Rule 3335-6-04 | Promotion and tenure review procedures for tenure-track faculty.
(A) General considerations.
(1) In consultation with the rules committee or its designee, the office of academic affairs shall develop and promulgate procedural guidelines for promotion and tenure reviews to supplement Chapter 3335-6 of the Administrative Code. These guidelines shall include a dossier outline to be used for the documentation of accomplishments by all candidates to be reviewed for promotion and tenure and by all probationary tenure-track faculty for annual reviews. The guidelines shall also include general information about the review process at the college and university level, information about any legal considerations affecting promotion and tenure evaluations, examples of criteria by which candidates for promotion and tenure are evaluated, and other information intended to assist academic units in carrying out reviews.
(2) All candidates for promotion and tenure are reviewed by the eligible faculty and by the chair of their tenure initiating unit. Candidates will also be reviewed at the college and university levels. The tenure initiating unit chair is responsible for informing the candidate in writing of the provost's final decision (if negative) or recommendation to the board of trustees (if positive).
(3) The review for tenure during the final year of a probationary period is mandatory and must take place.
A probationary faculty member may ask to be considered for nonmandatory promotion and tenure review any time. However, the tenure initiating unit promotion and tenure committee may deny a probationary nonmandatory review every year up to the candidate's mandatory year. If a probationary nonmandatory review is allowed and the outcome is negative, the candidate continues at the rank they held at the start of the review. If a probationary mandatory review outcome is negative, the candidate's employment ends. Exclusions of time from a probationary period are allowed under paragraph (D) of rule 3335-6-03 of the Administrative Code and the expectations for productivity must be independent of the duration of the probationary period. A tenured faculty member may request a promotion review at any time. However, the tenure initiating unit promotion and tenure committee may deny this request if the tenured faculty member's accomplishments are judged not to warrant such review. The promotion and tenure committee may deny a tenured faculty member's request for promotion review only once. If the review is allowed and the outcome is negative, the tenured faculty member continues at the rank they held at the start of the review. This faculty member may continue at that rank indefinitely or request subsequent reviews that may not be denied.
(4) Only the candidate may stop any review for promotion and tenure once external letters of evaluation have been sought. The candidate may withdraw from review at any stage of the process by so informing the tenure initiating unit chair in writing. If the review process has moved beyond the tenure initiating unit, the tenure initiating unit chair shall inform the dean or the executive vice president and provost, as relevant, of the candidate's withdrawal. Withdrawal from the mandatory tenure review during the final probationary year means that tenure will not be granted.
(B) Review procedures at the tenure initiating unit level.
(1) Each tenure initiating unit shall establish a mechanism such as a promotion and tenure committee, for presenting the case of a candidate for promotion and tenure to the eligible faculty for consideration and for preparing a report for the tenure initiating unit chair providing the eligible faculty's assessment of quality and effectiveness of teaching, quality and significance of scholarship, and quality and effectiveness of service. With the exception noted in this paragraph, eligible faculty are tenured faculty of higher rank than the candidate excluding the tenure initiating unit chair, the dean and assistant and associate deans of the college, the executive vice president and provost, and the president. For tenure reviews of probationary professors, eligible faculty are tenured professors excluding the tenure initiating unit chair, the dean and assistant and associate deans of the college, the executive vice president and provost, and the president.
(2) The candidate shall have primary responsibility for preparing, according to office of academic affairs guidelines, a dossier documenting their accomplishments
(3) The tenure initiating unit chair or chair of the promotion and tenure committee shall be responsible for gathering internal evidence of the quality and effectiveness of teaching, quality and significance of scholarship, and quality and effectiveness of service from students and peers, as appropriate, within the tenure initiating unit. The tenure initiating unit chair or chair of the promotion and tenure committee shall also be responsible for obtaining letters from external evaluators and from other units at this university in which the candidate has appointment or substantial professional involvement, whether compensated or not. Some of the external evaluators should be suggested by the candidate and some by the department chair or promotion and tenure committee; no more than one-half of the letters contained in the final dossier should be from persons suggested by the candidate. All solicited letters that are received must be included in the dossier. Unsolicited letters of evaluation or letters of evaluation solicited by anyone other than the above authorized persons may not be included in the dossier.
(4) The eligible faculty shall review the candidate's dossier describing accomplishments in teaching, scholarship, and service and shall vote on the candidate. A report of the faculty assessment, including both strengths and weaknesses, and the numerical vote of the faculty shall be forwarded to the tenure initiating unit chair for inclusion in the dossier.
