APPENDIX D.
TENURE AND PROMOTION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
OF
IV. Procedures for
Initiation, Review, and Approval of Appointments, Reappointments, Promotions,
and the Conferral of Permanent Tenure
(Please
refer to ECU Faculty Manual Interpretation #I06-22.)
Recommendations for appointments, reappointments,
promotion, and the conferral of permanent tenure to faculty are the
responsibility of unit committees and the unit administrator. Evaluation of faculty for appointment,
reappointment, promotion, and the conferral of permanent tenure shall be
initiated by the appropriate unit committee on notice from the unit administrator
and higher administrative authority. The
appropriate unit committee shall also evaluate faculty for promotion and the
early conferral of permanent tenure at the request of the faculty member. Once the evaluation has been completed, the
committee's recommendation and the recommendation of the unit administrator
shall be forwarded to the next higher administrator above the unit level for
initiation of administrative review of the recommendations. The pertinent structures and processes are
set forth in this section. The timeline
for these processes is set forth in Part XIII. of the ECU Faculty Manual.
Confidentiality must be maintained when conducting
any substantive business pertaining to initiation, review, conferral of
permanent tenure, and approval of appointments, reappointments, and
promotions. Email should be used with
discretion because it does not guarantee confidentiality. Formal correspondences relating to any substantive
business pertaining to initiation, review, conferral of permanent tenure, and
approval of appointments, reappointments, and promotions should be maintained
in paper form.
Description of "voting faculty"
For the purposes of Section IV, voting
faculty members are determined by the permanently tenured faculty of the unit
using the following criteria;
A voting faculty member of a unit is someone who:
·
holds a full-time faculty position with
·
is either a probationary term (tenure track) faculty member
or a permanently tenured faculty member.
·
has at least one-half of the
teaching/research duties normally assigned in the unit, as determined by the
permanently tenured faculty of the unit using standards appropriate to their
discipline.
·
is in at least the twelfth
consecutive calendar month of appointment to the faculty of the unit as either a probationary
term (tenure track) faculty member or a permanently tenured faculty member.
·
is not a unit administrator or an individual with one half
or more of his/her load assigned to administrative duties as determined by the
permanently tenured faculty in consultation with the unit administrator.
·
or normally meets
the above conditions and is on leave of absence from all university duties but
is in attendance at the meeting of the appropriate committee at the time of the
committee’s vote on a personnel action (reappointment, promotion, or tenure
recommendation). (
Related faculty within the same academic
department (or other comparable institutional subdivision of employment) shall
not participate, either individually or as a member of a committee, in the
evaluation of related persons for appointment, reappointment, promotion, the
conferral of permanent tenure, cumulative review, salary recommendations, or
any other personnel action. A faculty
member made ineligible for participation in the evaluation of a related person
does not count for quorum purposes and his/her ineligibility does not
constitute a recommendation against the proposed personnel action.
A. Unit
Committees[1]
1. Personnel Committee
a. Function
The Personnel Committee shall be responsible for
making recommendations regarding initial probationary appointments and initial and
additional special fixed-term appointments.
b. Composition
The composition of each unit’s Personnel Committee
shall be determined by the unit but shall consist of at least three members.
The membership of the committee shall be composed of some or all of the
permanently tenured and probationary-term voting faculty members of the unit,
including those who are on leave but in attendance at the meeting at the time
of the committee's vote, but excluding the unit administrator. At least two
thirds of the unit Personnel Committee membership shall be permanently tenured
voting faculty. When there are not enough permanently tenured voting faculty
members in the unit to satisfy this requirement, additional permanently tenured
faculty shall be appointed. All other members of the unit Personnel Committee
shall be elected by the permanently tenured and probationary-term voting
faculty of the unit. The chair of the unit Personnel Committee shall be
permanently tenured and shall be elected annually by and from the committee's
membership.
c. Additional Roles of Unit Personnel Committee
In addition to making recommendations to the unit
administrator on initial and additional fixed-term appointments and initial
probationary-term appointments, the unit Personnel Committee has the following
responsibilities:
1.
