Tenure and Promotion Policies and Practices

Tenure is a privilege reserved for faculty members who have demonstrated professional accomplishments in teaching, research and scholarship, and service that provide confidence that they will continue to contribute in all of these areas at a level of excellence that is appropriate for a senior faculty member at Boston University through the indefinite future. Although the process of tenure review involves reviewing the evidence of past accomplishments, tenure is “about” the future, as is promotion.

In the College of Arts and Sciences at Boston University our aim is to hire assistant professors who show great promise, to support and encourage their work in order to help them fulfill that promise, and to follow a rigorous, fair, and respectful tenure and promotion process.

We have established formal mentoring processes to assure that faculty can get good advice from colleagues from the beginning, but the best mentoring policy and climate means that all members of the department are involved in giving guidance to faculty members on the tenure-track. For more explanation, see the CAS Mentoring Policies and Practices.

There are three important phases of assessment and review related to the tenure and promotion process:

• Mid-Tenure Review:  All assistant professors are subject to a Mid-Tenure review process before the end of the third year in rank, during which time the candidates for tenure, their colleagues, and the dean engage in a thorough review of assistant professors’ progress, trajectory, and promise. The review is designed to advise candidates for tenure on goals and strategies to assist them in making career progress. Further explanation of the CAS Mid-Tenure Review process is available here.

• Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor:  See the CAS Guide to the Tenure and Promotion Review Process for a full explanation. See the calendars for Tenure and Promotion during 2013/14. Download .pdf of Guide

• Promotion to the rank of Professor: See the CAS Guide to the Tenure and Promotion Review Process for a full explanation. See the calendar for promotion to the rank of Professor during 2013/14. Download .pdf of Guide

The forms and instructions used for tenure and promotion are available at the Provost’s website.

For more information on any aspect of CAS policies on tenure and promotion, contact the Associate Dean of the Faculty for your division or Katherine Mor, Tenure and Promotion Coordinator, in the Office of Faculty Actions.

For more information on or help with the CAS faculty mentoring program contact Gareth McFeely.