6.4 Preliminary Tenure Reviews for Tenure-Track Faculty

Governing Policies

Section 8.1.4, Faculty Handbook – Preliminary Tenure Review

Procedure

Preliminary Tenure Reviews of tenure-track faculty normally takes place during the sixth semester of the faculty member's tenure-track service as determined in the Academic Affairs Calendar; it may occur earlier but not later. The primary purpose of this review is to inform the faculty member and their department about progress toward promotion and tenure. The process used to conduct a preliminary tenure review is detailed in section 8.1.4 of the Faculty Handbook. Briefly, the candidate prepares a dossier that is forwarded to the Departmental Promotion and Tenure (DPT) Committee for review. DPT considers the package and makes formal recommendations that are forwarded to the Department Head. The Department Head, in turn, reviews the dossier, the DPT Committee recommendation and makes their own formal recommendation. Upon completion of this process, the Department Head reviews the package, process, and findings with their portfolio Dean. The Department Head then meets with the candidate, provides them copies of all of the written recommendations, and discusses the findings of the preliminary tenure review process. The Dean notifies the Provost that preliminary tenure review process has concluded and specifically informs the Provost of untenured individuals who have been identified as “at risk” in terms of performance. The Provost may subsequently require formal presentation of remediation plans for faculty "at risk.”

For additional considerations on preparing an application package that includes information relevant to the DPT and Department Head, please see Section 6.5 of the Procedures Manual.

The content of the preliminary tenure review package must conform to the regular promotion and tenure package defined in the Package Template provided on the Academic Affairs website, with the following exceptions:

Last Revision:

October 5, 2022