SD 06-07 Revisions to Tenure Procedures - Approved 15-January 2003

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Senate Document 06-07

Faculty Affairs Committee

For Discussion

April 5, 2006

Approved May 3, 2006

TO: Faculty Senate

FROM: Faculty Affairs Committee

RE: Revisions to Tenure Procedures at Purdue University Calumet

The Faculty Affairs Committee requests the approval of the Faculty Senate of the Revisions to Tenure Procedures at Purdue University Calumet. The attached document was prepared by the Task Force on Promotion and Tenure, and reviewed and approved by the Faculty Affairs Committee on March 22, 2006.

Approved:

A. Gregory (chair)

M. Dakich

M. Fathizadeh

M. Marthaler

B. Pai

D. Rinke

Disapproved:

Absent:

L. Hollingsworth

Approved 3-May 2006

Tenure Procedures at Purdue University Calumet

I. INTRODUCTION. This document specifies the procedures that shall be used for granting tenure to faculty at Purdue University Calumet. It is intended that this document be consistent with President’s Executive Memoranda B-48, B-50 and successor documents. Individual schools and departments may adopt additional policies concerning tenure that are consistent with this document. The schools at Purdue University Calumet referred to in this document are:

School of Education

School of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science

School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

School of Management

School of Nursing

School of Technology

Tenure at Purdue University Calumet can be granted only by the Board of Trustees, and this document governs only the procedures by which a faculty member should, under normal circumstances, be recommended to the Board for tenure.

II. ELIGIBILITY. This document applies to all untenured, tenure-track faculty. The procedures guiding the awarding of tenure immediately upon being hired are the same. A request that a candidate be hired by the University with tenure will be cause to convene the relevant primary promotion committee, which will review the candidate’s credentials and then vote on a recommendation to either: (1) award tenure or (2) not award tenure. The secondary tenure committee shall then do likewise.

III. PROBATIONARY PERIOD. All untenured, tenure-track faculty must either be granted tenure or terminated by the end of a period of seven years for instructors and assistant professors, four years for associate professors, and three years for full professors, counted from the effective date of the contract on which the candidate first becomes tenure-track. The year before the final year of this probationary period is known as the candidate’s penultimate year. Because one year’s notice must normally be given for termination, a decision to tenure or terminate usually must be made by the end of the candidate’s penultimate year.

IV. TENURE THROUGH PROMOTION. Tenure is automatically granted upon promotion to either associate professor or full professor.

V. COMMITTEES. In order to be recommended for tenure outside the promotion process, a candidate must normally be recommended by two committees. These committees may also recommend termination. It is preferable that no one serve as a member of more than one of these committees. All votes to recommend candidates by these committees shall be taken by secret ballot. The deliberations of all committees must be kept in strictest confidence except as stated explicitly in this document.

The two committees shall be designated as: the primary tenure committee and the secondary tenure committee.

A. PRIMARY TENURE COMMITTEE

The primary tenure committee shall consist of tenured faculty. It should have at least five voting members. The procedure for selecting voting members of the primary tenure committee shall be determined by the faculty of each department or school. Members may come from outside a department or school if there is an insufficient number of members within the department or school.

1. Schools Organized by Department

The department Head shall chair the primary tenure committee without vote, unless the department Head is untenured, in which case the Head may not serve on the committee. If the Head in untenured, the committee shall elect a chair. In this case the chair may vote.

2. Schools Not Organized by Departments

The primary tenure committee shall elect its own Chair who may vote.

B. THE SECONDARY TENURE COMMITTEE

There shall be at least five voting members of the secondary tenure committee, all of them tenured faculty. The Dean of each respective school shall chair the school's secondary tenure committee without vote. The procedure for selecting the other members of the secondary tenure committee, both voting and non-voting, shall be determined by the faculty of each school, with at least one voting member from each constituent department of a school with departments (The Library shall be considered a department of the school of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences).

