Advisory Committee on Tenure, Promotion, and Personnel
The Committee shall advise the Dean of Arts & Sciences on all recommendations from Departments for the award of tenure, and for promotion to the ranks of associate professor and full professor, for promotion to the ranks of research associate professor and research professor, and for new appointments that carry tenure.
The committee shall consist of nine tenured full professors, three from each of the three divisions, with six members constituting a quorum. The Dean of Arts & Sciences shall be a non-voting member of the Committee and shall preside except as noted under 1. and 5. below. The Vice Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and the Vice Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies shall be non-voting members of the Committee.
- Each year, the Committee shall select one of its members to serve as Chair to preside in the absence of the Dean of Arts & Sciences.
- In fulfilling its advisory function with regard to tenure and promotions, the Committee shall observe the following procedures:
- Copies of Departmental recommendations for tenure and promotion and all supporting documentation, including Departmental tenure policies and procedures, shall be available to all members of the Committee prior to and during its deliberations. This documentation shall be held confidential and returned to the office of the Dean at the end of the deliberations on each case.
- A Departmental representative is entitled to attend those portions of regular, but not executive, sessions of the Committee at which a recommendation concerning a member of the Department is discussed and may respond to questions raised by Committee members. The Departmental representative is not expected to present the case formally but simply to answer questions that the Committee believes will clarify the case. It is expected that for each case the deliberations of the Committee shall include a regular session and an executive session.
- A member of the Committee who is also a member of the candidate's Department may participate in regular sessions but may not attend those portions of executive sessions which deal with that candidate and may not vote on the question.
- The Committee may solicit additional advice in any manner that it deems appropriate.
- At the conclusion of its deliberations, the recommendations of the Committee shall be determined by secret ballot of its elected members, with the exception noted in c. above.
- After reviewing the candidacy, the Dean shall transmit his or her decision in writing to the candidate, the Chair of the candidate's Department, and the Committee.
- In the event of a negative decision and at the candidate's request:
- The candidate shall be advised in writing by the Dean of the reasons that contributed to that decision, and
- The Committee's recommendation and the division of its vote shall be communicated in confidence to the nominating Department's tenure committee and to the candidate.
- Should the Dean not accept the Committee's recommendation, he or she shall convene an executive session of the Committee to discuss the reasons.
- The candidate or the candidate's Department may request reconsideration of denial of tenure promotion; reconsideration will not normally be undertaken unless new and substantial evidence is available.
- All deliberations of the Committee shall be confidential.
- Copies of all correspondence as well as records of verbal evaluations solicited and used by the Committee in reaching decisions shall be made part of the permanent record of the procedure and shall be available if necessary to review committees of the Faculty and the University.
- Nothing in the above paragraphs shall be construed to prejudice the rights of faculty members to appeal to the appropriate Faculty and University committees charged with reviewing tenure and promotion decisions.
- The Chair of the Committee shall, without disclosing confidential matters concerning specific individuals, report annually to the Faculty on the Committee's actions and findings.
- In discharging his or her function under 4. above, the elected Chair may convene a meeting of the elected members of the Committee