Overview of faculty reappointment,
tenure, and promotion for new faculty
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
What is Tenure?
Standards and Criteria
Faculty Career Path
Portfolios
Review Processes
Career Strategies
David Jones
Tami Benham Deal
Office of Academic Affairs
See web resources listed at the end.
Acknowledgement: Myron Allen and Nicole Ballenger
University Regulations
•Designation/Appointments
•UW 5-1 (Professors, APs)
•UW 7-490 (Archivist)
•UW 7-631 (Librarians)
•Review Process/Procedures
•UW 5-803 (Tenure Track)
•UW 7-490 (Archivist)
•UW 7-631 (Librarians
Photo source: http://guamwaterworks.org/rules-regs/
Expectations by rank (from UW Regulation 5-1)
Assistant professors shall normally have the doctor's degree in course, and
shall have demonstrated ability, through appropriate experience, to
perform the functions of the position they are to hold.
Associate professors shall normally have the doctor's degree in course,
shall have established a reputation in scholarship, teaching, artistic
creation, or other productive activity in the field in which they are to
serve.
Professors, in addition to having the qualifications of associate professors,
shall have demonstrated superior capacity for direction of graduate work and
research where appropriate, have attained wide recognition in their
professional fields for scholarship or other creative work, and shall have gained
recognition as teachers and as consistent contributors to the fields in which
they are to render University service. It is not anticipated that each faculty
member will attain the rank of full professor.
Expectations by rank (from UW Regulation 7-490)
Assistant Archivist: This rank designates the beginning level of archives administration
and special-collections curatorship and generally requires little or no professional
experience. It requires adequate performance of assigned archives administration and
special collections curatorship.
Associate Archivist: This rank designates a faculty member who has established a
reliable track record and demonstrates commitment to continued excellence … It
requires consistent expert professional performance, active participation in the
profession, and sound scholarship. This rank carries the expectation of continuing
professional development or experience
Archivist: Appointment or promotion to this rank is reserved for individuals who have
made distinctive contributions over a significant period of time.
Expectations by rank (from UW Regulation 7-631)
Assistant Librarian. This rank designates the beginning level of librarianship
and generally requires little or no pertinent experience. Shows promise as an
academic librarian as demonstrated by performance and experience
Associate Librarian. Demonstrates expertise in librarianship and a high
level of creative and analytical ability in performing job responsibilities
(including teaching, administration and/or outreach, sustained
research, scholarly activities, or creative activities; and leadership).
Librarian.
Appointment or promotion to this rank is reserved for individuals
who have made distinctive contributions over a significant period of
time.
I. What is Tenure?
A. Legal view: tenure is an employment contract.
An appointment with tenure
• has no specified end date,
• can be ended only for specific reasons (discussed next).
Principles recognized in case law:
•
•
•
•
•
There is no guarantee of tenure.
Tenure necessarily involves subjective decisions.
The review takes many factors into account.
There are many levels of review and recommendation.
Only the Board of Trustees can confer tenure.
B. Philosophic view: tenure and academic freedom have
social utility.
“Academic freedom and tenure … exist in order that
society may have the benefit of honest judgment and
independent criticism which otherwise might be withheld
because of fear of offending a dominant social group or
transient social attitude.”
Clark Byse and Louis Joughin, Tenure in American Higher Education: Plans,
Practices, and the Law (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1959), p. 4.
C. Institutional setting
UW is a doctorate-granting research university.
This classification colors UW’s hiring practices as well as its
standards for reappointment, tenure and promotion.
We hire people based on their promise in teaching, research,
and service, and we expect them to be good at them all.
There’s no fixed number of tenured slots. It’s possible for all
tenure-track appointees to earn tenure.
II. STANDARDS AND CRITERIA
The key question:
Does the candidate’s record reflect both the
commitment and the promise to sustain a career-long
record of effective teaching and advising, scholarship at
the forefronts of knowledge, and effective service?
It’s not a matter of clearing the bar. Your colleagues will be
trying to predict your future performance.
How do we answer this question?
• Strong teaching, demonstrated early.
• Capacity for strong scholarship, critical for teachers to
remain effective throughout their careers.
• Review of scholarly work by nationally or internationally
recognized peers, as well as by UW students and faculty.
You have to be a player in the game.
• Service (caption re: UP4 – public engagement)
Initiative and leadership count!
Teaching
Extension, Professional
Service, & University-Related
Activities
Research and/or Creative
Contributions
What about Collegiality?
• Collegiality: ability to work both independently and
constructively with others
• Collegiality is not evaluated as a separate attribute
• Collegiality comes into play if it has a negative effect on
the research, teaching, and/or service mission of the
department/college/university
III. FACULTY CAREER PATH
Annual probationary reappointment or dismissal
(possible to skip 3rd & 5th reviews)
0
Hired as
Assistant
Professor
6
Tenure and
promotion to
Associate
Professor, or
contract ends
12
Not tied to years of service,
but a period of additional
growth that results in a
greater level of
accomplishment and
intellectual leadership is
Employment
year
expected
Promotion to
Professor
(optional)
IV. PORTFOLIO
Documentation of performance
• Teaching evaluations (students, peers, administrators)
• Research record (publications, grants, creative work)
• Service (UW committees, statewide service,
What are
Level of
Does the evidence meet
professional organizations)
your
duties?
quality or
attainment
department and discipline
standards?
Evidence of progress
• Job description and expectations
• Record of previous years’ recommendations at all levels
• Written evaluations by candidate, peers, and administrators
External evaluations
• Letters from outside experts (T&P cases)
• Letters from former students (optional, but…)
See Academic Affairs website for detailed list of contents
Tip #1
Organize
Organize
Organize
• Systematically design your packet.
