- All decisions to grant tenure shall follow review of credentials both by
appropriate faculty committees and by administrative officers.
Responsibility for the development and application of specific criteria
for promotion and tenure of individuals rests with each academic unit.
- With the exception of visiting professors and except as otherwise
provided under item 7, tenure is awarded to full professors on initial
appointment or on promotion to this rank.
- Associate professors appointed from outside the University will normally
receive an initial three-year contract without tenure. Reappointments
at this rank, unless terminal, will carry tenure.
Promotion to the rank of associate professor from within the University
will carry tenure.
- Assistant professors are appointed to regular faculty positions for an
initial term of two years without tenure. Reappointments at this rank
are for a two-year term, except for contracts which extend appointments
of assistant professors beyond the sixth year and for terminal
contracts, both of which are for one-year terms. Contracts that extend
reappointments beyond the sixth year will stipulate whether they are to
be terminal or whether they may be renewable on an annual basis. In the
latter case, special justification must be provided by appropriate
faculty committees and administrative officers for each one-year
reappointment.
An untenured faculty member who becomes the parent of a newborn or newly
adopted child may choose to take a one-year extension of the pre-tenure
probationary period for each child, up to a maximum of two years. The
extension shall be granted upon written request to the department chair
or program director, with notification to the Dean of the College and
the Office of the Provost. Faculty who choose this option must indicate
in writing that they have done so in their dossier.
(Rev. 10/7/91)
In special cases, faculty members at the rank of assistant professor may
be granted tenure if the duties and responsibilities of these faculty
members justify such tenure.
- Appointments and reappointments for instructors shall be on annual
contract only.
Tenure is not awarded to instructors.
- For all faculty members appointed to a scholarly track, tenure is
implied as an attainable goal after an initial probationary period.
That probationary period shall normally be no longer than seven years
from the date of first appointment as assistant professor at the
University of Delaware. Tenure decisions should be made as early as
possible within the probationary period.
- Faculty members employed with special nonrecurrent funds whose positions
the University is committed to picking up are eligible for tenure under
the same rules as those applicable to faculty members on regular funds.
In all other cases, Sections 2 through 6 of this policy do not apply.
The eligibility (or ineligibility) for tenure of faculty members
employed with special nonrecurrent funds must be clearly specified on
all copies of the faculty member's contract. In particular, the
contract must carry notations to the effect that the funds are
nonrecurrent. Any commitments made by the University (to the donor of
the special funds or to any other interested party) to pick up the
position when the funds are no longer available must also be noted on
all copies of the faculty member's contract.
Faculty members who are subsequently employed on regular funds become
eligible for tenure consideration and may use in support all previous
years of service at the University in the appropriate category.
- Tenure is granted or withheld solely on the basis of merit as determined
both by appropriate faculty committees and by administrative officers.
- The policy provisions stated above shall apply to both continuous and
discontinuous faculty appointments. (Rev. 10/7/91)
