Guideline UL-ACG06 Immediate Tenure/Out of Sequence Tenure Review Process

Main Policy Content

Contents:

Initiating the Process
- Immediate Tenure
- Out of Sequence Review
Process

Initiating the Process

Immediate Tenure

Faculty members and academic administrators who hold faculty appointments are eligible for immediate tenure consideration if they meet the broad criteria outlined in “Appendix I: Guidelines for Immediate Tenure Reviews”. The immediate tenure application process is considered when the candidate in question has a tenured appointment at the institution they are leaving. Eligible candidates may not already be under contract. This process is reserved for new faculty appointments and the process must be initiated before the candidate’s start date.

Before beginning the process, hiring managers must consult with the appropriate Promotion and Tenure Department Head and the Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications regarding the candidate’s appropriateness for the immediate tenure application process. The final decision about candidate appropriateness will rest with the Dean. The hiring manager will be responsible for communicating with the candidate about their eligibility for the immediate tenure process.

Out of Sequence Review

When there is a desire to hire a faculty member or academic administrator with a faculty appointment who does not currently have tenure at their home institution, but whose record is deemed worthy of being hired with tenure, the “out-of-sequence” process should be used instead. In these cases, hiring managers must consult with the appropriate Promotion and Tenure Department Head and the Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications regarding the candidate’s appropriateness. The final decision about candidate appropriateness will rest with the Dean. If there is support, the Dean submits an email request to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs requesting an “out-of-sequence” process. A copy of the candidate’s vita should be shared. Discussion between the Dean and VPFA will occur.

After VPFA approval is received, the hiring manager will be responsible for communicating with the candidate about their eligibility for the “out of sequence” process, and the Libraries can initiate the process to request external letters and obtain a narrative statement as the Libraries does with immediate tenure cases.

Out-of-sequence cases are reviewed by the University’s Promotion and Tenure Committee NOT the University’s Immediate Tenure Review Committee. Therefore, the Libraries administrative support staff will upload the dossier to PTORP (Promotion and Tenure Online Reviewing Platform).

The Process (for both Immediate Tenure and Out of Sequence Tenure Review)

A candidate moving forward for immediate tenure/out-of-sequence review must provide a comprehensive vita. This vita should include recent scholarship/creative accomplishments and an up-to-date record of service to the profession. The candidate will also be asked to supply a brief narrative statement that describes their accomplishments in librarianship and their impact on the profession. The appropriate Promotion and Tenure Department Head is responsible for helping the candidate craft this statement. The candidate will be sent some sample narrative statements as a guide. External review letters (rather than recommendation letters written for the search process) will be solicited from appropriate peer reviewers. The candidate will be asked to submit 6 to 8 names of individuals who can provide an independent, unbiased, and fair evaluation of their contributions. These individuals should be external to Penn State and should not have a close academic or personal connection to the candidate. The Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications will solicit all external review letters. A minimum of four external letters are required. Receipt of these external letters may take two to three weeks. Once the external letters are received, the review process takes about 10 weeks.

The Office of the Dean is responsible for organizing review materials. Per guidelines, “To the extent possible, it is expected that the same college and department review committees that were appointed at the beginning of the review process will be reconvened to make recommendations in cases of immediate tenure” (“Appendix I: Guidelines for Immediate Tenure Reviews”).

Tenured faculty members of any rank may serve on these committees. The immediate tenure review process closely parallels policies and procedures outlined in AC23 Promotion and Tenure Procedures and Regulations.