Departmental Responsibilities


(In colleges, schools, or divisions without departments, all of the requirements for departmental action devolve upon the college or division.)

The department bears the major burden of defining standards, specifying the procedures to be followed in deciding whether the standards are met, and judging the credentials submitted in support of each application for promotion. Minimum requirements for the satisfactory discharge of these departmental responsibilities include:

  1. After approval by the appropriate college committee, dean, the University Committee on Promotions and Tenure, and the Provost (see below), promotion criteria, policies, and practices must be published and distributed to all members of the department, to the appropriate committees and University officials, and to the University Faculty Senate through its Committee on Promotions and Tenure.
  2. Changes in promotion and tenure statements, which should be made only for the most compelling reasons, should first be sent to the appropriate college committee and dean. They should then be forwarded to the University Committee on Promotions and Tenure and to the Provost, both of whom will review the proposals for compliance with general University guidelines and suggest revisions if necessary. Upon acceptance of the revised document, they will sign and date it to signify its approval. Proposed changes to existing statements must be submitted to the University Committee and Provost by March 1 to become effective by September 1.
  3. The specific criteria upon which recommendations are based must be clearly set forth in the formal statement of promotion policies and procedures of the department. The qualities and achievements taken into account by the department in making its decisions have to be explicitly described. The kinds of evidence by which the attainment of the stated criteria is to be judged must also be specified in the published statement, as must the specific weight given the various criteria and the kinds of evidence to be submitted in support of their having been met.
  4. Departmental promotion and tenure procedures must be democratic. Although the application of this principle will obviously vary from department to department, certain ground rules have to be observed. The department's promotion and tenure committee should be constituted and operated in such a fashion that due respect is given to the opinions and advice of all faculty who are at or above the rank to which a candidate seeks promotion. (Departments lacking one or several full professors should solicit participation by full professors from kindred departments whenever a person seeks promotion to that rank.) The committee should also consult with the department chairperson, who should offer counsel but not participate in its final deliberations nor vote on its recommendation. The committee should meet formally and follow recognized procedures.
  5. The department's statement of recommendations and decisions, which should indicate the numerical vote, describe the committee's composition and explain the reasons for the decision, must be transmitted in writing to the candidate and to other individuals and committees reviewing the dossier. When they arise, signed minority opinions may be forwarded as appendices to the committee's recommendations.
  6. The recommendations of the department committee shall be forwarded to the department chairperson, who will review the evidence submitted by the candidate, the report of the committee, and the stated criteria, and make a recommendation supporting or failing to support the candidacy. The chairperson should explain, in writing, the decision to the candidate and to the department committee.
  7. If the department committee and chairperson agree in recommending promotion, or if either or both recommend against promotion but the candidate chooses not to withdraw it, the application goes forward to the college committee and the dean, together with the committee's and the chairperson's recommendations.


March 23, 1995