Weinberg College
of Arts & Sciences

Promotion for Teaching-Track Faculty

VIEW THE MOST CURRENT INFORMATION ON THE WEINBERG COMMONS (NETID REQUIRED).

The information below is for candidates and chairpersons.

For full details, see the Weinberg College Chairperson’s Handbook (NetID Required), Chapter V.
See also promotion dossier deadlines and links to helpful documents.

Policy

Recommendations of faculty advancement are taken with the utmost seriousness, and are investigated with great care. Should a teaching-track faculty member be recommended for promotion and fail to be promoted, no rule or expectation holds that he or she shall leave the faculty. A member of the teaching-track faculty who is not promoted in a given year may be recommended again after a suitable period. The department of a candidate who is not promoted should promptly work with that candidate on a program to improve relevant aspects of their record.

APPOINTMENT TERMS AND TIMING OF PROMOTION REVIEWS

Assistant Professors of Instruction will normally be considered for promotion to Associate Professor of Instruction in the sixth year of their appointment in rank. Departments and programs are expected to initiate a promotion review at this time. If the faculty member chooses not to be considered for promotion, a reappointment review will be carried out in its stead.

Associate Professors of Instruction may be considered for promotion to Professor of Instruction in the fifth year of their appointment in rank.

Early promotion is possible to ranks of both Associate Professor of Instruction and Professor of Instruction, however, a minimum of six completed quarters (two academic years) in rank will be required before candidates may present themselves for promotion.

Following initial appointments, which will typically be for three academic years, subsequent appointment terms will normally follow this pattern:

Successful promotion replaces the need for reappointment review and will result in a new appointment. Continuation in rank beyond the terms listed above is acceptable for Assistant and Associate Professors of Instruction.

Criteria for Appointment and Promotion

With the exception of a few especially selected candidates, members of the teaching-track faculty are hired by national search in which the same diversity requirements pertain as in searches for tenure-line faculty. Since the adoption of the current guidelines starting in September 2020, a PhD, MFA, or other appropriate terminal degree is required for initial appointment at all ranks. However, the guidelines allow for exceptions for faculty initially hired prior to the adoption of the current guidelines. The following criteria concern faculty advancement processes for faculty members holding the ranks of Assistant Professor of Instruction, Associate Professor of Instruction, and Professor of Instruction. In light of the diversity of intellectual activity within the College, departments and programs may vary somewhat in how they interpret these criteria. Chairs and directors should meet in advance with promotion candidates to clearly convey how the promotion criteria are interpreted in their unit so that clear, shared expectations can be developed that are consistent with the College-wide guidelines.

Assistant Professor of Instruction

• A PhD, MFA, or other appropriate terminal degree is required for initial appointment.
• Faculty must display a commitment to teaching and are normally appointed to an initial 3-year term as an Assistant Professor of Instruction.
• Subsequent appointment to a three-year term as Assistant Professor of Instruction follows successful College and departmental/program review in the third year that confirms the following:
  • A record of effective teaching as measured by appropriate methods established by departments and programs, including student evaluations.ⁱ Within the context appropriate for both the field and nature of the appointment, effective teaching is demonstrated through some combination of classroom teaching, student advising, or College academic advising.ⁱⁱ
  • A record of service to the program/department, College, or University.
  • A record of contribution to a mutually respectful, inclusive, and collaborative professional environment.
  • Evidence of an emerging agenda of contributions to curricular development, pedagogical innovation and/or research, discipline-specific research, creative work, or professional development.