Notifying fixed-term faculty members that the Personnel
Committee will or will not recommend an additional fixed-term appointment when
the fixed-term faculty member requests notification not earlier than 180
calendar days nor later than 90 calendar days before the current term expires.
2.
Reviewing requests for reduction in the normal probationary
term at the time of initial appointment (see Section II.C.2).
3.
Reviewing requests for the extension of the normal
probationary term (see Section II.C.3).
4. Consulting
with faculty members who are considering requesting conferral of permanent
tenure prior to the end of the probationary term (see Section II.C.5).
5. Consulting with faculty members who are considering requesting promotion
(see Section III.).
6. Reviewing additional materials submitted by faculty members for
inclusion in their personnel action dossier; consulting with the unit
administrator regarding responses to such materials (see Section IV.B.).
7. The personnel committee may elect a search committee as
prescribed by the unit’s code to fulfill the responsibilities of soliciting and
screening applicants and recommending to the unit’s Personnel Committee
candidates for initial appointments.
A majority of the search committee must be voting faculty. For the
purposes of this section, administrators may not be a part of the committee.
8. Making recommendations for advancement in title for fixed term
faculty.
d. Role of the Chair of the Unit Personnel Committee
The chair of the unit Personnel Committee shall be
permanently tenured and shall be elected annually by and from the committee's
membership. The chair shall preside over
all committees making personnel recommendations to the faculty, and may
participate in the decisions of any committee of which the chair is a member,
except as noted below. If the chair of
the unit Personnel Committee holds a professional rank lower than that to which
a faculty member requests promotion, the unit Personnel Committee chair shall
not be eligible to participate and shall only be responsible for calling the
meetings of such committees and facilitating the election of a chair of the
committee from among its membership. In such cases where the Chair of the unit
Personnel Committee is ineligible to participate, he/she shall not attend any
meetings of the committee except to facilitate the election of the chair as
noted above. The elected chair of the
committee shall obtain and distribute materials to be used during the
deliberation of such bodies, insure that a valid vote has been taken,
communicate the results of such votes to the appropriate faculty and to the
unit administrator, and perform other duties as designated by the unit.
2. Promotion Committee
a. Function
The Promotion Committee shall be responsible for
making recommendations for promotions in rank and for recommending the ranks of
initial appointments at the associate professor or professor level.
b. Composition
The membership of the Promotion Committee shall be
composed of those permanently tenured and probationary-term voting faculty
members who hold rank at least equal to the rank for which the candidate is
being considered, including those on leave but in attendance at the committee's
meeting at the time of the committee's vote, but excluding the unit
administrator. The composition of the committee shall thus vary with the rank
to which a faculty member is being considered for promotion. When a unit has
fewer than three permanently tenured voting faculty members of sufficient rank
and not holding administrative status, the next higher administrator above the
unit level shall appoint permanently tenured faculty at the required rank from
other units across the university to increase the committee's membership to
three, with at least two-thirds of the members being permanently tenured
faculty. These appointments to the committee must be from one list of
candidates selected by a vote of the permanently tenured and probationary-term
faculty having rank at least equal to the candidate(s) being considered for
promotion. The list forwarded to the next higher administrator by the faculty
will contain at least twice the number of faculty members required to complete
the membership of the committee. Before voting on the list to be forwarded to
the next higher administrator, the chair of the committee will ascertain that
faculty members nominated to have their names placed on the list are willing
and able to serve in this important capacity. The list of faculty names
recommended to the next higher administrator may not be returned for revision.
Meetings of the promotion committee shall be convened
by the Chair of the unit’s Personnel Committee.
The first order of business for a newly convened Promotion Committee shall
be to elect a Chair from among its membership.
