Promotion and Tenure

Below is a general overview of Promotion and Tenure based on information found in the Faculty Code 24-54, Executive Order No. V, and Academic Human Resources. Please consult those sources directly for full requirements and details.

Promotion and Tenure Overview

There are two kinds of promotion and tenure actions: mandatory and non-mandatory:

Mandatory Promotion and Tenure

Mandatory reviews include assistant professors (tenure track, WOT, research, clinical-dental pathway, APL), Associate Professor Tenure Track, and Professor Tenure Track in the mandatory year of review.

Calculating Mandatory Reviews for Assistant Professors (tenure track, WOT, and Research): These faculty titles require a mandatory second year review for reappointment, and a mandatory sixth-year review for promotion or promotion and tenure. An active appointment length of six (6) months or more in an academic year will count as one year in determining the mandatory review schedule. To determine when the review should occur, please reference this useful chart from College of Engineering Human Resources. Note that the second and sixth years of service may not actually be the faculty member’s mandatory review years due to possible leave, promotion/tenure clock extensions, or part-time schedules, so it’s important to check for those possible changes to the faculty member’s mandatory review years.

Non-Mandatory Promotion and Tenure

Non-mandatory considerations include promotions to the Associate Professor level prior to the mandatory review year; recommendations for an award of tenure only to an individual appointed in the WOT or Research tracks; associate professor tenure track or professor tenure track prior to their mandatory review year; promotions to the Professor level, promotions for Teaching Faculty, and promotions in the Lecturer ranks; and affiliate faculty promotions. These promotions are considered non-mandatory since they are elective and no timeline is imposed upon a faculty member for that election.

Steps to Promotion and Tenure in the College of the Environment

There are four steps to the promotion and tenure process in the College:

A department/school faculty recommendation
An independent recommendation by the Chair/Director
A recommendation by the Dean with the advice of the elected College Council
A final decision by the Provost and President.

Documentation Tips

Assembling the Promotion and Tenure dossier can be a time-consuming process. It is important for faculty members and units to start as early as possible and to work together to submit the complete file to the College by the deadlines. Faculty members and units should review Academic Human Resources guidance on assembling a Promotion/Tenure record, including a Promotion and Tenure Checklist and Promotion and Tenure Guidelines carefully to make sure they understand what documentation to submit for review.

Responsibilities: Faculty members are responsible for assembling their promotion files and are to be allowed to include in their files any materials they think should be considered during the review, including their self-assessment (per Faculty Code 24-54). The unit is responsible for securing external reviews, conducting the internal review, providing the candidate with the required summaries and opportunities to respond to them, conducting the faculty vote, writing a separate Chair/Director analysis of the candidate, assembling the entire package (faculty member materials and unit generated materials), and submitting it to the Dean’s office by the deadlines.

Teaching evaluations: Faculty Code 24-57 requires that both student and peer evaluations of teaching be considered as part of the promotion and tenure process (not applicable for Research track faculty). It is therefore vitally important that units ensure that every Assistant Professor has at least one peer teaching evaluation per academic year, and every Associate and Full Professor has at least one peer evaluation every three academic years. Additionally, a peer evaluation of teaching MUST be conducted during the year prior to promotion and tenure consideration, whether mandatory or non-mandatory. Units should keep good records of these peer evaluations for eventual inclusion in promotion and tenure files. Please document who did the evaluation, date of evaluation, class evaluated, and that a discussion occurred with the faculty member being evaluated. A good Example Peer Teaching Evaluation – SAFS. **Without peer teaching evaluations, the College Council and Dean will not be able to make a recommendation and the file will not be reviewed.** Each faculty member must have at least one student course evaluation for every year in which a course is taught. These evaluations should include both quantitative course ratings and qualitative comments from summary reports and be arranged in chronological order.

Required Documentation

For tenure-track, WOT, teaching, and research faculty, please reference the University’s Promotion and Tenure Checklist for a list of what documents to include and the sequence in which they should be included in the promotion and tenure file. For affiliate appointments, please use the Affiliate Faculty Promotion & Tenure Checklist. The appropriate checklist must be included as the first page of the promotion/tenure packet, with each item and sub-item checked off as submitted.

Completed files should be submitted to the College of the Environment Academic HR email address envhr@uw.edu prior to respective deadlines listed below. Please submit a single PDF for each candidate’s materials, as described on the submissions page. Send any publications or other supplemental documents as a separate PDF. All materials included in the electronic P&T record will be reviewed.

Deadlines

Please submit materials to the Dean’s Office according to the following annual due dates:

November 1 – Recommendations for mandatory promotion and tenure cases
November 15 – Recommendations for non-mandatory promotion and tenure cases
January 15 – Recommendations for affiliate promotions

In order to meet university deadlines, departments/schools should begin appropriate review activities and the collection of necessary documentation during Spring Quarter of the year prior to mandatory review.

College of the Environment