Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A)
General considerations.
(1) In consultation
with the rules committee or its designee, the office of academic affairs shall
develop and promulgate procedural guidelines for promotion and tenure reviews
to supplement Chapter 3335-6 of the Administrative Code. These guidelines shall
include a dossier outline to be used for the documentation of accomplishments
by all candidates to be reviewed for promotion and tenure and by all
probationary tenure-track faculty for annual reviews. The guidelines shall also
include general information about the review process at the college and
university level, information about any legal considerations affecting
promotion and tenure evaluations, examples of criteria by which candidates for
promotion and tenure are evaluated, and other information intended to assist
academic units in carrying out reviews.
(2) All candidates for promotion and tenure
are reviewed by the eligible faculty and by the chair of their tenure
initiating unit. Candidates will also be reviewed at the college and university
levels. The tenure initiating unit chair is responsible for informing the
candidate in writing of the provost's final decision (if negative) or
recommendation to the board of trustees (if positive).
(3) The review for tenure during the final
year of a probationary period is mandatory and must take place.
A probationary faculty member may ask to be considered for
nonmandatory promotion and tenure review any time. However, the tenure
initiating unit promotion and tenure committee may deny a probationary
nonmandatory review every year up to the candidate's mandatory year. If a
probationary nonmandatory review is allowed and the outcome is negative, the
candidate continues at the rank they held at the start of the review. If a
probationary mandatory review outcome is negative, the candidate's employment
ends. Exclusions of time from a probationary period are allowed under paragraph
(D) of rule
3335-6-03 of the Administrative
Code and the expectations for productivity must be independent of the duration
of the probationary period. A tenured faculty member may request a promotion
review at any time. However, the tenure initiating unit promotion and tenure
committee may deny this request if the tenured faculty member's accomplishments
are judged not to warrant such review. The promotion and tenure committee may
deny a tenured faculty member's request for promotion review only once. If the
review is allowed and the outcome is negative, the tenured faculty member
continues at the rank they held at the start of the review. This faculty member
may continue at that rank indefinitely or request subsequent reviews that may
not be denied.
(4) Only the
candidate may stop any review for promotion and tenure once external letters of
evaluation have been sought. The candidate may withdraw from review at any
stage of the process by so informing the tenure initiating unit chair in
writing. If the review process has moved beyond the tenure initiating unit, the
tenure initiating unit chair shall inform the dean or the executive vice
president and provost, as relevant, of the candidate's withdrawal. Withdrawal
from the mandatory tenure review during the final probationary year means that
tenure will not be granted.
(B) Review procedures at the tenure
initiating unit level.
(1) Each tenure
initiating unit shall establish a mechanism such as a promotion and tenure
committee, for presenting the case of a candidate for promotion and tenure to
the eligible faculty for consideration and for preparing a report for the
tenure initiating unit chair providing the eligible faculty's assessment of
quality and effectiveness of teaching, quality and significance of scholarship,
and quality and effectiveness of service. With the exception noted in this
paragraph, eligible faculty are tenured faculty of higher rank than the
candidate excluding the tenure initiating unit chair, the dean and assistant
and associate deans of the college, the executive vice president and provost,
and the president. For tenure reviews of probationary professors, eligible
faculty are tenured professors excluding the tenure initiating unit chair, the
dean and assistant and associate deans of the college, the executive vice
president and provost, and the president.
(2) The candidate shall have primary
responsibility for preparing, according to office of academic affairs
guidelines, a dossier documenting
their accomplishments
(3) The tenure initiating unit chair or chair
of the promotion and tenure committee shall be responsible for gathering
internal evidence of the quality and effectiveness of teaching, quality and
significance of scholarship, and quality and effectiveness of service from
students and peers, as appropriate, within the tenure initiating unit. The
tenure initiating unit chair or chair of the promotion and tenure committee
shall also be responsible for obtaining letters from external evaluators and
from other units at this university in which the candidate has appointment or
substantial professional involvement, whether compensated or not. Some of the
external evaluators should be suggested by the candidate and some by the
department chair or promotion and tenure committee; no more than one-half of
the letters contained in the final dossier should be from persons suggested by
the candidate. All solicited letters that are received must be included in the
dossier. Unsolicited letters of evaluation or letters of evaluation solicited
by anyone other than the above authorized persons may not be included in the
dossier.