3. Tenure
Committee
a. Function
The Tenure Committee shall be responsible for making
recommendations
for reappointments of probationary-term faculty
members, the granting of permanent tenure, and conferral of tenure for initial
appointments with permanent tenure.
b. Composition
The membership of the Tenure Committee shall be
composed of the permanently tenured voting
faculty of the unit, including those who are on leave but in attendance
at the meeting at the time of the
committee's vote, but excluding the unit administrator. When a unit has fewer
than three permanently tenured voting faculty members not holding
administrative status, the next higher administrator above the unit level shall
appoint permanently tenured faculty from other units to increase the
committee's membership to three. These appointments to the committee must be
from one list of candidates selected by a vote of the permanently tenured and
probationary-term faculty of the unit. The list forwarded to the next higher
administrator by the appropriate faculty will contain at least twice the number
of faculty members required to complete the membership of the committee. Before voting on the list to be forwarded to
the next higher administrator, the voting faculty will ascertain that faculty
members nominated to have their names placed on the list are willing and able
to serve in this important capacity. The
list of faculty names recommended to the next higher administrator may not be
returned for revision.
c.
Additional roles of the unit Tenure Committee.
A Code Unit may establish, in its Code of Operation,
procedures for fulfilling their additional roles; however, if the Code of a
unit is silent in this regard, it is hereby established that the entire
membership of the unit Tenure Committee will participate in these additional
roles. In accordance with the unit code,
if the unit’s Tenure Committee has more than five members, the unit Tenure
Committee may elect a subcommittee of at least five members to participate in
these additional roles. The unit Tenure
Committee (or properly constituted subcommittee):
1.
Consults with the unit administrator who writes a progress
toward tenure letter to each probationary term faculty member as described in
Section II.C.4.
2.
Produces a list of possible external reviewers and selects
external peer reviewers from lists produced by the Committee and by the
candidate (see Section IV.E).
3.
Selects, with the unit administrator, the research and creative
activity materials to be sent to external peer reviewers (see Section IV.C).
4.
Prepares a cumulative evaluation in narrative form of the
candidate’s teaching, research, service, and any other relevant duties.
B. Role of Unit
Administrator
The unit administrator serves to provide leadership,
support, and guidance to the total functioning of the unit. As indicated at the beginning of this
section, the personnel recommendations of the unit administrator shall be
forwarded to the next higher administrator along with the recommendation of the
appropriate faculty committee.
The unit administrator is responsible for maintaining
the personnel files, providing timely notification to the chair of the unit
Personnel Committee on all personnel actions required or expected, and
distributing all personnel documents and materials to the appropriate
location. The unit administrator, in
consultation with the unit Tenure Committee (or properly constituted
subcommittee), will write a progress toward tenure letter to each probationary
term faculty member as described in Section II.C.4. The unit administrator
prepares a cumulative evaluation in narrative form of the candidate’s teaching,
research, service, and any other relevant duties.
In personnel matters, the unit administrator
functions as an administrator rather than a faculty member. Consequently, the
unit administrator does not have a faculty vote in personnel matters.
Therefore, unit administrators are excluded from all unit committee
deliberations concerning candidates for appointment, re-appointment, promotion,
or permanent tenure, (for procedure for nonconcurring recommendations, see
Appendix D, Part IV.H.). However at the
invitation by a majority vote of the membership of the Personnel Committee a
unit administrator may meet with the committee to discuss initial
appointments. Further, the administrator
may meet with the Tenure Committee (or properly constituted subcommittee) in
reference to progress toward tenure letters as noted in II.C.4.
C. External
Peer Review for Promotion and the Conferral of Permanent Tenure
“External peer
review” means a review of a candidate’s research and creative activity by
persons who are not faculty or employees of
By the last week of March of the Spring term prior to
the academic year in which a promotion or tenure decision is scheduled, the
unit Tenure Committee shall produce a list of possible external reviewers. The
candidate for promotion and/or permanent tenure shall provide a similar list,
noting for each name the professional relationship, if any, between the
reviewer and the candidate. The
candidate shall also provide similar relationship information for each name on
the unit Tenure Committee's list. These two lists must be independently
compiled and if the two lists contain a common set of prospective external
reviewers, the unit Tenure Committee list shall be revisited and new possible
external reviewers shall be identified as replacement for those originally on
both lists.
The unit Tenure Committee shall select a sufficient
number of names from the unit Tenure Committee's list and the candidate's list
to ensure a minimum of three external reviewers, two from the unit Tenure
Committee's list and one from the candidate's list. Code units that require more than three
external reviewers shall make special provisions in their unit codes. These provisions must clearly indicate the
number of external reviewers required by the unit. In those cases where a unit requires more
than three reviewers, the choice of reviewers must reflect, as nearly as
possible, the two to one ratio of reviewers proposed by the unit Tenure
Committee to those proposed by the candidate.
