Preparations for the review process begin when faculty members take their place as a new Assistant or Associate Professor and continue with increasing specificity through the year before the review actually takes place. For tenure and promotion candidates, the Mid-Tenure Review, typically occurring in the sixth semester, is an especially important part of the process. Candidates engage in a full and detailed self-review that gives them experience in gathering together, organizing, and analyzing the evidence of their accomplishments. They then receive detailed feedback from their senior colleagues and an assessment from the Dean. Please see the MTR guidelines for more information. Other considerations that precede the review year include:
- Candidates for tenure and promotion should develop the habit of keeping well-organized documentation of their professional accomplishments in research, teaching, mentoring, and professional service. This includes keeping an updated academic curriculum vitae. They should seek guidance and advice from their mentors, senior colleagues, and members of their field as they develop their careers and compile their materials for review.
- Department chairs retain full accountability for ensuring that preparations for the tenure and promotion review processes are carried out to the highest possible standards. They ensure that the mentoring processes are carried out properly. They should ensure that one departmental staff member serves as the tenure and promotion coordinator for all cases in the department and that this person has a complete understanding of all of the deadlines, requirements, and the departmental role in the process. The chair should approve all materials prior to their submission.
- The mentor of a candidate for tenure and promotion has the responsibility of offering informed guidance for preparation for the tenure and promotion review process, and should stay fully informed about current standards and practices.
- Departmental tenure and promotion coordinators ensure that the preparations for the tenure and promotion review are proceeding appropriately and in a timely way, and should review all necessary documentation prior to submission to be sure it is organized in the specified way, presented clearly, and submitted on time, although the department chair retains final accountability for the process.
- The department should organize regular peer teaching evaluations in which colleagues observe the candidate’s classes throughout the pre-tenure and pre-promotion years. All such evaluations become part of the tenure and promotion dossier and are used for evaluation, but they should also be used as occasions for helping Assistant and Associate Professors develop their craft of teaching. Please see section IV:C for more information regarding peer teaching evaluations.
- The year before the tenure and/or promotion review, the department chair, department tenure and promotion coordinator, and the candidate(s) should meet to go over the process, division of labor, and other matters related to ensuring the process will go smoothly. This meeting should happen early in the process so everyone can plan accordingly. It is important to note that all deadlines set by Faculty Actions are deadlines for submission of materials to the college. Departments should set earlier internal deadlines to be sure they can meet the college deadlines. It is crucial that the candidate and everyone involved in the process have sufficient notice of the timing to be sure that they can compile and submit all necessary materials to the highest possible standards.