Proposed Changes

Faculty Handbook

8/27/07

In the sections on Faculty Promotion and Tenure and Minimum Standards for Promotion, the Provost’s Office is proposing two changes that will require the approval of the Univ. P&T Committee.

These changes are aimed at clarifying: 1) that teaching and service (as well as research) are important aspects/components for promotion and/or tenure; and 2) that faculty will be evaluated for promotion and/or tenure based on the departmental P&T guidelines and their assigned workload for the period under review.

While these two issues are outlined either in the Faculty Handbook and/or in the CBA, we believe that these revised/new statements will clarify any doubts or concerns that departments or faculty may have regarding how faculty are evaluated. It is also important to clarify these two important aspects in the beginning statements of the P&T guidelines that appear in the Faculty Handbook. The Provost has already agreed to these changes.

Havidán

Faculty Promotion and Tenure (http://www.udel.edu/provost/fachb/IV-D-1-facpt.html)

The promotion and tenure procedure is a parallel structure allowing for faculty proposal, evaluation and appeal, as well as administrative evaluation at each level of organization of the University.

This document governs the University process of review at every level. Departments, units, and colleges may make additions to and clarifications of this document to address their special circumstances. These elaborations, which must be approved by the University Committee on Promotions and Tenure and by the Provost, will constitute the departmental document.

Departmental documents should also include the procedure for choosing the departmental promotion and tenure committee and should specify required levels of achievement for each rank, such as excellence in research or teaching or in both. Appropriate modes of scholarly publication may also be specified. Faculty candidates for promotion and/or tenure will be evaluated based on the criteria in their department’s approved promotion and tenure guidelines appropriately weighted for their workload for the period under review.

Promotion & Tenure

Minimum Standards for Promotion (http://www.udel.edu/provost/fachb/IV-D-2-standards.html)

Since the mission of the University encompasses teaching, scholarship and service, faculty members must should strive for excellence in all three areas. Scholarship, whether in the form of research, publication, professional development, or artistic creativity, or scholarship related to teaching or service is a significant part of each person's contribution to the academic community. Everyone must pursue some form of scholarly activity. How this work is made available to other scholars obviously depends upon the particular discipline, but promotion requires evidence that significant achievements have been and will continue to be made.