– Follow College Guidelines
– Table of Contents
– Clearly label sections
Tip #2
Prepare your packet
for the
“stranger”
• Know your audience.
• Don’t assume that your colleagues will understand your
research, teaching, and service.
• The further your packet makes it through the system,
the less familiar your audience will be.
• Seek out external feedback.
Tip #3
Faculty Essay
Connect the Dots!
Provide evidence of progress by drawing connections
between your research, teaching, and service/extension
performance to:
– Department (Discipline) Expectations
– College Mission
– University Mission/Academic Plan
How to construct
the essay
(narrative)
• Precise and concise statement that “connects
the dots.”
– Remember your audience.
• It is not about educating your audience about your
research, teaching or service.
• It is about providing evidence of your scholarship,
teaching effectiveness, and service.
Where am I now?
Where am I going?
How will the reviewer
know I got there?
• Research plan
• How does my research contribute to the body of
knowledge in my discipline?
• What is the impact of my research?
• How is my research novel?
• What makes my research relevant and meaningful?
Does your essay do this?
• Show trajectory … connect the dots.
• Illustrate how:
– grants lead to publications?
– presentations lead to publications?
– publications lead to publications?
Does your reflection on teaching do
this?
• Explain why you choose teaching strategies and
methods?
• Illustrate how you use feedback (i.e., student,
peer, self) to modify and/or retain teaching
strategies and methods?
• Show connections to research- or evidencebased best practice?
• Show a trajectory of improvement and/or
sustained excellence?
Does your reflection on service?
• Provide evidence of contributing to the
service mission of the university?
• Reflect public engagement beyond the
university community?
• Provide evidence of your leadership role
in service activities?
V. REVIEW PROCESSES
External peer review
A
Department faculty review
Department head’s recommendation
College-level faculty review
B
College dean’s recommendation
University-level faculty review
C
Review by Academic Affairs
Review by President (on appeal)
Trustees’ action
A.
Department-level review
•
Solicitation of external letters (T&P cases)
•
Review and vote by faculty peers
•
Recommendation by department head
Example peer remark (reappointment):
“For someone with a 60% teaching split, who has taught for two
years in another institution before coming to the University of
Wyoming, her progress in teaching is unsatisfactory. … _____ is
much more suited to clinical settings or pure research.”
Outcome: resignation in the face of a negative reappointment
recommendation from Academic Affairs
TEACHING COUNTS!
Example: external letters from
• Colby College
• Columbia University
• Dartmouth College
• Duke University
• Oberlin College
“Professor ______’s scholarship is bold in treating major authors and issues,
careful in its close reading of primary texts and its consideration of secondary
literature, and scrupulous in its honesty and clarity. I have found his work of
genuine value for my own teaching and writing.” [From Duke University]
UW Regulation 5-803 requires a minimum of 4 letters from arm’slength reviewers.
Letters from co-workers and former students are okay, but they
must be in addition to the required letters.
Suggestion for newly minted assistant professors:
• Make a list of important scholars in your field.
• Make sure it has wide representation and heft.
• Send them copies of your work as you complete it.
B. College-level review
• Review and vote by faculty-elected college committee
• Recommendation by dean
Example remark from college committee:
“It is clear from _____’s packet, especially the comments made by the
external reviewers, that he has achieved a regional, national, and
international reputation for his work… . His record of securing external
funding and publishing his work are exceptional. Student evaluations of his
teaching have consistently been positive and his graduate students have
been very successful in terms of their ability to produce peer-reviewed
products.”
Firing on all cylinders
C. University-level review
• Review by faculty-elected university committee, if required
• Recommendation by VP for Academic Affairs
Example UT&P comment (tenure):
“This case presents an all-too-familiar pattern: fine teacher, great citizen
who is … succeeding at tasks necessary for the department, college, and
university, but doing so at the expense of … research development.”
Lesson to be learned:
Good performance in one dimension of the
job description doesn’t trump inattention to
other dimensions.
D. Trustees’ action
•
•
Only positive cases forwarded
March for first-year cases; May for all others
There is no tenure until the Trustees confer it.
UW does not recognize “de facto” tenure (and neither do courts).
Reappointment, Tenure and Promotion Outcomes
2011-14
100%
90%
2
1
0
6
6
27
21
22
143
133
2012
2013
31
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
130
110
30%
20%
10%
0%
2011
Reappointed
Tenured
Resigned
Not Reappointed/Tenured
2014
VI. CAREER STRATEGIES
1. Become a versatile, engaging teacher.
2. Identify and cultivate a national or international
audience for your scholarly activities.
3. If external funding is available in your field, develop and
follow a plan for seeking it.
4. Find ways to connect your scholarly work with your
teaching.
5. Select a meaningful array of service activities.
6. Learn how to be a leader.
7. Maintain a love of your discipline.
These are strategies for staying sane, not
just for getting tenure!
UW Regulation 5-1.E:
Faculty members on tenure may be dismissed only for
cause or because of bona fide financial exigencies of the
University.
"Cause" is defined to include any conduct which seriously
impairs the ability of the University of Wyoming to carry
out its functions, including physical or mental incapacity,
incompetence, neglect of duty, dishonesty, immorality or
conviction of a felony.
QUESTIONS?
Web resources:
Academic Affairs website (several documents):
www.uwyo.edu/AcadAffairs/promotion/
UniReg 803, General Counsel website:
www.uwyo.edu/generalcounsel/new-regulatory-structure/
academic-personnel.html