Associate Professor of Instruction

• A PhD, MFA, or other appropriate terminal degree is required for initial appointment. For promotion or reappointment cases, exceptions are made for faculty initially hired without such degrees prior to adoption of current guidelines.
• Candidates for promotion to Associate Professor of Instruction must demonstrate the following:
  
  • A sustained record of effectiveness in teaching as measured by appropriate methods established by departments and programs, including student evaluations.ⁱ Within the context appropriate for both the field and nature of the appointment, sustained effective teaching is demonstrated through a combination of classroom teaching, student advising, or College academic advising.ⁱⁱ
  • A record of effective service to the program/department, College, or University.
  • A sustained record of contribution to a mutually respectful, inclusive, and collaborative professional environment.
  • Within the context appropriate for both the field and nature of the appointment, an emerging record of contributions to curricular development, pedagogical innovation and/or research, discipline-specific research, creative work, or professional development. Where appropriate, the candidate can also provide evidence of growing leadership or prominence within the university and/or in relevant professional activities beyond the University.ⁱⁱⁱ

Professor of Instruction

• A PhD, MFA, or other appropriate terminal degree is required for initial appointment. For promotion or reappointment cases, exceptions are made for faculty initially hired without such degrees prior to adoption of current guidelines.
• Candidates for promotion to Professor of Instruction must demonstrate the following:
  • Excellent teaching at the rank of Associate Professor of Instruction as measured by appropriate methods established by departments and programs, including student evaluations.ⁱ Within the context appropriate for both the field and nature of the appointment, excellent teaching is demonstrated through a combination of classroom teaching, student advising, or College academic advising.ⁱⁱ
  • A record of leadership and/or excellent service to the program/department, College, or University.
  • A sustained record of contribution to a mutually respectful, inclusive, and collaborative professional environment.
  • Within the context appropriate for both the field and nature of the appointment, a sustained record of significant contributions to curriculum, pedagogical innovation and/or research, discipline-specific research, creative work, or professional development that demonstrates evidence of leadership or prominence within the university and/or in relevant professional activities outside the University.ⁱⁱⁱ

Appendix to Criteria

ⁱ Examples of “appropriate methods established by departments and programs, including student evaluations”:

• Classroom observations/peer evaluations
• Review of syllabus and class materials created and/or taught by the candidate
• Departmental evaluation of TA training and feedback from TAs
• Student learning outcomes
• Course and Teacher Evaluations (CTECs)
• Student letters

ⁱⁱ Examples of “student advising, or College academic advising”:

• Major advising
• Senior thesis advising
• Advising Independent Studies
• First-year-seminar linked advising
• Research mentoring
• Advising as Weinberg College Adviser
• Advising/mentoring done in the context of study abroad, placement advising, and/or fellowship preparation

ⁱⁱⁱ Evidence of leadership or prominence within the university and/or in relevant professional activities outside the university can be demonstrated in myriad ways, although it is up to the candidate and the department to make the case. Examples of such recognition may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Making significant, innovative contributions to the College or University curriculum
• Contributing to the production of textbooks or other innovative instructional materials
• Serving as a primary research advisor to students who themselves can be shown to be competitive at a national level
• Receiving invitations to serve as an expert in one’s field or to make presentations at other institutions of higher learning, national conferences or conventions
• Placing articles in disciplinary or pedagogical journals
• Publishing a monograph, a novel, a literary collection, etc.
• Establishing a substantial presence in other media (op-ed, online teaching)

Timetable for Promotion

See the document Teaching-Track Faculty Promotion Timeline.

Dossier Materials for Promotion

See the document Teaching-Track Faculty Promotion Required Materials

Department Recommendation

The Chair requests that the candidate supply a dossier to the department. Please see the list of required material above. 

The eligible voting faculty reviews the dossier, discusses the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, and votes by secret ballot. In the case of candidates for promotion to the rank of Professor of Instruction, the discussion of the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses must take into account the testimony of external reviewers, if any external reviews are solicited. Faculty members who have close personal relationships with the candidate or otherwise feel they cannot maintain proper professional distance should recuse themselves from the discussion and vote on that candidate. If fewer than three faculty members are eligible to vote, the Dean appoints additional members to form a surrogate voting committee. College Fellows and junior tenure-line faculty prior to their 3rd year review may not hold sufficient experience in the department and should not vote on promotion candidates to the ranks of Assistant and Associate Professor of Instruction.

