Tenure and/or promotion to associate professor or full professor

 Consideration for tenure and promotion to associate professor normally occurs in the second year of the second probationary appointment, but can be deferred until the final year.

Please refer to University of Waterloo Policy 77 and consult with your chair/director when applying for consideration for promotion to professor.

When a candidate for tenure and/or promotion has a joint appointment, their case will be considered by the Department/School Tenure and Promotion Committee (DTPPC/STPPC) of the department/school in which the faculty member has more than 50% of their appointment. The chair/director of this department/school will request and obtain information from the other chair/director for consideration during the DTPPC/STPPC deliberations.

This page provides a summary of the requirements and timelines of typical proceedings for tenure and/or promotion within the Faculty of Health. To prepare, please visit the dossier links provided below or contact the Administrator, Faculty Relations and Appointments.

Candidate responsibilities

• By May 1, the candidate must consult with the chair/director and confirm in writing whether they would like to proceed. Candidates can request deferment of consideration, except when policy dictates an individual must be considered for tenure and/or promotion.
• By June 1, the candidate must submit the following documentation to the chair/director in electronic format ( PDF files): 
  • Candidate statement
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Teaching dossier
  • External referees
  • Peer evaluations
  • three to five reprints/published articles
• By July 25, the candidate will review the pool of potential external referees and provide any objections in writing to the chair/director.

Department/School Tenure and Promotion Committee (DTPPC/STPPC) responsibilities

• By April 1, the chair/director will notify faculty members who are eligible for tenure and/or promotion.
• By May 15, the chair/director will co-ordinate peer evaluations of the candidate's teaching activities.
• By June 1, the DTPPC/STPPC will be established. The first task of the DTPPC/STPPC is to determine whether any of its members have a potential conflict of interest due to a close association with a candidate. The dean, and delegate, will be notified of:
  • DTPPC/STPPC membership
  • recommended members for the Faculty Tenure and Promotion Committee (FTPPC)
  • candidates going forward for tenure and/or promotion
• By June 20, the DTPPC/STPPC will meet to review candidate submissions and compile a list of DTPPC/STPPC recommended external referees.
• By July 15:
  • The DTPPC/STPPC will compile a proposed ranked list of external referees, along with completed External Referee Information Sheet (available at Provost's Office Forms and Templates). This list must consist of at least: three referees suggested by the candidate, three suggested by the DTPPC/STPPC and dean, and two international referees.
  • The chair/director will ensure there are no potential conflicts of interest between the candidate and the proposed external referees. If it could be perceived that a close association exists between the candidate and an external referee, an appropriate explanation must be included on the External Referee Information Sheet in the Relationship to the Candidate section. For example, the candidate accepted an invitation to give a research seminar in the external referee's department, but no collaborative relationship exists.
  • The chair/director will submit the proposed ranked list to the dean, who may add or remove potential referees.
  • The chair/director will then send the pool of potential external referees to the candidate.
• By August 1, the chair/director will send the candidate statement, curriculum vitae, reprints/published articles, and ranked list of potential external referees to the dean. This final list is kept confidential.
• By November 1, the DTPPC/STPPC will meet, assess, and vote on each candidate's case for tenure and/or promotion.
• By November 15, the chair/director will compile the DTPPC/STPPC recommendation, share with the DTPPC/STPPC members and receive signed approval.
• By November 20, the chair/director, with the DTPPC/STPPC approval, will:
  • inform the candidate in writing of the outcome of DTPPC/STPPC decision
  • upload the tenure and/or promotion file (including their recommendation, annual performance review and peer teaching evaluations) to the SharePoint site for the FTPPC to review
  • destroy DTPPC/STPPC committee member files and remove access to electronic copies

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Dean's Office responsibilities

• By March 1, the dean, or delegate, will forward a list of faculty members who must be considered for tenure and/or promotion to each chair/director.
• By August 1, the dean, or delegate, will contact potential external referees (ideally all from different institutions) by email to determine if they are willing to assess the candidate's scholarly work. A record of the response, including reasons for refusal, will be kept. An official letter, along with copies of UWaterloo's tenure and promotion policies, candidate's reprints, curriculum vitae, and candidate statement, will be sent by email to each external referee that agrees to provide an assessment. If there has been an extension to the tenure clock, an explanatory paragraph will be included in the official letter.
• By October 8, the dean's office will follow-up with any pending assessments from the external referees.
• By October 15, external referee letters are received and forwarded to the department/school. These letters are kept confidential.
• By January 15 the following year, the FTPPC will meet, assess, and vote on each candidate's case for tenure and/or promotion. The dean, with the FTPPC approval, will:
  • inform the candidate in writing of the outcome of FTPPC decision
  • upload the tenure and promotion file, including the FTPPC recommendation, to the SharePoint site for the President and University Tenure and Promotion Committee (UTPPC) to review
  • destroy FTPPC committee member files and remove access to electronic copies
• By March 1 the following year, the President, with the advice of the UTPPC, will consider each candidate's case. If the President decides in favour of promotion, the President shall inform the candidate.

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Documentation

Candidate statement

The candidate must provide a signed statement (limit to three pages) outlining their major strengths, contributions and accomplishments in the three areas of teaching, research and service. It is important that the candidate include evidence of impact and effectiveness in both research and teaching. As well, the candidate must include the number of full-time years teaching at Waterloo and any other institution(s).

The candidate must collaborate with the chair/director to ensure that the document is complete in all respects before it is submitted to the Department/School Tenure and Promotion Committee (DTPPC/STPPC).

Evidence of research impact may include:

• references in citation indices
• references to the candidate's work by leading researchers in the field
• publications in leading journals
• sole authorship
• invitations to speak at major conferences
• election to and awards received from professional and disciplinary societies

Similarly, evidence of impact and effectiveness in teaching and service should be provided by drawing attention to areas where the candidate has made particularly innovative contributions to teaching or has achieved significant positive influence on curriculum development. Evidence should be provided for the full spectrum of teaching activities (e.g., undergraduate lectures, graduate seminars, contributions to project and thesis supervision, oral and thesis examinations, clinical supervision and instruction). The candidate should also make note of significant administrative activities that have been undertaken (e.g., membership on government or professional committees, editing a professional society journal).

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Curriculum vitae

Candidates must submit a curriculum vitae in the Faculty of Health format.

Special attention should be paid to the listing of publications, contracts, and research grants. Clearly identify the contribution made by the candidate to multiple authored papers. Committee members are looking for evidence of research leadership and personal contributions in collaborative research programs. This can be included as an explanatory page preceding the references lists in the curriculum vitae or in the candidate statement.

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Teaching dossier

Candidates for a second probationary term must submit a teaching dossier for the time they have been at the University of Waterloo.

Candidates for tenure and promotion must submit a teaching dossier for the past five years.

Please contact your department/school administrator to confirm the information to be included in your teaching dossier, such as:

• whether it is a graduate or undergraduate course
• approximate class size
• term(s) taught
• course outlines (for DTPPC/STPPC use only)
• course and instructor evaluation ratings, along with meaningful interpretive information (e.g., comparative ranking within a unit)

The teaching dossier should include the following sections:

• Teaching Responsibilities
• Statement of Teaching Philosophy
• Strategies Used to Teach Effectively
• (if applicable) Scholarship
• Educational Leadership (required for promotion to Professor, Teaching Stream)
• Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness
• Goals in Future Teaching along with Appendices

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