(5) The chair shall prepare a separate written assessment of the case and recommendation for the dean for inclusion in the dossier. As soon as the faculty report and chair's letter have been completed, the candidate should be notified in writing of the completion of the tenure initiating unit review and of the availability of these reports. The candidate may request a copy of these reports. The candidate may provide the tenure initiating unit chair with written comments on the tenure initiating unit review for inclusion in the dossier within ten calendar days of notification of the completion of the review. The promotion and tenure committee and/or chair may provide written responses to the candidate's comments for inclusion in the dossier. Only one iteration of comments on the departmental level review is permitted.
(6) The tenure initiating unit chair shall forward the dossier with all internal and external evaluations, candidate comments on the tenure initiating unit review and promotion and tenure committee and/or chair responses to those comments, if any, to the dean of the college.
(C) Review procedures at the college and university level.
(1) The purposes of promotion and tenure reviews beyond the tenure initiating unit shall be:
(a) To determine whether the tenure initiating unit has conducted its review and reached a recommendation consistent with university, college, and tenure initiating unit standards, criteria, policies, and rules. A faculty review body or administrator at the college or university level may make a recommendation that is contrary to that of the tenure initiating unit if, in its judgment, the tenure initiating unit recommendation is not consistent with those standards, criteria, policies, and rules.
(b) To determine where the weight of the evidence lies in cases in which there is not a clear or consistent recommendation from lower levels of review.
(2) The dean of a college shall have a standing faculty promotion and tenure committee which is advisory to the dean. Members shall not participate in the review of cases from their own departments. The college promotion and tenure committee shall prepare a written report of its assessment and vote for inclusion in the dossier. The dean shall prepare a separate written assessment of the case and recommendation for the provost for inclusion in the dossier. As soon as the college promotion and tenure committee report and dean's letter have been completed, the candidate should be notified in writing of the completion of the college level review and of the availability of these reports. The candidate may request a copy of these reports. The candidate may provide the dean with written comments on the college review for inclusion in the dossier within ten calendar days of notification of the completion of the review. The college promotion and tenure committee and/or dean may provide written responses to the candidate's comments for inclusion in the dossier. Only one iteration of comments on the college level review is permitted. The dean shall forward the dossier, along with all evaluations and reports, to the provost.
(3) The executive vice president and provost shall have a standing faculty promotion and tenure committee which is advisory to the provost. Members shall not participate in the review of cases from their own departments. Normally, the provost shall refer cases to this committee for advice only when there is concern regarding the appropriateness of lower level recommendations, when there are unclear or inconsistent recommendations from previous levels of review, or when all previous recommendations are negative. The university promotion and tenure committee shall prepare a written report of its assessment and vote for inclusion in the dossier.
(D) Modification of review processes for alternative administrative structures.
(1) Regional campus faculty shall be reviewed by the faculty and dean and director on the appropriate campus using procedures established on each campus. This review shall focus primarily on the faculty member's contributions in teaching and service. The dean and director shall forward the report of the regional campus faculty and their recommendation to the chair of the faculty member's tenure initiating unit and inform the candidate of their recommendation. The review shall proceed as described in paragraphs (A) to (C) of this rule with the understanding that the relative weight of teaching and service is ordinarily greater on regional campuses.
(2) If the college is the unit responsible for initiating tenure and promotion recommendations, it should follow the annual review and promotion and tenure procedures described for tenure initiating units. The dean shall forward the annual review letter or promotion and tenure dossier to the executive vice president and provost.
(3) Schools follow the procedures established for tenure initiating unit reviews unless they contain departments that are tenure initiating units. In the latter case, the tenure initiating unit chair shall forward dossiers to the school director. The director shall forward the dossier, with their recommendation, to the dean of the college.
(4) A subdivision within a tenure initiating unit may contribute to the evaluation of faculty members as provided for in the tenure initiating unit's appointments, promotion, and tenure document, but this review may not substitute for a review by the tenure initiating unit eligible faculty and chair.
Last updated October 16, 2023 at 9:00 AM
Supplemental Information
Amplifies: 3335.08
Prior Effective Dates: 8/5/1996, 3/26/1998, 12/4/1998, 5/23/1999, 8/19/2002, 7/1/2004, 8/1/2005, 10/12/2011, 7/6/2021