VI. PROCEDURE

A. Primary Tenure Committee

Each year the primary tenure committees shall review the progress towards tenure of all untenured, tenure-track faculty. The procedure shall begin after the preparation of documents by the candidate(s). Candidates are encouraged to seek guidance from senior colleagues well in advance of submission when preparing their documents. The primary tenure committee may also establish formal procedures for helping candidates prepare documents prior to their evaluation. These documents will be considered by the primary tenure committee, which must vote for one of the following three recommendations: (1) tenure, (2) continued tenure-track status, or (3) termination, except during the candidate’s penultimate year, when the primary tenure committee must vote for one of the following two recommendations: (1) tenure or (2) termination. In those cases where the committee has voted to recommend continued tenure-track status, it may also vote on the candidate’s level of progress towards tenure, as determined by school policy. A simple majority of the primary tenure committee shall be necessary for recommendation of the candidate for tenure, continued tenure-track status, or termination.

Following the vote, the primary tenure committee shall prepare a written evaluation of the candidate, which must include a record of the vote.

1. Schools Organized by Departments

The written evaluation shall be forwarded to the department head and the dean. The department head also shall forward a separate recommendation to the dean, except in those cases in which the department head is untenured. If the department head is untenured, only the written evaluation of the primary promotion committee shall go forward.

2. Schools Not Organized by Departments

The written evaluation of the primary tenure committee shall be forwarded to the dean.

After the vote of the primary tenure committee, the chair of the committee shall meet with the candidate in a timely manner to inform the candidate by memorandum of the recommendations of the committee and the Head (where appropriate). If either the Head or the committee has forwarded a recommendation to terminate, then the chair of the primary tenure committee must inform the candidate that the candidate has the right to appear before the secondary tenure committee or else to submit a personal statement to the secondary tenure committee. A candidate’s failure to do either shall not be considered by the secondary tenure committee in its deliberations, and the chair of the primary tenure committee must inform the candidate of this fact as well. Additional feedback may be given to the candidate, but only as determined by department/school policy.

B. Secondary Tenure Committee

The secondary tenure committee shall review all candidates considered by its subsidiary primary committees, with the exception of those with five or more years remaining in their probationary periods who have been recommended by their respective primary tenure committees for continued tenure-track status. The documents to be considered by the secondary tenure committee shall consist of each of the candidate’s documents as voted on by the primary tenure committee, the written evaluation of the primary tenure committee, and, where appropriate, the recommendation of the department Head. As with the primary tenure committee, the secondary tenure committee must vote for one of the following recommendations: (1) tenure, (2) continued tenure-track status, or (3) termination except in a candidate’s penultimate year when the committee must vote for one of the following recommendations: (1) tenure or (2) termination. In those cases where the committee has voted to recommend continued tenure-track status, it may also vote on the candidate’s degree of progress towards tenure, as determined by school policy. A simple majority of the secondary tenure committee shall be necessary for recommendation of the candidate for any of tenure, continued tenure-track status, or termination.

Following the vote, the secondary tenure committee shall prepare a written evaluation of the candidate, which must include the vote. The Dean shall also prepare a separate evaluation for each candidate. In those cases in which a candidate has been recommended for either tenure or termination, the evaluations of both committee and Dean shall be forwarded to the Chancellor. After the vote of the committee, the Dean shall meet in a timely manner with each candidate considered by the school to inform the candidate by memorandum of the recommendations of both the Dean and the committee.

C. Chancellor

Following the deliberations of the secondary tenure committee on those cases recommended for tenure, the Chancellor shall transmit the committee’s recommendation, along with a separate evaluation by the Chancellor, to the Provost. The Provost shall make a recommendation to the President, who in turn shall makes a recommendation to the Board of Trustees, which shall make the final decision. Cases recommended by the secondary tenure committee for continued tenure-track status or termination shall be forwarded to the Chancellor, who shall makes the final decision.