Academic Policy  1405.10 

Assessing the Performance of Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty: Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Decisions

This summary of important procedures and deadlines is taken from several sources as noted below.

All Faculty

By May 1 each year (or the last working day before May 1), each faculty member shall be informed in writing by the chairperson of the annual review schedule, criteria, workload assignment, procedures, requirements, and instruments for the upcoming academic year, including a copy of Academic Policy 1405.101. Whenever there is a change in criteria, procedures, or instruments, each faculty member shall be informed by the chairperson in writing within four weeks of the change. Each faculty member shall also be provided with any standard review forms upon which the faculty member is expected to submit information regarding professional activities (Evaluative Criteria, II, B, 2).

Documents to be delivered to faculty members are listed in the memorandum draft (Academic Policy 1405.10A).

By May 5 or the last working day preceding it, each faculty member who is being considered for promotion and/or tenure is informed in writing that he or she is being considered (Evaluative Criteria, III, B, 6).

New Faculty

No later than 30 days after beginning employment in connection with a first appointment, each faculty member shall be advised in writing by his or her chairperson of the criteria, procedures, and instruments that are to be used in assessing his or her work (Evaluative Criteria, II, B, 1).

Deans, directors, and department chairs should be careful to note the 30-day deadline for faculty appointed at other times. Documents to be made available to new faculty members are listed in the memorandum draft (Policy 1405.10A). Each director, chair, or head should prepare an individual memo to each new faculty member using this format and should send the appropriate materials with it or identify how they may be accessed. Each dean should maintain a record that the documents were distributed.

Review Schedule

A schedule of important review and notification deadlines is available as Academic Policy 1405.101. Entries are derived from policy statements in the current Board Policy 405.1 and the campus Evaluative Criteria document. Each faculty member must receive (or have access to) a copy of this schedule, together with information about any other deadlines or dates established by the approved college or department documents.

Documents and Forms

Website addresses for referenced documents are provided at the end of this policy. Personnel documents to be used are those that are current for the school, college, library or department with any exceptions as noted in attached letters of approval. Deans, chairs and faculty are responsible for compliance with all applicable policy documents. Each nomination for promotion or tenure forwarded for review by the provost must be on the form "Nomination for Promotion" (Policy 1405.10B, Ag only) or "Nomination for Tenure" (Policy 1405.10C, Ag only).

Each nomination for appointment to university professor or distinguished professor must be on the form "Nomination for Appointment to University Professor or Distinguished Professor" (Policy 1405.10D, Ag only). Several additional points may need emphasis:

• Each nominee should follow the exact format of the Faculty Review Checklist in organizing submitted materials.
• Letters requesting a review by external constituents should contain the following confidentiality statement:

  
  "The University of Arkansas makes every effort to maintain the anonymity of external reviewers. Under University policy, candidates for promotion and/or tenure will consider a list of potential reviewers from which final reviewers are selected (but remain unknown to the candidate). Additionally, candidates for tenure and/or promotion may read the external letters of review, but identifying information, such as the letterhead and signature, will be redacted. In the event a candidate requests a copy of an external review letter under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, s/he would be entitled to receive a copy of the unredacted recommendation as a part of his or her personnel file."

• The candidate's complete file, including all materials as identified in the Evaluative Criteria document, must accompany each nomination. The materials submitted should evaluate the candidate's credentials and contributions, serve as a guide to the relative significance of supporting materials and accomplishments, relate the candidate's merit to that of professional peers, and assess the candidate's potential for significant contributions. The file should also include a special justification for any recommendation to confer tenure without promotion and for any recommendation for appointment to university professor or distinguished professor.
• Dossiers must be uploaded into the SharePoint website. Each candidate should retain a copy of the submitted dossier. Each dean should ensure that the materials are organized so as to facilitate review. Appendices should be at the end, not intermingled with other materials. The most important information in each category should be placed first. Except for letters from impartial outside reviewers (Evaluative Criteria III,B,8,g), letters from mentors and colleagues, as well as letters solicited by the candidate or submitted by the candidate as unsolicited, should be placed in an appendix. Original materials, such as publications, research reports, portfolios, or artwork should be arranged as an appendix. These original materials in the appendix are to be forwarded only for candidates with negative recommendations. Dossiers submitted in reference to nominations will be retained on the website for three years following the review process.
• Each dean should include a listing of all faculty candidates whose packets of materials are being sent forward. The listing should group the candidates according to the department, rank, position, or tenure status for which the faculty member is a candidate. It should also provide the following information for each candidate: (a) the highest degree completed; (b) the years at UA; (c) the date of initial appointment to the current rank or position; and (d) for untenured candidates, the date of initial appointment to a tenure-track position. If applicable, identify whether the probationary period was extended and note semesters or years of partial or part-time employment, leave without pay, and special assignments such as off-campus duty or full-time research. This listing should be provided on Academic Policy Series 1405.10E, Listing of Faculty Candidates for Promotion and/or Tenure.

Referenced documents:

• Board of Trustees policy 405.1
• Evaluative Criteria document as approved April 14, 2011 , Faculty Review Checklist, Procedures for Appointing University Professors and Distinguished Professors
• Schedule of Deadlines for Tenured and Tenure - Track Faculty: Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Decisions [Academic Policy 1405.101]
• Suggested form of memo to all faculty members [Academic Policy 1405.10A]
• Nomination for Promotion form [Academic Policy 1405.10B, Ag only]
• Nomination for Tenure form [Academic Policy 1405.10C, Ag only]
• Nomination for Appointment to University or Distinguished Professor form [Academic Policy 1405.10D, Ag only]

*With regard to employees of the Division of Agriculture to which this document applies, this document shall be interpreted consistent with the June 26, 2008 letter of President B. Alan Sugg to Bumpers College Faculty, Staff and Administration which specifies the involvement of the Vice President for Agriculture and the Associate Vice President for Agriculture in processes concerning tenure, promotion, post-tenure review and off-campus duty assignments.