Faculty Handbook

These procedures are designed for normal use in an academic unit (either a department or school) when a candidate for promotion is not the Department Chair/School Director. If a Department Chair/School Director is a promotion candidate, he/she shall be omitted from the administrative chain, and the Dean shall perform all promotion duties normally performed by the Department Chair/School Director. Under these procedures, a consideration for promotion should progress as follows for all eligible faculty: 

1. Early in the fall term, using Form P0, eligible faculty members, hereafter referred to as the Candidate, shall notify the Department Chair/School Director, hereafter referred to as the Chair/Director, of their intent to apply for promotion.  
    
2. If the Candidate completes Form P0, the Chair/Director shall call a meeting no later than September 15 of all Departmental/School Peers (as defined in policy 206, section III, B.). The Chair/Director shall compile a list of qualified Departmental/School Peers and document them by completing Form P4. The Departmental/School Peers shall vote to determine whether they wish to act as a committee of the whole or to establish a department/school promotion committee to conduct the promotion procedures. The promotion committee shall consist of no fewer than five persons, except in units where the total number of full-time faculty members is five or fewer, or where there are no departmental/school peers who hold rank equal to or higher than that for which the faculty member is a candidate, in which case the committee may consist of no fewer than three persons. 
    
3. In the event that there are fewer than five individuals in the unit who meet the definition of qualified Departmental/School Peers, the Departmental/School Promotion Committee must be expanded to include either individuals outside the department/school who do meet the criteria specified in policy 206, section III, B., or members of the Department/School who do not meet all those criteria. Members of the Department/School who do not meet all of the criteria as defined in policy 206, section III, B., may be selected before individuals outside the Department/School. The selection of these additional members of the promotion committee shall be by the Chair/Director in consultation with the qualified Departmental/School Peers. The consultation is typically conducted at the meeting described in paragraph 2.  
   In the event that there are no Departmental/School Peers who hold rank equal to or higher than that for which the faculty member is a Candidate, the Chair/Director, in consultation with the Dean of the College, the Candidate, and the entire Departmental/School faculty, shall select a promotion committee of no fewer than three appropriate members of the University faculty. This should include at least one faculty member from the candidate's Department/School and at least one faculty member from the University faculty who holds rank equal to or higher than that for which the faculty member is a Candidate. 
   Even when there are five or more Departmental/School Peers who meet all the required criteria for membership on the promotion committee, it may be desirable to incorporate into the promotion committee either non-unit members or members of the Department/School who do not meet all required criteria. For example, this may be desirable when the candidate has a joint appointment or is highly interdisciplinary. The selection of these additional members of the promotion committee shall be by the Chair/Director in consultation with the qualified Departmental/School Peers. The consultation is typically conducted at the meeting described in paragraph 2.  
   Once selected to serve, each member of the promotion committee shall be considered a qualified Peer for all purposes of the promotion process, and hereafter referred to as Peer. 
    
4. Once constituted, the promotion committee shall elect its own chairperson who shall not be the Chair/Director. 
    
5. The Chair/Director shall not vote with the Peers and shall not be counted in determining the plenum on which a majority is to be determined. The Chair/Director may submit written material to the faculty member's dossier and may participate in the meeting at which the recommendation of the peers is determined, as described in paragraph 9 below. If the Chair/Director submits written material, this must be added to the dossier no later than October 15. 
    
6. After the promotion committee has been established and its chairperson selected, responsibility for directing the process transfers to the Promotion Committee Chairperson. This committee is an agent of the plenum of voting peers, gathering and summarizing information, to facilitate discussion at the meeting, as described in paragraph 9 below. 
    
7. The Promotion Committee Chairperson shall ensure that the candidate's promotion dossier is properly assembled and shall send the letters listed on Forms P5 through P8, as appropriate, enclosing copies of the candidate’s CV and ensure the responses to these letters are included in the dossier. Forms P5 through P8, may be sent and received via email. When all appropriate materials have been assembled in the dossier, the Promotion Committee Chairperson, in consultation with the members of the committee, shall prepare a report synthesizing the materials in the dossier using the criteria outlined in Promotion Policy 206. The consultation with the members of the committee may take place informally; a meeting is not required. 
    
8. No evaluation and/or recommendation shall be submitted by members of the candidate's immediate family. "Members of the family" shall include spouse, domestic partner, cohabitant, child, stepchild, grandchild, parent, stepparent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandparent, great grandparent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepsibling, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, or first cousin (that is, a child of an aunt or uncle). 
    