The unit administrator will notify the reviewers that
they have been nominated to conduct the review and will ascertain their
willingness to serve as reviewers.
Selected material with a cover letter prescribed by the appropriate vice
chancellor shall be sent to the reviewers.
Correspondence with the reviewers shall be written in neutral terms,
serving to neither support nor oppose the candidate and shall not deviate
substantially from the prescribed cover letter. Copies of the prescribed
letters are available on the Faculty Senate website at
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/fsonline/fg/facultygovernance.cfm.
Copies of all correspondence with the reviewers and the reviews shall be made a
part of the Personnel Action Dossier (hereinafter, "the dossier")
(see Section IV.D.2.).
Sample
of an External Review Letter (used by both Academic Affairs and Health
Sciences)
Only the unit administrator will communicate with the
external reviewers and only on procedural matters for the duration of the
personnel action.
The unit administrator and the unit Tenure Committee
shall select the material from the dossier to be sent to external
reviewers. The candidate may include
additional published or accepted material if he or she disagrees with the
initial selection. Inclusion of such
additional items in the materials sent to reviewers shall be noted by
memorandum of the unit administrator in the dossier and the candidate's
personnel file.
Upon receipt of a review, the unit administrator will
place the original review in the candidate's personnel file and copies of the
review in the candidate's dossier. The
unit administrator shall then notify the members of the appropriate committee
and the candidate that the review is available.
When fewer than three external reviewers respond,
this information, by memorandum from the unit administrator, shall be made a
part of the candidate's personnel file and dossier.
D. Documentation
for Personnel Actions
1. Employment Applications
Information on job applicants is to be kept in a file
available to the appropriate committee (see Section IV.A).
2. Personnel Action Dossier for Reappointment, Promotion, and
Permanent Tenure
The Personnel Action Dossier is a file containing
materials for evaluating a faculty member's professional activity. The dossier is compiled by candidates for
reappointment, promotion, and/or permanent tenure in consultation with the unit
administrator and the chair of the unit Personnel Committee. The dossier will be used by the appropriate
committee in making personnel recommendations. A fixed-term faculty member
seeking to be recommended for a second or subsequent fixed-term appointment
need not compile the dossier.
3. Disagreements
as to inclusion or removal of documents
The dossier shall include the required documents and
lists relevant to the faculty member's teaching, research/creative activity,
and service as described above. If the faculty member disagrees with the unit
administrator and/or the unit personnel committee as to the inclusion of
relevant documents, the documents will be included and each may include a
statement about the document in the dossier.
For details on organization, content and limitations
of the dossier, see Part XII. of the ECU
Faculty Manual.
E. Initiation
of Recommendations by Unit Personnel, Tenure and Promotion Committees
1.
Procedural Rules for conducting committee
business
The unit administrator shall give timely notice to the chair of
the unit Personnel Committee when personnel actions are to be initiated, and of
the date by which the committee's recommendation must be communicated to the
unit administrator. After being notified
by the unit administrator that a personnel action is required, the chair of the
unit Personnel Committee shall make at least three attempts at intervals of no
less than five working days each to hold a meeting of the appropriate committee
for the pending personnel action. In
order to conduct business a committee shall not meet without a quorum.
A quorum is defined as three quarters of the
membership for a committee that has twenty or fewer members; and a quorum is
defined as a majority, defined as 50% plus one, of the membership for a
committee that has more than twenty members. A list of all committee members
who were absent during a vote on a personnel action will be forwarded to the
unit administrator. The committee may
develop policies to designate certain absences as excused absences. Unexcused absences should be considered in
annual evaluations.
