Pre-Tenure Matters

As part of its procedures for promotion and tenure, each unit in the College shall incorporate a plan for mentoring faculty prior to tenure. Such plans should provide appropriate information and guidance to assist faculty members in the development of successful careers in teaching/advising (or professional performance), scholarship, and service, and in documenting a record of their careers for purposes of the tenure process. Before the end of the first semester following the initial appointment, each unit shall provide faculty members with information concerning the standards and procedures for award of tenure and promotion in rank, including copies of the written criteria and procedures approved by the unit, the College, and of the Provost’s guidelines and forms. Working with the faculty member, each unit shall, on an ongoing basis, generate and compile the documentation necessary to evaluate teaching/advising (or professional performance), research or other scholarly productivity, and service.

Progress Toward Tenure Review Purpose

In addition to this formal progress toward tenure review, units are required to make internal, annual performance evaluation reviews of faculty on tenure-track appointments in order to provide ongoing, constructive advice and direction to the faculty member seeking tenure and promotion in the College. As required by the Board of Regents, a unit must review its “Annual Faculty Performance Evaluation Plan” every three years. This document is to be made available to all tenure-track and tenured faculty. Tenure-track faculty members are entitled to sound advice and guidance concerning their prospects for promotion and tenure at the University. The progress toward tenure review should document that guidance. The CCAPT review is designed to be a check to determine whether unit standards of evaluation and assessment of the individual are in line with those of the College and University promotion and tenure committees. Of special concern is to identify any cases in which a unit judges that a tenure-track, faculty member is doing well, but the CCAPT would evaluate the candidate more critically. It is far better that any such discrepancies be discovered in the tenure-track period while there is still ample time for consultation and change.

The progress toward tenure review is intended to provide faculty members with a meaningful appraisal of their progress toward tenure and orient them toward basic aspects of the tenure process. Neither the progress toward tenure review nor its results shall be included in a faculty member’s promotion and tenure record, and recommendations for or against promotion and tenure should not be influenced by favorable or unfavorable results of the progress toward tenure review. This limitation does not prevent consideration, during the promotion and tenure review, of the same documents and information considered for purposes of the progress toward tenure review.

Determining Prior Service

A faculty member’s years of prior service (as recognized and determined by the Office of the Provost) will be counted in calculating years of service. For example, a faculty member who has been given credit by the Provost Office for one year of prior service will be reviewed in the spring semester of his/her second year at KU; a faculty member with two years of prior service will be reviewed in the spring semester of his/her first year at KU. A faculty member may be exempt from the progress toward tenure review process; if he or she has received credit for three years’ prior service, the hiring process will be considered the progress toward tenure review. During a progress toward tenure review, the unit shall review the teaching/advising, research, and service record of the faculty member with a view to assessing the probability of subsequent tenure and promotion in the College.

Progress Toward Tenure Review Process

In the spring semester, approximately midway between a faculty member’s appointment and mandatory review year (usually the third year), a non-tenured faculty member will receive a progress toward tenure review.

The Progress Toward Tenure Review form is to be used for this purpose and can be found on the Provost’s Office website (http://facultydevelopment.ku.edu/progress-toward-tenure-review) along with guidelines and instructions. The unit must submit the following documentation:

• Candidate PTTR CV
• Candidate PTTR Statement
• Candidate PTTR Verification and List of Supplemental Materials, including the evaluation of student teaching
• The required Initial Level Review Evaluation Document. This document includes the candidate’s position description and the initial review unit’s recommendation on progress toward tenure.

Supplemental Materials

The identical supplemental materials (both required and optional) submitted at the initial unit level will also be submitted at the College level for the CCAPT’s subsequent intermediate review. Required teaching evaluations (quantitative analysis in all cases and student comments based on the guidelines in your unit) for all courses taught are considered to be part of the formal PTTR portfolio and shall also be submitted at the initial unit level. For specific instructions on what constitutes supplemental materials (both required and optional), see http://facultydevelopment.ku.edu/progress-toward-tenure-review.

All dossier materials (including the required and optional supplemental materials) shall be forwarded electronically to the College Dean’s Office no later than the first Friday in February. External evaluator reviews are not required for the progress toward tenure review.

The CCAPT will review the evaluation and report the Committee’s recommendation on the progress toward tenure of the faculty member to the Dean of the College. The Committee’s evaluation is then shared with the faculty member and the unit chairperson/director in a letter addressed to the faculty member prepared by the Dean and the Chair of the CCAPT. After the letter has been received, the chairperson/director and the faculty member meet to discuss the evaluation. The chairperson/director will then notify the College Dean’s Office of the date that the Progress Toward Tenure Review discussion occurred with the faculty member.

Joint Appointments and the Progress Toward Tenure Review

The progress toward tenure review will be initiated within the primary unit and in consultation with the secondary unit in compliance with relevant College and University policies. Candidates who hold joint appointments prepare only one set of progress toward tenure review materials for review by both units in which they hold appointments, though they sign separate position descriptions on the initial-level evaluation forms for their respective units.

The primary unit is responsible for all administrative protocols pertinent to the process, including initiation of the process, and ensuring that the candidate has completed the candidate documents. Each unit must provide a separate evaluation of the candidate’s performance in the individual unit. The materials that are required of each unit are the same as the points listed above in the section entitled “Progress Toward Tenure Review Process” and are submitted by the respective units to the College Dean’s Office.

Non-reappointment

Prior to tenure, a faculty member is considered to be serving a probationary period and the unit or College may decide not to reappoint the faculty member. Non-reappointment may be justified by a continued sustained failure of the faculty member in carrying out the responsibilities of one’s faculty position, including teaching/advising (or professional performance), research or scholarly productivity, or service. The normal procedure for forwarding recommendations for non-reappointment shall be from the unit administrator to the Dean of the College, and from the Dean to the Provost. Prior to forwarding any recommendation of non-reappointment to the Chancellor, the Provost shall notify the faculty member in writing of the recommendation and the reasons for it. The notification shall also inform the faculty member of the right to appeal the recommendation to the Faculty Rights Board. Such an appeal should be filed with the Office of University Governance within 14 days of receiving notification and shall be considered pursuant to procedures established by the board pursuant to section 6.8.3 of the Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations. Following the Chancellor’s decision, the legally effective notice of non-reappointment shall be issued over the signature of the Provost and shall include a statement of the reasons for the decision.

Pursuant to Board of Regents policy (adopting the American Association of University Professors statement of 1964), written notice of non-reappointment shall be provided to a faculty member as follows:

1. Not later than March 1st of the first year of service, if the appointment expires at the end of that academic year; or, if a one-year appointment terminates during an academic year, at least three months in advance of its termination.
2. Not later than December 15th of the second year of service, if the appointment expires at the end of that academic year; or, if the appointment for a second year of service terminates during an academic year, at least six months in advance of its termination.
3. At least 12 months before the expiration of an appointment after two or more years of service at the University. This places the notification deadline on the last day of the academic year for faculty on nine-month appointments, and on June 30 for those on 12-month appointments.