E. The Review Process
By the end of April of each academic year, the Provost’s office will notify candidates, deans, and newly elected Tenure & Promotion college committees of candidates for pre‐tenure review, tenure, and promotion for the following academic year. There is a uniform review process for all colleges. The purpose of the review process is to provide faculty members in tenure‐track positions the opportunity to present evidence of accomplishment in the three areas of evaluation set forth in The University of Tampa Faculty Policies and Procedures Handbook. The performance standards as outlined in Chapter 4 of this handbook (subsections A‐C of Section III Criteria for Faculty Advancement) guide the reviews. (approved March 1, 2013.)
Candidates for pre‐tenure, tenure and promotion must have their materials ready for distribution at the beginning of the review schedule as prescribed in the tenure and promotion calendar presented below.
The dean’s office will provide copies of grade distributions, course evaluations, and student comments to the candidate, if needed. Guidelines for the composition of review materials are also found below. One electronic copy of the materials must be submitted to the dean’s office and the dean’s office must disseminate the material to the department and college committee members as soon as possible.
After the due date for the portfolio, candidates may add (newly available) supplementary materials, such as publications, book contracts, updated student course surveys, or creative works performed or exhibited, but candidates may neither re-write nor alter their originally submitted materials. All supplemental and/or requested additional materials will be uploaded by the dean’s office into a separate and dedicated folder on the introductory page of the candidate’s dossier. The dean’s office will notify the chairs of the department and college committees of the uploaded material; the chairs of committees will in turn notify the committee members of their availability. (Approved 2/23/2018)
At no point in the process may non-members of a tenure and promotion committee interject information into the process following submission of the pre-tenure or tenure package (whichever is applicable). Only informatoin that is located in the candidate's dossier may be evaluated. However, at any time during the review process, department committees, the college committees, the dean, the provost, or the president of the University, may request materials from any source that is directly related to the criteria used to evaluate faculty performance. (Approved 4/29/22)
All requests must be made through the Dean’s office. (Approved 2/23/2018)
The candidate must receive an electronic copy of any request for additional information and must receive electronic copies of any material received. In addition, after the electronic material is sent to the candidate, and if the material is not already a part of an official record to which the candidate has already responded, the candidate has three business days from the date it was sent to address the contents of the requested material and send his/her electronic response to the chair of the proper T&P committee and the Dean’s office for inclusion in the portfolio. The chair will ensure that the committee’s request, the requested material, and the candidate’s response are placed in an electronic file folder, clearly identified as requested or supplementary information, on the introductory page within the candidate’s electronic portfolio. (Approved 2/23/2018)
T&P committee(s) or administration official(s) that reviewed the portfolio prior to the addition of any supplementary material will be given access to 1) any materials added to the dossier, whether by the candidate or at the request of an evaluator and 2) the recommendations made by all subsequent evaluators. This second provision shall apply in all cases, even if no new information has been entered into the dossier. (Approved 4/29/22)
Finally, deliberations at the department and college levels must be completely confidential
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The purpose of the pre‐tenure process is ultimately to engage faculty in dialogue about expectations and progress in the three areas. This review takes place at the mid‐point in the probationary period. Over and above the annual evaluation process, the pre‐tenure process invites departments and colleges to submit important feedback to candidates.
Junior faculty who have successfully passed through their pre-tenure review will be offered a one-course offload to pursue the recommendations and/or suggestions made in their pre-tenure letters covering, but not limited to, efforts related to pedagogy (such as in class improvement, new curricular proposals), service and scholarship. This one-time offload will be arranged through mutual agreement with the faculty member, department chair and dean. These junior faculty will not be eligible to apply for additional course release time through the Professional Development Award (PDA) during the balance of their probationary (pre-tenure) period.
The departmental review committee may recommend to the college committee a one‐year terminal contract if a faculty member is determined not to be making sufficient or satisfactory progress toward tenure.
The college committee may recommend to the dean and provost a one‐year terminal contract if a faculty member is determined not to be making sufficient or satisfactory progress toward tenure. In such a case the faculty member would be notified by March 15th of the year in which pre‐tenure review takes place. (approved 1/24/2014)
- The Tenure Review Process
Most faculty members will be eligible for tenure review at the beginning of the sixth year. The process allows candidates to submit documentation in support of their application for tenure.