The purpose of this meeting is to hold a vote by
secret ballot on the pending personnel action. All materials pertaining to the
pending personnel action (see Section IV.D) must be available for inspection at
least five business days prior to the meeting. Members of the committee(s)
having authority over the pending personnel action shall review the materials
individually in preparation for discussion at the meeting. A faculty member on leave and not in
attendance at a meeting shall not be counted for the purposes of determining a
quorum for that meeting. A faculty
member on leave but in attendance at a meeting shall be counted for the
purposes of determining a quorum for that meeting. If the committee fails to
meet the deadline for receipt of the committee’s recommendation, this outcome
shall count as a recommendation by the committee against appointment,
reappointment, promotion, or tenure. In
such a case, the chair of the unit Personnel Committee shall report in writing
to the unit administrator that after at least three attempts the committee has
failed to meet due to a lack of a quorum, and that this outcome constitutes a
recommendation against appointment, reappointment, promotion, or tenure. The unit
administrator shall forward the committee’s recommendation and the unit
administrator’s recommendation to the candidate and to the next higher administrator.
2. a. In the case of initial
appointment recommendations, each member of the unit Personnel Committee will
indicate by secret ballot his or her choice for the appointment. A candidate who receives a majority vote of
the committee members present shall be recommended for appointment. (For recommendations of rank of initial appointments
at the associate professor or professor level, see IV.A.2.a. For conferral of
tenure for initial appointments see IV.A.3.a.)
b. Faculty
recommendations for reappointment, promotion, and conferral of permanent tenure
shall come from the appropriate committee
(see Section IV.A). The committee members may choose to vote by mail
according to the latest edition of Robert's
Rules of Order, Newly Revised.
Within fifteen working days of notification by the unit administrator of
the need to initiate a personnel action, the chair of the unit Personnel
Committee shall convene a meeting of the appropriate committee (see Section
IV.E.1). At this meeting, the chair of the unit Personnel Committee shall
ascertain whether or not the committee will vote by mail. If a motion to vote by mail is approved by a
majority of the committee members present and voting, voting shall be by mail. If
a committee chooses to vote by mail, all members must vote by mail.
c. In
the case of contract renewal recommendations for faculty members holding
fixed-term appointments, each member of the unit Personnel Committee will
indicate by secret ballot his or her choice for or against recommending
contract renewal. This vote may be taken at a committee meeting
or by mail ballot as described in Section IV. E.2b. A vote
for the recommendation by a majority of the committee members present shall
constitute a recommendation for reemployment.
A member who is present when a vote is taken but who does not vote
counts as part of the membership of the committee for the purposes of
determining what constitutes a majority vote. Failure to obtain a majority vote constitutes
a recommendation against contract renewal. (Faculty Senate Resolution #03-30)
d. If a committee votes by mail, the ballots shall be
sent by a method that provides delivery
verification and is consistent with UNC Policy 101.3.3 or distributed by
the committee chair. The refusal by a committee
member to receive the correspondence containing the ballot within five business
days of the first delivery attempt shall count as a vote against appointment,
reappointment, promotion, or tenure. If
ballots are distributed, the committee chair shall assure that recipients
acknowledge receipt in writing. The
acknowledgment must include the date of receipt. A ballot either shall be returned by a method that provides delivery verification
and is consistent with UNC Policy 101.3.3 or shall be personally
returned by hand to the committee chair, at the discretion of the individual
committee member. Committee members
returning ballots by hand shall sign a confirmation form that is retained by
the committee chair. Ballots not
returned within twenty working days of verified receipt shall count as a vote
against recommending appointment, reappointment, promotion, or tenure. If a committee votes by mail, a faculty
member on leave may choose either to vote or not to vote, at his or her
discretion. The unit administrator shall
ascertain and shall inform the chair of the unit Personnel Committee in writing
as to whether or not a faculty member on leave will participate in a mail
ballot. If a faculty member on leave chooses
to participate in a mail ballot, the faculty member shall count in determining
what is required for a majority vote in favor of the recommendation. If the faculty member on leave chooses not to
participate in a mail ballot, the faculty member shall not count in determining
what is required for a majority vote in favor of the recommendation. (Faculty
Senate Resolution #03-30)
3. In the case of reappointment, promotion, and conferral of
permanent tenure, each member of the appropriate committee will indicate by
secret ballot his or her vote for or against recommending that the candidate be
reappointed, promoted, and/or granted permanent tenure. This vote may be taken at a committee meeting
or by mail ballot as described in Section IV.G E.2d. A vote for the
recommendation by a majority of the committee members present shall constitute
a recommendation for reappointment, promotion, and/or conferral of permanent
tenure. A member of a committee who is
present when a vote is taken but who does not vote counts as part of the
membership of the committee for the purposes of determining what constitutes a
majority vote. Failure to obtain
a majority vote shall constitute a recommendation against reappointment,
promotion, and/or the conferral of permanent tenure. (Faculty Senate Resolution #03-30)
4. The recommendation of the appropriate committee shall be
communicated by the chair of the unit Personnel Committee or the Promotion
Committee to the candidate and the unit
administrator (see IV.A.1.d.).
