vote is taken.
E) When a member of the Committee must be absent because he or she is under consideration for
promotion, he or she shall not be counted in deciding whether a quorum is present.
F) Each candidate for promotion or tenure must be considered at a separate meeting, unless this
requirement is waived by unanimous consent.
G) All votes on tenure or promotion will be conducted by written, signed ballot. The votes and
deliberations are confidential and should only be communicated to the Dean's office.
H) A motion to end debate before 60 minutes have elapsed requires the consent of two-thirds of the
voting members present. After 60 minutes, such a motion requires a simple majority of the voting
members present.
I) If promotion or tenure is recommended by the Chair before the full probationary period (for tenure) or
time in rank (for promotion), it must be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of those voting. After the
full probationary period for tenure or time in rank for promotion, the Chair's recommendation must be
confirmed by a simple majority of those voting. The Committee may nominate its own candidates for
promotion and/or tenure, with the agreement of the candidate, by a three-fourths majority vote of
those voting.
J) If the Committee votes against promotion, denies tenure, or issues a terminal contract, the candidate
will be informed in writing of the reasons for its action and given ten days to appeal or offer a
rebuttal.