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Understanding the Promotion and Tenure Process

Module by: Susan Cates. E-mail the author

Summary: 2006 presentation in the Rice University NSF Advance Conference entitled “Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position”. The focus of this presentation was educating graduate students and post-docs who aspire to academic faculty positions regarding the university promotion and tenure process. The authors of this presentation were Julia Morgan, Earth Science; Jennifer West, Bioengineering; and Kathleen S. Matthews, Dean of Natural Sciences.

Workshop Authors: Morgan, J., West, J. and Matthews K.

Slide 1: What can I do now?

  • Think about your steps all along the way
    • Consistently evaluate your own progress
      • Goals
      • Mechanisms to get there
      • Ways to learn from others and engage them
    • Keep data on all your activities
    • Ask for feedback
      • Grant writing
      • Papers
      • Teaching
  • This process is the accumulation of years of effort
    • THINK AHEAD!!!

Slide 2: Understand the General Process

  • Learn about the promotion and tenure process at your institution
    • Ask about the process when you interview
  • Request a copy of the policy
    • Be sure when you are interviewing that the policy is consistent with your personal goals
  • Understand the balance of teaching, research, and service that the institution AND the department will expect

Slide 3: General Process

Dossier

  • Summary of your independent career at institution
  • Information on all aspects of your career
    • Research summary (publications, grants, citations, awards)
    • Teaching summary (courses, evaluations, awards)
    • Service summary (activities, awards)
  • Inside reviews/letters
  • Outside letters****
    • Writers identified by department
    • Also usually writers identified by individual

Understand the timing of preparing the dossier, what you should submit and when

  • If you should submit names for Outside Letters

Understand the process completely

Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare your materials

  • Think about your research/teaching summary
  • Ensure that your papers are submitted in a timely way

Ask QUESTIONS if you do not understand

Outside Letters

  • Highly influential in decision process
  • May have opportunity to suggest names
    • Develop relationships - create a network
    • MARKET yourself!
  • Post-decision: Ask about possibility for feedback from the letters (can be useful)
  • Anticipate whom you would want to write letters and get to know those individuals

Slide 4: Publications

  • Demonstrate your contributions
  • Provide evidence of your independence
    • Issues of collaborators
      • How many?
      • How much of your time?
  • Used to assess your productivity
    • Numbers vary widely among disciplines
    • Type of publications expected also vary widely
  • Used to assess the quality of work produced
    • Citations
    • H-factor
    • Impact on the field

Slide 5: Factors Considered

  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Service
    • These factors combine to reach a decision — but the specific combination varies widely across institutions

Slide 6: Research

  • Publications/Citations/h-factor
    • Way you are known for your work
  • Grants
    • Demonstrate ability to secure funding for research
  • Presentations
    • Invitations reflect status in the field
  • Visibility/Engagement/Focus
    • Present at multiple conferences
    • Present at multiple conferences
    • Engage the leaders at those conferences
    • Invite leaders to your institution via department events
    • Reflect on level of focus in work and, if broad, engage multiple communities
  • Keep your CV up to date
    • Include students mentored at all levels (primary and secondary mentoring)
      • Undergraduates
      • Graduate Students
      • Post-doctoral Associates
    • Include advising responsibilities at all levels
    • Refereed publications
      • Some institutions request an evaluation of % effort on each
      • Citations — check your “h-factor”
    • Abstracts / Conference Proceedings
    • Presentations
      • Seminars/Workshops/Panels/etc.
      • Posters
      • Invited talks at meetings

Slide 7: Teaching

  • Effectiveness
    • Often evaluated by students
    • Ask assigned or selected mentor to provide review
  • Innovation
    • Think about ways to do it better/more effectively
    • Engage students
  • Range/breadth
    • Assignments may be focused or broad
    • Be prepared to teach beyond your comfort zone
  • Enthusiasm
    • Convey why you love what you do
    • Occasionally volunteer for something extra
  • Develop of portfolio of your teaching
    • Syllabi
    • Handouts
    • Problem sets
    • Other written materials
    • Computer-based materials
    • Examinations
    • Copies of graded papers where there is a significant writing component
    • Evaluation by a colleague
    • Student evaluations

Slide 8: Service

  • Department
    • Help your department accomplish the faculty’s goals
  • University
    • Engage in the broad community, but wisely — most P/T committees are broad
  • National Organizations
    • Choose wisely for visibility with minimum time
  • K12/Outreach Opportunities
    • Choose wisely, but make a difference

Slide 9: What Happens After Dossier Is Prepared?

  • Department Review
    • Tenured faculty generally involved in decision to recommend or deny tenure
    • Department chair writes letter
      • Some schools have subcommittee
  • School Review
    • Often school-level committee reviews and makes recommendation to dean
    • Dean makes recommendation
  • Promotion/Tenure Committee (Provost)
    • Makes recommendation to President
  • President makes final decision
  • Multiple levels of review — no one person makes the decision! Many voices are part of the process.

Slide 10: P/T versus Performance Reviews

  • Ask your institution about frequency and nature of performance reviews
    • Can be very helpful in guiding activities
    • Opportunity for mid-term feedback
    • Provide an internal view of accomplishments
      • Some may have external letters
      • Dossier can be similar to promotion dossier

Slide 11: Are there answers to my questions?

  • How many publications do I need?
  • How much grant funding?
  • How many graduate students? Post-docs?
  • How good must my teaching be? Does it matter?
  • How do I know if I’m doing enough?

There are no “right” answers to these questions, because the process is a composite of all of these and varies from place to place:

FIND OUT WHAT YOU CAN ABOUT YOUR INSTITUTION - ASK QUESTIONS!!!

Slide 12: Questions?

Ask many, ask often….

References

  1. Morgan, J., West, J. and Matthews K. (2006, October). Understanding the Promotion and Tenure Process: NSF Advance Workshop at Rice University. [http://www.advance.rice.edu/negotiatingtheidealfacultyposition/agenda.html].

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