F. Notification of Recommendations
The faculty member shall be informed of all
recommendations at every level, beginning with the appropriate unit committee’s
recommendation and continuing up to the level where the final decision is
made.
The
notification letter from the Tenure Committee and the notification letter from
the unit administrator shall contain (a) the cumulative evaluation of the
candidate’s teaching, research and service, and any other relevant duties, in
accordance with section B.3. Recommendations for Tenure of Part XII. Personnel
Action Dossier of the ECU Faculty Manual
and (b) the statement that the candidate has four working days from the date of
the notification letter to include a response to the cumulative evaluation, in
accordance with section D. Supporting Materials of Part XII. Personnel Action
Dossier.
G. Procedure
for Concurring Recommendations
In the case of disagreement at any level refer to the
procedures outlined in H. below.
If the recommendations of the appropriate committee
and unit administrator agree, the next higher administrator shall either concur
or not concur, then notify the unit administrator and the chair of the unit
Personnel Committee of the recommendation and forward all recommendations to
the immediate supervisor. This procedure
shall be repeated at each administrative level until the recommendation reaches
the appropriate vice chancellor.
Immediately after the completion of each level of
administrative review, the administrator's recommendation shall be communicated
to all appropriate lower administrators, the candidate, and the committee of
the unit which made the initial recommendation.
If the vice chancellor concurs in a recommendation
for promotion and/or conferral of permanent tenure,
he or she shall forward the recommendation to the chancellor. The chancellor
shall consider the recommendation from the vice chancellor to promote and to
confer permanent tenure.
If the vice chancellor concurs in a
decision not to recommend reappointment, promotion, and/or conferral of
permanent tenure, he or she shall give the faculty member being considered a
simple, written statement of the decision. This decision is final except as it may later be
reviewed in accordance with the provisions of Section V or the grievance
procedure of Appendix Y.
If the chancellor concurs in a recommendation to
confer permanent tenure, he or she shall submit the recommendation to the Board
of Trustees for final approval. If the
chancellor concurs in a recommendation for promotion, the chancellor’s approval
shall be final.
H. Procedure
for Nonconcurring Recommendations
If the recommendations of an administrator and the appropriate committee
disagree, that administrator shall discuss the potential nonconcurrence
at the unit committee level before forwarding the committee’s recommendation
and his or her concurrence or nonconcurrence to the
next higher administrator. If the unit
administrator and the appropriate committee do not agree, their conflicting
recommendations shall be forwarded through each administrative level, together
with the recommendation of the administrator at each level, until they reach
the appropriate vice chancellor. In the
case of fixed term employment recommendations the decision of the appropriate
vice chancellor is final. All other personnel actions shall be handled in
accordance with the procedures provided in Section IV.G. Procedures for
Concurring Recommendations.
In the event that the vice chancellor is considering
a recommendation that is contrary to the vote of the appropriate unit
committee, the vice chancellor shall meet with the committee to discuss the
potential nonconcurrence. If the vice chancellor concurs with the
committee vote but the chancellor is considering a recommendation that is
contrary to the vote, the chancellor shall meet with the committee to discuss
the chancellor's potential nonconcurrence.
If the chancellor decides not to recommend promotion
or the conferral of permanent tenure, the chancellor shall give the faculty
member being considered a simple, written statement of the decision. This decision is final except as it may be
reviewed in accordance with the provisions of Section V or the grievance
procedure of Appendix Y.