2008 Woodie Awards
Professors prepare for promotion, tenure
Erica Tuggle
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
A handful of professors prepared for the upcoming promotion and tenure hearings by attending the Oct. 30 session about preparing portfolios.
Karen Adsit, director of the teaching resource center, presided over the session.
By February of a professors sixth year teaching at an institution, the professor prepares a dossier, or detailed portfolio, documenting all aspects of their academic lives over the previous years, Adsit said.
The dossier includes peer evaluations, records of maintaining posted office hours, the development of successful grants, documentation of their advising sessions with students and student evaluations.
A committee of peers, the department head, the dean, the provost, the chancellor and the Board of Trustees must give approval of the professor and the dossier.
Most professors who do not receive tenure do not stay with the university, Adsit said.
"It's an important decision," Adsit said. "The university basically says in giving someone tenure that they have invested in the person and are willing to keep the person."
Professors generally want tenure because it gives them the freedom and protection to conduct research that may be controversial, Adsit said.
The promotion process is similar to the tenure process; it passes through the same committees with a similarly prepared folder and dossier.
In promotion, individuals can move from assistant professor to associate professor to full professor, and can be tenured at any level.
The documentation for these detailed portfolios begin when the professor has negotiated for their years to be promoted upon being hired.
Tracy Jones, assistant professor of geology, said she is up for promotion and tenure this year. She said she advises professors who have this process before them to "keep every single letter from employment."
Jones said before a professor is tenured they have to go up for reappointment every year with documents from the entire year to help focus concentration in preparation for their tenure.
"It is very big. The closest comparison would be a students senior research project," Jones said.
"It's a commitment for the university and an important decision for the individual professor."
According to Jones, students help professors know how to improve and what works and what doesn't, so they can have a successful teaching method for documentation in tenure and promotion.
Professors can reapply for promotion, but tenure is a one-time shot, according to Jones.
Karen Adsit, director of the teaching resource center, presided over the session.
By February of a professors sixth year teaching at an institution, the professor prepares a dossier, or detailed portfolio, documenting all aspects of their academic lives over the previous years, Adsit said.
The dossier includes peer evaluations, records of maintaining posted office hours, the development of successful grants, documentation of their advising sessions with students and student evaluations.
A committee of peers, the department head, the dean, the provost, the chancellor and the Board of Trustees must give approval of the professor and the dossier.
Most professors who do not receive tenure do not stay with the university, Adsit said.
"It's an important decision," Adsit said. "The university basically says in giving someone tenure that they have invested in the person and are willing to keep the person."
Professors generally want tenure because it gives them the freedom and protection to conduct research that may be controversial, Adsit said.
The promotion process is similar to the tenure process; it passes through the same committees with a similarly prepared folder and dossier.
In promotion, individuals can move from assistant professor to associate professor to full professor, and can be tenured at any level.
The documentation for these detailed portfolios begin when the professor has negotiated for their years to be promoted upon being hired.
Tracy Jones, assistant professor of geology, said she is up for promotion and tenure this year. She said she advises professors who have this process before them to "keep every single letter from employment."
Jones said before a professor is tenured they have to go up for reappointment every year with documents from the entire year to help focus concentration in preparation for their tenure.
"It is very big. The closest comparison would be a students senior research project," Jones said.
"It's a commitment for the university and an important decision for the individual professor."
According to Jones, students help professors know how to improve and what works and what doesn't, so they can have a successful teaching method for documentation in tenure and promotion.
Professors can reapply for promotion, but tenure is a one-time shot, according to Jones.
