Applying For Tenure and
Promotion
Guidelines and Hints
Deadlines
• Monday, December 3 for Tenure
• Friday, March 1 for Promotion
• A-Forms must be signed by a member of the
Faculty Welfare Committee by this date.
• All forms can be found on Provost’s Resource
page,
http://www.gallaudet.edu/Academic_Affairs/
Resources/Faculty_Forms.html
Chain-of-Custody for Applications for
Tenure and Promotion
• Program / Department makes recommendation
to Dean, submits application to Tenure and
Promotion Committee
• Committee makes recommendation to Dean
• Dean makes recommendation to Provost
• Provost makes tenure recommendation to Board
• Board of Trustees vote on tenure
• Promotion applications stop at Provost level
Program and Department Level
• Program / Department makes
recommendation to Dean; Dean delivers
abridged file and portfolio to Tenure and
Promotion Committee.
• The application never dies at the department
level; unless withdrawn by the faculty
applicant, all applications go to the Tenure and
Promotion Committee and will be reviewed
(c.f UF Guidelines 6.7.1.4).
Committee Level
• UF Faculty Bylaws I.2.a: The (Tenure and
Promotion) Committee’s review (of an
application for tenure or promotion) shall
focus solely on whether or not the candidate
has met the criteria for promotion or tenure
established by the candidate’s department
and the requirements for promotion or tenure
found in the University Faculty Guidelines.
Department Criteria for Tenure
• Read and understand it.
• Understand that the Committee will be basing
their recommendation solely on whether or not
the application meets these criteria.
• Portfolio Artifacts
– Be thorough; if the criteria asks that you create syllabi,
include a few copies of syllabi.
– Student evaluations
– Letters of recommendation / support
• Summary Sheet (more later)
Administrative Level
• Legally, department and University criteria for
tenure and promotion are considered to be
minimum standards.
• As much as possible, faculty need to show
that they go well beyond the criteria for
tenure or promotion established by their
department and by the University.
Portfolios
• Step one: Make sure that all artifacts required by
the department criteria are in the portfolio.
– Make these artifacts easy to find. Suggestion: make a
mini-file and put it in the front of the portfolio.
– If your department requires that you create syllabi,
put one sample syllabi in the mini-file and the rest in
the main portfolio.
– If required, letters of recommendation should go here
too.
– Spell out how your portfolio artifacts document that
you have satisfied the department criteria.
More on Portfolios
• Step two: Show the deans that you’re a worthy
candidate.
– Even if your department does not require letters of
recommendation, you should think about getting
them.
– Remember your ultimate goal: get tenured /
promoted. Ask yourself, “How does this artifact help
the dean see that my work goes beyond the
department criteria?”
– Don’t throw things together willy-nilly. Make sure
your important artifacts will be noticed. Draw
attention to what needs to be noticed.
About Online Portfolios
• At a minimum, provide hard copies of CV, Summary
Sheet, the A-form, your ASLPI result, and your latest
DRE.
• Make online portfolios available to all committee
members, your dean, and the Provost.
• Either provide a hard-copy Abridged File or put it in its
own folder in your online portfolio.
• Make sure that important artifacts are easily found.
Folders and subfolders are your friends.
• Your online portfolio should be easily navigable. In
particular, ensure that multiple windows can be kept
open simultaneously.
ASLPI Scores
• Faculty with ASLPI scores below 3 should
provide documentation of efforts to improve
both fluency in ASL and classroom discourse.
• Letters of support from faculty, staff, and
students may be helpful.
• Student evaluations specifically mentioning
fluency in ASL can be provided.
Summary Sheet
• Board gets CV and Summary Sheet only.
• Chair has final approval of content, but…
• It is recommended that the faculty applicant fill out the
summary sheet herself.
• Fill out in formal third person: “Dr. Doe is highly
regarded…”
• Three pages max; first page for personal information
only. Summary starts on top of page 2. Signatures are
at the bottom of page 3.
• Provide a copy in your abridged file, not the original
(you want to keep it looking nice for the Board).
More on Summary Sheet
• The Summary sheet is not a required
component of the portfolio submitted to the
Committee, but it can help us focus on how
you’ve met the criteria.
• Write the summary sheet with a copy of the
criteria next to you.
• Focus your narrative on how you satisfied the
criteria. This is what the Board (and the
Committee!) wants to see.
Still More on the Summary Sheet
• The Summary Sheet is not meant to be a
summary of your DRE. It is the one document by
which you are trying to convince the Board to
give you tenure. Highlight your
accomplishments. Use lots of action verbs.
• If you have letters of recommendation, you might
want to quote them here: “As Dr. Albert Einstein
of Princeton University says in his letter of
support, ‘Dr. Nickerson’s work is swell.’”
CV
• Be sure it follows the format found on the
Provost’s Faculty Resources page.
• Just sign it, it doesn’t have to be taken to a
notary public.
• No limit on number of pages.