Composition of Promotion Committees

This document clarifies and expands upon the University’s guidelines and requirements for promotion and tenure committees.

Definitions

Member— someone who is allowed to both participate in and vote upon deliberations of the committee

Participant—one who is allowed to participate in deliberations of the committee but who has no voting privileges.

Unit Administrator—a unit administrator who makes an individual recommendation on a candidate. 

Departmental/School Committee Composition Guidelines

1. The committee shall have at least three members.
2.  The department chair and the representative to the all campus tenure and promotion committee may not vote in the departmental/school committee. Voting eligibility is further restricted by the rank the candidate is seeking:
   • Senior Lecturer—Tenured faculty, senior lecturers, and Teaching Professors may vote
   • Teaching Professor—Tenured faculty and Teaching Professors may vote. In addition, at least 1/3 of committee must be at the rank of full professor.
   • Clinical Faculty—Any tenured faculty on any level and clinical ranked faculty at or above the rank being sought may vote
   • Associate Professor—Tenured faculty may vote
   • Full Professor— Tenured faculty may vote. In addition, at least 1/3 of committee must be at the rank of full professor.
3. Participation among non-voting members is allowed as follows:
   • Unit Administrator—May not participate
   • Departmental Committee representative to the Campus Wide Committee— May observe but not participate
   • Full time faculty member of the department—May participate at school’s discretion
4. Eligibility for voting for tenure is the same as eligibility for voting for promotion to Associate Professor.
5. The committee should, as much as possible, have at least one member who shares an area of appointment or expertise with the candidate.  For example, a candidate in Communication Arts shall have at least one member who is appointed in Communication Arts, or at least is seen as having expertise in a substantially similar area of expertise.
6. If the Promotion & Tenure Committee Chair determines that outside members are needed to complete the review, the committee chair, in consultation with the Dean and the Candidate, will solicit appropriate membership. The original Promotion & Tenure Committee will then vote to accept or reject the suggested additional members
7. In the case where outside members are sought, emeritus faculty of the department, tenured faculty from other departments on the IU Kokomo Campus, the IU system, or other campuses shall be considered, as appropriate.

Approved by Faculty Senate, 3/8/2010

Campus-level Committee Guidelines

Campus-level Promotion and Tenure Committee

The Faculty Senate shall have a campus Promotion and Tenure Committee. Notwithstanding Section 1.2 of the Faculty Senate Bylaws, faculty members without tenure may not be elected to the Campus Promotion and Tenure Committee and if all the tenured faculty members in any unit have an administrative appointment, a tenured faculty member with an administrative appointment may represent that unit on the promotion and Tenure Committee provided that the person's administrative position does not make a separate recommendation on promotion or tenure of a candidate from that unit. The Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs may participate as ex-officio, nonvoting committee member to manage the paperwork and clarify policies and procedures. This committee shall be responsible for reviewing the dossiers of tenure-track candidates for promotion or tenure in a manner consistent with the Indiana University Faculty Handbook and any criteria the Faculty Senate establishes for promotion and tenure.

All members must have access to all dossiers for their respective committee. Meetings of the committee shall be in executive session. Members of the committee may not participate or vote by proxy. The Committee members (1) will read and collectively evaluate each completed dossier on the basis of contract criteria, including the recommendations of the School Promotion and Tenure Committee, and the School Dean. (2) Only members who fully participated in the committee deliberations are eligible to vote. The recommendation of the respective committees will be sent to the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, with a copy to the candidate, which will include a written, comprehensive, and detailed rationale for the recommendation. The letter will also include a numerical tabulation of the votes on the long-term contract.

Campus-level Promotion Committee (Non-Tenure-Track)

The Faculty Senate shall also have a campus Promotion Committee Non-Tenure-Track. Faculty members who have been promoted at least once in a non-tenure-track position may be elected to serve on the Campus Promotion Committee Non-Tenure-Track. Faculty with an administrative appointment should abstain from serving unless all promoted faculty members in any unit have an administrative appointment.  A promoted faculty member with administrative appointment may represent that unit on the Promotion Committee provided that the person's administrative position does not make a separate recommendation on promotion of a candidate from that unit. The Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs may participate as ex-officio, nonvoting member of the committee to manage the paperwork and to clarify policies and procedures. This committee shall be responsible for reviewing the dossiers of non-tenure track candidates for promotion in a manner consistent with the Indiana University Faculty Handbook and any criteria the Faculty Senate establishes for promotion.

The committee composition will be composed of senior rank non-tenure-track faculty. To transition from one committee into two committees, composition for the new Promotion Committee (Non-Tenure-Track) should be as follows: Current Promotion and Tenure Committee to loan two experienced members to sit on the committee, one to serve as chair for two years. Following the two-year transition, the Promotion Committee (Non-Tenure-Track), composed completely of non-tenured senior faculty, will serve alongside the original Promotion and Tenure Committee to review dossiers for promotion for their respective tracks.

All members must have access to all dossiers for their respective committee. Meetings of the committee shall be in executive session. Members of the committee may not participate or vote by proxy. The Committee members (1) will read and collectively evaluate each completed dossier on the basis of contract criteria, including the recommendations of the School Promotion and Tenure Committee, and the School Dean. (2) Only members who fully participated in the committee deliberations are eligible to vote. The recommendation of the respective committees will be sent to the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, with a copy to the candidate, which will include a written, comprehensive, and detailed rationale for the recommendation. The letter will also include a numerical tabulation of the votes on the long-term contract.

Excerpts from the IU Kokomo Faculty Senate Bylaws 3.9 and 3.16.