Tenure Process FAQ

Appointment starts a standard six-year probationary clock. You're reviewed formally twice along the way: a mid-probationary review in the third year and the full tenure review in the sixth, with the decision taking effect in the seventh. This is set out in the Tenure & Promotion Policy, Section 3 (“Probationary Period”), and summarized in the Faculty Handbook, Chapter 5.

The dossier covers three areas: teaching, research and scholarship, and service. Your department sets how those are weighted, so the balance a research-intensive unit expects reads differently from a teaching-focused one. The specific weighting for your unit lives in the Department Bylaws, and the Dossier Guidelines describe what belongs in each section, from teaching evaluations and a research statement to your record of committee and community service.

In the final year, the Tenure & Promotion Policy requires letters from external reviewers, scholars at peer institutions who assess your research independently. From there the case moves up through the department committee, the chair, the dean, and finally the provost, each adding a recommendation. The External Review Process document explains how reviewers are selected and what they are asked to evaluate.

Worth knowing early: the Faculty Handbook allows stop-the-clock provisions that pause the probationary period for qualifying family or medical leave, so the six-year timeline can be extended without those years counting against your review.

How all of this applies to your own record, where your dossier stands and what your department will emphasize, is a conversation for your department chair and the Office of Faculty Affairs, who advise on individual cases. Joy can explain the process; the tenure decision itself rests with the review committees and the provost.