Promotion and Tenure Guidelines

Dean's Office contacts: Ivy Mason-Sharrah and Susan Miller

The promotion and tenure procedures are set forth in the faculty code and administered by Academic Personnel. As such, units should refer to the Academic Personnel promotion and tenure pages for details about the process. The information provided below is designed to supplement the Academic Personnel promotion and tenure pages and to clarify the College expectations.

• Expectations
• College Guidelines
• Department Guidelines
• Considerations

The decisions to grant tenure or promote a faculty member are some the most important decisions that we make.  When promoting, we are making a decision that combines an assessment of the individual’s records to date as well as a projection of a career into the future.

The precise opportunities and expectations vary widely over the units within the College and across the University, but they all involve some measure of quality, quantity, and trajectory in the record. There is no single scale that can be used even within a unit, as the possible combinations of quantity, quality, and trajectory are innumerable. However, there are general principles that are applied as uniformly as possible across all cases.

Please see the College's COVID-19 Impact Statement with Respect to Promotion and Tenure Review.

The College of Arts and Sciences has crafted specific guidelines that address promotions from Associate Professor to Professor and from Associate Teaching Professor to Teaching Professor. Links to these guidelines are below. 

• Guidelines for Promotion to Associate Teaching Professor
• Guidelines for Promotion to Teaching Professor
• Guidelines for Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
• Guidelines for Promotion to Full Professor

The Deans of the College have begun working with departments to allow them to craft guidelines which are specific to their unit, and which are consistent with the College of Arts and Sciences guidelines and Promotion Considerations, as expressed in these pages, as well as the faculty code.  These "Departmental Guidelines" are developed within each department, in collaboration with their divisional deans, approved by their faculty and then approved by the divisional dean.  The approved Departmental Guidelines are linked below.  Subsequent ones will be added as they are created and approved.

• School of Art + Art History + Design Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure and to Full Professor)
• Astronomy Department Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure and to Full Professor)
• Classics Department Guidelines (for promotion to all ranks and tracks)
• Dance Department Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure and to Full Professor)
• Drama Department Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure and to Full Professor)
• DXARTS Department Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure and to Full Professor)
• English Department Guidelines (for promotion to Full Professor)
• Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies (for all promotion to all tenure and teaching track ranks)
• Geography Department Guidelines (for all promotion to all tenure and teaching track ranks)
• Law, Societies, & Justice Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure)
• History Department Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure and to Full Professor)
• Mathematics Department Guidelines (for all promotion to all tenure and teaching track ranks)
• Political Science Department Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure)
• Political Science Department Guidelines (for promotion to Full Professor)
• School of Music (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure and to Full Professor)
• Speech and Hearing Sciences Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure)
• Statistics Department Guidelines (for promotion to Associate Professor with tenure and to Full Professor)

The following departments have voted to adopt the College of Arts & Sciences guidelines without change or addition:

• Applied Mathematics (February 11, 2021)
• Biology (May 12, 2020)
• Chemistry (March 11, 2021)
• Economics (October 3, 2023)
• Germanics (April 15, 2020)
• Physics (January 6, 2021)
• Psychology (April 9, 2020)
• Scandinavian Studies (May 3, 2024)

Please note that:

• Teaching is not an explicit component of most Research positions.  However, where teaching is done, it should be documented and mentioned in the promotion discussion.