(4) The eligible faculty
shall review the candidate's dossier describing accomplishments in teaching,
scholarship, and service and shall vote on the candidate. A report of the
faculty assessment, including both strengths and weaknesses, and the numerical
vote of the faculty shall be forwarded to the tenure initiating unit chair for
inclusion in the dossier.
(5) The
chair shall prepare a separate written assessment of the case and
recommendation for the dean for inclusion in the dossier. As soon as the
faculty report and chair's letter have been completed, the candidate should be
notified in writing of the completion of the tenure initiating unit review and
of the availability of these reports. The candidate may request a copy of these
reports. The candidate may provide the tenure initiating unit chair with
written comments on the tenure initiating unit review for inclusion in the
dossier within ten calendar days of notification of the completion of the
review. The promotion and tenure committee and/or chair may provide written
responses to the candidate's comments for inclusion in the dossier. Only one
iteration of comments on the departmental level review is permitted.
(6) The tenure initiating unit chair shall
forward the dossier with all internal and external evaluations, candidate
comments on the tenure initiating unit review and promotion and tenure
committee and/or chair responses to those comments, if any, to the dean of the
college.
(C) Review
procedures at the college and university level.
(1) The purposes of promotion and tenure
reviews beyond the tenure initiating unit shall be:
(a) To determine whether the tenure
initiating unit has conducted its review and reached a recommendation
consistent with university, college, and tenure initiating unit standards,
criteria, policies, and rules. A faculty review body or administrator at the
college or university level may make a recommendation that is contrary to that
of the tenure initiating unit if, in its judgment, the tenure initiating unit
recommendation is not consistent with those standards, criteria, policies, and
rules.
(b) To determine where the
weight of the evidence lies in cases in which there is not a clear or
consistent recommendation from lower levels of review.
(2) The dean of a college shall have a
standing faculty promotion and tenure committee which is advisory to the dean.
Members shall not participate in the review of cases from their own
departments. The college promotion and tenure committee shall prepare a written
report of its assessment and vote for inclusion in the dossier. The dean shall
prepare a separate written assessment of the case and recommendation for the
provost for inclusion in the dossier. As soon as the college promotion and
tenure committee report and dean's letter have been completed, the candidate
should be notified in writing of the completion of the college level review and
of the availability of these reports. The candidate may request a copy of these
reports. The candidate may provide the dean with written comments on the
college review for inclusion in the dossier within ten calendar days of
notification of the completion of the review. The college promotion and tenure
committee and/or dean may provide written responses to the candidate's comments
for inclusion in the dossier. Only one iteration of comments on the college
level review is permitted. The dean shall forward the dossier, along with all
evaluations and reports, to the provost.
(3) The executive vice president and provost
shall have a standing faculty promotion and tenure committee which is advisory
to the provost. Members shall not participate in the review of cases from their
own departments. Normally, the provost shall refer cases to this committee for
advice only when there is concern regarding the appropriateness of lower level
recommendations, when there are unclear or inconsistent recommendations from
previous levels of review, or when all previous recommendations are negative.
The university promotion and tenure committee shall prepare a written report of
its assessment and vote for inclusion in the dossier.
(D) Modification of review processes for
alternative administrative structures.
(1)
Regional campus faculty shall be reviewed by the faculty and dean and director
on the appropriate campus using procedures established on each campus. This
review shall focus primarily on the faculty member's contributions in teaching
and service. The dean and director shall forward the report of the regional
campus faculty and their recommendation to the chair of the faculty
member's tenure initiating unit and inform the candidate of
their recommendation. The review shall proceed as
described in paragraphs (A) to (C) of this rule with the understanding that the
relative weight of teaching and service is ordinarily greater on regional
campuses.
(2) If the college is the
unit responsible for initiating tenure and promotion recommendations, it should
follow the annual review and promotion and tenure procedures described for
tenure initiating units. The dean shall forward the annual review letter or
promotion and tenure dossier to the executive vice president and
provost.
(3) Schools follow the
procedures established for tenure initiating unit reviews unless they contain
departments that are tenure initiating units. In the latter case, the tenure
initiating unit chair shall forward dossiers to the school director. The
director shall forward the dossier, with their recommendation, to the dean of
the college.
(4) A subdivision
within a tenure initiating unit may contribute to the evaluation of faculty
members as provided for in the tenure initiating unit's appointments,
promotion, and tenure document, but this review may not substitute for a review
by the tenure initiating unit eligible faculty and chair.