Promotion and Tenure Guidelines
In order to foster the college’s commitment to excellence, the following criteria shall apply in the evaluation of all
faculty for promotion and tenure. Individual faculty work plans shall be developed annually and submitted to the President
of the College for review. In each plan, the faculty member will discuss her or his (1) credentials and experience;
(2) quality in teaching; (3) continuing scholarship and professional growth; and (4) performance of service
responsibilities within the College, Division, and to the profession and broader community.
Upon review of the faculty member’s file, the President of the College shall rate faculty performance with respect to
teaching, scholarship and service (in descending order) as excellent, very good, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory.
Credentials and experience shall be rated as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. All written reports and evaluations of faculty
performance ratings shall use this terminology.
An assistant professor shall serve in a probationary capacity for a maximum of six academic years. At the end of this
six-year period, the faculty member must be given an appointment with tenure or a one-year terminal appointment.
An initial appointment at the rank of professor or associate professor may also be a probationary appointment. The
maximum period of probationary service is two years as a professor and three years as an associate professor. At the end of
these periods the faculty member must be given an appointment with tenure or a one-year terminal appointment.
The candidate may request a review for a recommendation to grant tenure. A faculty member may be reviewed for tenure
once before the normal review occurring at the end of the probationary period. Faculty members reviewed for tenure before
the end of their full probationary period shall not be subject to any extraordinary requirements and shall be required to
meet the same standards required of them at the end of the full probationary period.
Tenure-line assistant professors shall be reviewed in one process, with both promotion and tenure awarded or denied in
a single decision. Tenure-line associate professors may be reviewed for tenure alone or for promotion and tenure
simultaneously. A decision to deny a promotion does not preclude a decision to award tenure.
The College’s Tenure Review Committee shall consist of all tenured faculty members. The Committee shall consider
applications for tenure from all eligible faculty members. The process will include examination of the candidate’s
personnel file, including annual work plans and evaluations (including student evaluations), the solicitation of oral or
written comments regarding the application from colleagues, deliberation based on the merits of the application, and
written notification to the candidate regarding the application’s status. The findings concerning the review of each
tenure application shall be reported in writing to the President and the Board of Trustees.
In considering promotion and tenure, the Committee shall follow the following basic guidelines: Appointment or
promotion to assistant professor shall indicate the candidate can be expected to perform satisfactorily all required
academic duties and holds promise for further professional development. Appointment or promotion to associate professor
shall indicate a sustained record of professional achievement. Appointment or promotion to professor shall indicate
national peer recognition of professional achievements.
When promotion and/or tenure is not recommended, the Committee shall inform the candidate of this decision. At this
time the candidate will receive a copy of the file, complete with all reviews and recommendations, and notify the candidate
of the right to add a written statement to be included in the file. The candidate has 10 working days after notification
by the President to add a statement to the file. A candidate’s appeals of a tenure decision shall be made in writing to
the Board of Trustees within 30 days of written notification of denial of tenure. The candidate has the right to appear
and make oral arguments before the Trustees before the Board votes on the disposition of the case. The Board may (1) vote
to support the candidate and reverse the denial, (2) vote to deny the appeal, or (3) vote to allow reconsideration by the
Tenure Review Committee after a specified period of time not to exceed one year. In each case the Board shall forward the
file to the President of the College with a letter describing their recommendation and will forward a copy to the
appellant.
Tenure-line appointments are granted to faculty members with suitable preparation and experience who are appointed in
positions identified by the College as appropriate for tenured faculty. Promotion of part-time faculty to tenure-line
assistant or associate professorships will occur within the context of an open faculty search.
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