Overview of faculty reappointment, tenure, and promotion for new faculty Myron Allen Nicole Ballenger Office of Academic Affairs I.What is Tenure? II.Standards.

Overview of faculty reappointment, tenure, and promotion for new faculty

Myron AllenNicole BallengerOffice of Academic Affairs

I. What is Tenure?II. Standards and CriteriaIII. Faculty Career PathIV. PortfoliosV. Review ProcessesVI. Career Strategies

See web resources listed at the end.

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.

I. What is 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.

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.

• Collegiality: ability to work both independently and constructively with others.

Collegiality, initiative, and leadership count!

0 6 12

Employment year

Hired as Assistant Professor

Annual probationary reappointment or dismissal(possible to skip 3rd & 5th reviews)

Tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, or contract ends

Promotion to Professor (optional)

III. FACULTY CAREER PATH

IV. PORTFOLIO

Documentation of performance• Teaching evaluations (students, peers, administrators)• Research record (publications, grants, creative work)• Service (UW committees, statewide service,

professional organizations)

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

External peer review

Department faculty review

Department head’s recommendation

College-level faculty review

College dean’s recommendation

University-level faculty review

Review by Academic Affairs

Trustees’ action

Review by President (on appeal)

V. REVIEW PROCESSES

A

B

C

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.”

TEACHING COUNTS!

Outcome: resignation in the face of a negative reappointment recommendation from Academic Affairs

Why might you hear myths to the contrary?

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’s-length 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).

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Retention and Tenure, by year of hire

Pre-tenureTenuredResigned

Number of Faculty

Year of Hire

65% for 2000 - 2005 cohorts

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!

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

QUESTIONS?