Adopted by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on October 28, 1976;
Amended by FASC on March 21, 1978;
Amended by FAS on October 28, 1980, March 24, 1981, February 25, 1982, and October 23, 1984;
Amended by FASC on January 23, 1985;
Edited on July 1, 1985;
Amended by FAS on February 8, 1996, April 1, 1998, April 24, 2001, April 16, 2003, and April 14, 2025.
Before acting on a recommendation for promotion to Professor, the Dean shall seek the advice of a Review Committee (“ad hoc committee”) composed in the following manner:
- The Dean shall meet with the Selection Committee of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Tenure Council (Tenure Council), to choose members of the ad hoc committee.
- Each ad hoc committee shall consist of five members, all of whom must hold the rank of Professor, including two members named by the Selection Committee from among the members of the Tenure Council, and three members from the Full Professors of the Dietrich School.
- One or two of the faculty members named by the Dean may be from schools or faculties of the University other than Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences or from other academic institutions.
- The Dean will seek the advice of an ad hoc committee when a department recommends a first appointment, with tenure, at the rank of Professor. The committee will advise the Dean on the tenured nature of the appointment as well as the rank of Professor.
- An ad hoc committee chair shall be selected at random, unless one member volunteers. Their duty is to chair the meeting and to draft the report of the committee, which must be approved by all members of the committee.
- The report of each ad hoc committee is kept confidential and not shared with department faculty. A numerical vote of the ad hoc committee shall be included in the report.
The Dean or their representative (generally, the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs) will attend all ad hoc committee meetings as a non-voting member and will supervise the committee vote at the end of the meeting. A committee member’s vote is not revealed to other committee members but is made known to the Dean’s office.
When the chair is not of full rank, a representative of the professors AND the chair should be invited to appear before the ad hoc committee. The representative of the professors should take the lead. When the chair is not of full rank, they should not have primary responsibility for presenting the case.
In reviewing a recommendation for promotion, the ad hoc committee shall seek, on the basis of the materials provided by the Dean, the department, and the candidate, and such other evidence as the committee finds necessary, to assess the candidate's level of achievement both as a teacher and as a scholar. The rank of Professor recognizes the attainment of authoritative knowledge and reputation in a recognized field of learning and the achievement of effective teaching skill. In arriving at a recommendation, the ad hoc committee shall be governed so far as possible by uniform standards of excellence as established from time to time by the University as a whole and by the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Applications of these standards shall take account of the special characteristics of the academic disciplines and the peculiar needs of the individual departments.
If the materials that have been provided to the ad hoc committee suffer from lacunae or other deficiencies such that the committee cannot proceed in a reasonable way, the committee shall return these materials to the Dean and postpone further discussion in the case until the deficiencies in the candidate's dossier have been remedied. In cases where there are few professors in the department, the ad hoc committee may be asked by the Dean to assemble the dossier of the candidate.
As soon as possible, the chair of the ad hoc committee shall report in writing the results of the committee's deliberations to the Dean. The report shall include the results of a vote on the question of whether to recommend promotion.
The Dean shall report on their action in each case to the ad hoc committee, the representative of the professors of the department, and the candidate. The Dean at that time shall also inform the candidate at the candidate's request of the names of the members of the ad hoc committee.
Normally, the Dean shall make a decision within six months after receiving the departmental recommendation.
The Secretary of the Tenure Council shall report annually to the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. The report shall include a statistical summary and analysis of the year's tenure cases and their disposition and be published in The Gazette.