The Department Chair sends the Dean a letter that summarizes the discussion, describes the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, refers in detail to teaching and other activities (including, for any candidate for promotion to rank of professor of instruction, the views of external referees), names the department members eligible to participate and actually participating, and vote totals (for, against, abstaining, absent). In a positive recommendation, the department should be able to demonstrate that the candidate has achieved high distinction in teaching, and to affirm on the basis of observation and experience that this person is as good a teacher in their field as the department could reasonably expect to hire, now or in the foreseeable future. In the case of the candidate for promotion to the rank of professor of instruction, the department should be able to demonstrate that the candidate has significant national standing in their field. The letter, signed by the Chair and three or four members of the department, and the accompanying materials are sent to the Dean.

Promotion and Reappointment Committee

The Teaching-Track Promotion and Reappointment Committee is made up of four members of the teaching-track faculty.  It is charged with evaluating promotions and reappointments of the non-tenure-eligible faculty and advising the Dean on these matters. The committee is elected and rotating, with members serving staggered terms.

Members of the Promotion and Reappointment Committee recuse themselves on all promotion and reappointment discussions for members from their home department. The term of service is three years. As a general rule, to keep a department or program from dominating the committee, an entire department/program is disqualified for three years after a member of that department/program has served a full term.

Teaching-Track Faculty membership

The Promotion and Reappointment Committee has four members elected by members of the teaching-track faculty (a record of whom is maintained by the Dean's Office). They should be faculty members in good standing drawn from Div. I, Div. II, Div. III-the language faculty, and those in Div. III-complement (faculty who are not part of language instruction).

Teaching-track faculty at the rank of Professor of Instruction are eligible to serve.

The four-member Promotion and Reappointment Committee reviews promotion dossiers for non-tenure-eligible faculty members. They vote confidentially on each case and make a recommendation to the Dean. Similarly, the Promotion and Reappointment Committee reviews recommendations for teaching-track reappointments. A report of the committee vote will only be described as ‘positive’ or ‘negative.’ A 2/3 majority is required for a positive vote.

A case for promotion must be strong and fulfill the requirements for promotion to the next rank in order to warrant a positive vote. Time in rank is not sufficient. Likewise, a case for reappointment must be made actively on the strengths of the faculty member’s positive contributions to the teaching mission. The absence of a negative case is insufficient for a positive recommendation for renewal.

Consideration by the Dean

The authority to make decisions about promotion rests with the Dean. If the Dean has reservations about a recommended promotion, the Chair of the department is notified and the Chair notifies the candidate. The Dean may ask the teaching-track Promotion and Reappointment Committee to elaborate on the case and the reasoning behind a recommendation, or may request additional information about any aspect of the candidate’s record from their department. When the Dean decides against a recommended advancement, the promotion process ends in the College.

The dossiers of the candidates whom the Dean recommends for promotion are forwarded to the Provost, who has the authority to decide negatively about a promotion. The Dean writes to each candidate about the decision in their case, and sends a copy of that letter to the candidate’s chair.

Negative Decisions

A promotion candidate whose department has voted against promotion or reappointment will be notified by the Chair.

When a department votes negatively regarding a promotion for teaching-track faculty, under most circumstances the promotion review stops at that point. The Chair will notify the Dean's Office that the promotion case will not proceed to the College for further evaluation. The Chair will provide for the Dean a brief letter describing the reasons and any department vote. A candidate for promotion who has received a negative vote at the department level may ask to see the department letter and may choose to appeal to the Dean on the grounds outlined in the University Faculty Handbook.

A promotion candidate’s dossier may receive a positive department vote and then a negative vote by the Promotion and Reappointment Committee. Those cases will nonetheless be sent to the Dean for consideration. If the Dean decides against recommending promotion he will notify the candidate and the Chair.