9. The Promotion Committee Chairperson will then invite the Peers (Form P9), the Chair/Director, and other members of the department/school to review the dossier and attend a meeting for a discussion of the merits of the Candidate. The Candidate will not be present at this meeting. The Chair/Director and all non-peer members of the Department/School may participate in the initial phases of this discussion, sharing with the Peers their professional judgment and assessment concerning the materials submitted to the dossier. The qualifications of the Candidate should be candidly and professionally discussed. At an agreed upon point, the Chair/Director and non-peers shall withdraw from the meeting, after which discussion of the Peers may continue. Following discussion, the Promotion Committee Chairperson facilitates the completion of an anonymous evaluation and recommendation by each Peer. Each Peer indicates their recommendation using the section at the bottom of Form P10. The recommendation must include supporting reasons for his/her recommendation, utilizing the top portion of Form P10. 
   Providing a recommendation is not a choice, but an obligation. Failure to make a recommendation counts as a negative recommendation. During this process, Peers who, for compelling professional (such as leave-of-absence or attendance at professional meetings) or personal (such as hospitalization, being snow-bound) reasons cannot be physically present at the meeting may submit to the chairperson of the promotion committee an absentee recommendation. This privilege should not be lightly invoked, and shall not be extended to Peers who are able to be physically present, in as much as participation in the discussion of the merits of the candidate is a significant element in the decision-making process. Should a Peer who cannot be present at the meeting due to compelling professional or personal reasons believe that his/her absence destroys his/her ability to render a professional judgment, he/she may so inform the chairperson of the promotion committee in writing, in which case the absent Peer shall not recommend and shall not be counted in determining the plenum on which a majority is to be determined.  
    
10. The Promotion Committee Chairperson shall then summarize the discussion held at the meeting and compile the results of the evaluations and recommendations from the upper portions of Form P10. Under the direction of the Promotion Committee Chairperson, and with no person other than he/she and the typist having access to the forms, all the written comments on the upper portions of Form P10 shall be typed on another sheet of paper and included as part of this compilation of results. The forms containing handwritten comments shall then be detached from the ballots on the lower part of Form P10 and shall be destroyed. The Promotion Committee Chairperson shall send to the Candidate a copy of P11 and the discussion summary. In addition, the Promotion Committee Chairperson places a copy of P11, the discussion summary, and the results of the recommendation in the promotion dossier. The Promotion Committee Chairperson shall then transmit the complete dossier to the Chair/Director by November 15, absent due cause. 
     
11. When the Chair/Director receives the dossier, he/she shall review the complete dossier and write a letter explaining his/her promotion recommendation. The Chair/Director shall then transmit a copy of the letter to the Candidate and to the administrator to whom the candidate immediately reports (if other than the Chair/Director). The Chair/Director shall complete their portion of Form P2. A copy of the letter and Form P2 shall be added to the dossier by the Chair/Director. The Chair/Director shall then transmit the complete dossier to the Dean by January 15, absent due cause.  
     
12. When the Dean receives the dossier, he/she shall review the complete dossier and write a letter explaining his/her promotion recommendation. The Dean shall then transmit a copy of the letter to the Candidate, the Chair/Director, and to the administrator to whom the candidate immediately reports (if other than the Chair/Director). The Dean shall complete their portion of Form P2. A copy of the letter shall be added to the dossier by the Dean. The Dean shall then transmit the complete dossier to the Provost by February 15, absent due cause.  
     
13. When the Provost receives the dossier, he/she shall review the complete dossier and write a letter explaining his/her promotion recommendation. The Provost shall then transmit a copy of the letter to the Candidate, the Chair/Director, the Dean, and to the administrator to whom the candidate immediately reports (if other than the Departmental/School Chair). The Provost shall complete their portion of Form P2. A copy of the letter shall be added to the dossier by the Provost. The Provost shall then transmit the complete dossier to the President by April 1, absent due cause.  
     
14. The President will take the dossier and the recommendations of the Peers, Chair/Director, Dean, and Provost, to make the final promotion decision. The decision will be reflected in the form of a written letter along with his/her signature on form P2. The President shall then transmit a copy of the letter to the Candidate, Chair/Director, Dean, Provost, and Human Resources by May 1, absent due cause. 
     
15. Notification of promotions will be reported to the Board of Trustees at its annual June meeting. Dossiers will be held in the Provost’s Office and, at an appropriate time, made available to the Deans for distribution back to the appropriate Department/School. The Chair/Director shall file the dossier in the Department/School office and retain for a period of five years following the President’s decision.