Full-Time Faculty

GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATION, REAPPOINTMENT, PROMOTION & TENURE

Evaluation Standards for Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure

The evaluation of a faculty member for reappointment, promotion and tenure, shall be based on the candidate’s total academic performance with special attention to teaching effectiveness, scholarship, and service activity outlined in the current curriculum vitae, supporting materials, letters of evaluation (required for appointment, promotion and tenure but not reappointment), and annual evaluations. For appointment, tenure and promotion purposes, examples of the candidate’s work are required.

Annual Faculty Evaluation & Reappointment

At least once each year, members of the SLU faculty other than tenured full professors shall have an annual evaluation conference with their department chair, a member of the department assigned by the department chair, or the School’s Personnel and Budget (P&B) committee. The annual evaluation should be scheduled no later than March 1st. At the conference, the faculty member's total academic performance, professional progress toward promotion and or tenure for that year and cumulatively shall be reviewed. In cases where the department chair is evaluated or is the subject of reappointment, promotion or tenure, the SLU associate dean for academic affairs will designate a full professor on the P&B committee to conduct the department chair’s evaluations.

Within ten (10) working days of the annual evaluation conference, the department chair or designee shall prepare a record of the discussion in memorandum form for inclusion in the faculty member's personal file, and a copy of the memorandum shall be given to the faculty member. If the overall evaluation is unsatisfactory, the memorandum shall so state.

The faculty member shall sign and date an acknowledgement of receipt, may provide a response for inclusion in their file and, if the evaluation is unsatisfactory, may add to the memo a request to appear before the appropriate SLU P&B Committee.

Annual evaluations and any responses shall be included in the faculty member’s personal file. Annual evaluations should be forwarded to the P&B Committee for its review no later than the beginning of the annual leave period of each year.

Assuming a satisfactory review, the P&B committee shall prepare an annual letter of reappointment for each faculty member that shall be forwarded to the SLU Dean for appropriate action and receipt by the faculty member of notification of said action from the Dean no later than December 1st (except for the first reappointment notification which shall be no later than April 1st of the year of the first annual appointment).

Pre-Tenure Review

The Pre-Tenure Year Review Policy is to ensure that each tenure-track faculty member has adequate guidance on the progress he/she is making towards meeting the standards for tenure at SLU. To this end the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs shall review each such faculty member at the end of his or her third year of service.

The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs shall review the personal personnel file of each untenured tenure-track faculty member in the spring of his/her third year of service, following the annual evaluation conducted pursuant to the PSC/CUNY collective bargaining agreement. Thereafter, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs shall meet with the chairperson of the faculty member’s department to discuss the faculty member’s progress. After that meeting, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs shall prepare a memorandum to the department chairperson regarding the faculty member’s progress toward tenure and setting forth recommendations for any additional guidance to be provided to the faculty member.

The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs’s memorandum shall be provided to the faculty member and discussed with him/her by the department chairperson. The department chairperson will report to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs on the substance of the meeting. At the discretion of the faculty member, the faculty member may meet and discuss with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs or jointly the Department Chair and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs the content of the

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs’s memorandum. Following the meeting(s), the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs may, where appropriate, attach an addendum to the memorandum based on the participation of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the meeting or the department chairperson’s report of the meeting to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In accordance with the procedures set forth in the collective bargaining agreement between the University and the Professional Staff Congress, the faculty member shall be asked to initial the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs’s memorandum and addendum, if any, before it is placed in his/her personnel file, and the faculty member shall have the right to include in his/her personnel file any comments he or she has concerning the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs’s memorandum.

Promotion and Tenure Procedures

Faculty members seeking promotion or tenure shall consult their department chair by the end of the fall semester before the year they are to be considered.

By March 1st of the sixth appointment year of a faculty member seeking tenure and by March 1st of a faculty member seeking promotion, faculty members shall submit a current curriculum vitae with supporting material (the tenure and/or promotion file) to the department chair for review by the P&B Committee. The chair or designee may meet with the candidate to suggest revision to the materials before sharing them with the P&B Committee.

By March 1st of the sixth appointment year of a faculty member seeking tenure and by March 1st of a faculty member seeking promotion, faculty members shall submit to the Chairperson lists of

references as outlined below. The Chair and the SLU P & B shall finalize the list of reviewers as outlined below and send out the tenure and/or promotion file to the reviewers by March 31st.

The SLU P & B shall meet during the following September and make a decision by September 30th. The decision is then forwarded to the SLU Dean who must notify the candidate of the Dean’s final decision by December 1st.

Letters of Recommendation (required for appointment, promotion or tenure)

All letters of recommendation should be solicited from scholars or specialists in the candidate’s field from outside The City University of New York, who hold a rank at least equivalent to the action requested. For example, for a promotion to Associate Professor, reviewers should be at the rank of Associate or Full Professor. None of the reviewers should be or have been a collaborator, co-author or dissertation advisor of the candidate, except in cases of appointment of an assistant professor without tenure.

The candidate for promotion and/or tenure shall select two reviewers to be contacted and the department chairperson shall select 3 reviewers to be contacted, in consultation with the SLU P&B. Additional evaluation letters beyond the minimum number may be included.

All recommendation letters should contain a statement describing how the candidate is known to the evaluator; which of the candidate's writings have been read by the evaluator, and how the candidate's work is judged relative to the most important work currently being done in the field.

Academic Appeals Process

The department chair may share the results of SLU P&B committee’s evaluation, but not the specific vote count, with the faculty candidate.

A negative decision by the P&B Committee may be appealed within 30 calendar days of notification to an appeals committee composed of the Chair of the P & B Committee and two faculty members not on the P & B elected by the Governing Council to hear the appeal of a negative decision and to make a recommendation that it sends to the SLU Dean.

If the Dean makes a negative determination of the faculty member’s evaluation for promotion or tenure, the faculty member has the right to appeal that negative decision and subsequently has the right to receive reasons for that negative determination.

All final appointment, reappointment, promotion and tenure decisions are made by the CUNY Board of Trustees on recommendation of the Chancellor. Tenure decisions take effect the following September 1st. Promotion decisions take effect in late August, the day after the faculty-leave period ends in that year, which is the date of reappointment.

MULTIPLE POSITIONS

All full-time faculty members, including faculty members on leaves other than long-term disability leave, must fill out the Multiple Position Report each semester and update the form if changes occur during the semester. The form requires the faculty member to detail activities within and outside of CUNY that are in addition to his/her regular, full-time employment at the college. Compensated and uncompensated activities outside of CUNY require approval of the Department Personnel & Budget Committee, the Department Chairperson and the President. For more information, see Appendix H.