Tenure and Promotion Procedures

This document summarizes the procedures to be followed by Assistant and Associate Professors in tenure and promotion considerations in the Faculty of Mathematics. The relevant UW policy is Policy 77 (Tenure and Promotion of Faculty Members).

General Considerations

Tenure

A faculty member holding a second probationary-term appointment is entitled to formal consideration for tenure, which normally occurs during the second year of the second probationary term. However, the candidate may choose to postpone consideration until the third year. Service beyond the second probationary term is possible only if tenure has been granted.

In exceptional circumstances, for instance where extensive experience was acquired prior to the probationary appointment at UW, an individual may be considered for tenure earlier than the second year of the second probationary appointment. Such early consideration requires the agreement in advance of the candidate and the Department Tenure and Promotion Committee (DTPC), plus the written agreement of the Dean. If either the DTPC or the Faculty Tenure and Promotion Committee (FTPC) recommends against tenure, early tenure consideration shall cease and the candidate must wait for tenure consideration until the final year of the second probationary-term appointment.

Promotion to Professor

In principle, a tenured Associate Professor may apply in any year for promotion to Professor; however, it is unusual for such a promotion to occur prior to five years of full-time service in the rank of Associate Professor. If an application for promotion is unsuccessful, the candidate becomes eligible to reapply two years thereafter.

Timetable

The University Tenure and Promotion Committee (UTPC) meets, usually in late February, to consider all tenure and promotion recommendations. This Committee is chaired by the Vice- President, Academic and Provost, and is advisory to the President on individual tenure and promotion cases, and on the comparability of standards across the University. Tenure recommendations require approval by the Board of Governors, usually at a meeting in early April.  (Avenues for appeal of the decisions of the President are outlined in Policy #77.)

Selection of Referees

External opinions of a candidate's scholarly contributions are sought in all tenure and promotion cases. Care should be taken to select referees who are experts of international academic stature in the candidate's research areas, and who are both external to UW and at arm’s length from the candidate and the department.  Normally, referees should be at a rank of Full Professor or equivalent.

The procedure for choosing external referees is as follows:

1. The candidate submits a list of possible referees together with completed referee information sheets. Informal contacts with potential external referees by the Department Chair, DTPC or FTPC members, or the candidate are inappropriate.
2. The DTPC considers the candidate's list of referees and normally suggests additional names. After consulting with the Dean, the Chair informs the candidate of the pool of potential referees. The candidate may challenge, in writing to the DTPC, a potential referee for bias, apprehension of bias, perceived conflict of interest or unsuitability. If the DTPC and the candidate do not agree on the pool of potential referees, at least half of the referees contacted must be from those approved by the candidate.  The Chair documents the interaction with the candidate about the pool of referees.
3. The DTPC chooses referees to be contacted (normally at least five). The names of the referees to be approached will not be released to the candidate.
4. The Chair will discuss the choice of referees with the Dean. Letters soliciting comments from referees are sent by the Dean. Referees are sent copies of this policy along with the candidate’s CV and publications. They are asked to assess the candidate's scholarly work and, if possible, to compare it with the scholarly achievements of others recently tenured or promoted at their own institutions or others of similar standing.

Outline of Candidate's Brief

The preparation of the candidate's brief is the responsibility of the candidate, who should consult with the Chair to ensure that it is complete in all respects before it is submitted to the DTPC. 

1. PERSONAL DATA

• Name, department
• All degrees, dates, universities, dissertation titles
• Complete employment record, including visiting appointments, etc.
• Awards and honours received.

2. RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP

• Areas of interest
• Publications:
  • Include full authorship as listed in the publication. Explain conventions used for order of authors in multiply authored papers. Give explicit page numbers, or number of manuscript pages for accepted and submitted papers. The candidate should comment explicitly on contributions to joint publications (the names of co-authors who were graduate students at the time a paper was written should be marked with (*), and PDFs with (**)).  Lifetime summary of publications table should be at the beginning of publication section. 

    List by category as follows:

    • articles submitted (listed separately from those accepted or published)
    • articles in refereed journals
    • articles in refereed conference proceedings
    • chapters in books
    • books
    • other publications
  • Example:

•             Invited addresses at conferences (year, conference, title)
•             Grant record (year, amount, granting agency)

3. TEACHING ACTIVITIES

• Courses taught in past five years (title, level, approximate class size)
• Curriculum development
• Thesis supervision (name, program, supervision period, thesis title). 

• Other student supervision (masters essays, special projects, etc.)

• Thesis examination (year, name, degree, university)

Lifetime summary of graduate student supervision and PDFs table should be at the beginning of thesis supervision section.  Example:

4. SERVICE

• Committees (period, name, role)
• Administrative appointments (period, title)
• Other University service
  • high school liaison, student advising, course coordination, etc.
  • direction of research laboratories
  • administrative involvement with centres and institutes
• Community service (optional)

5. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

• Society memberships and positions held
• Editorial positions
• Conference organization
• Refereeing and reviewing for journals (name, frequency)
• Consulting and technology transfer activities

6. CANDIDATE'S STATEMENT (1-2 pages)

The candidate's statement should give a personal overview of the candidate's strengths, accomplishments, and future plans in teaching, scholarship, and service. The statement should include a list of a subset (no more than 10) of papers the candidate considers his/her most important, and provide commentary on their significance and impact. Evidence of the impact of the candidate's scholarly work can include references to the work by leading researchers in the field, citation indices, and invitations to speak at major conferences. Similarly, the statement should highlight contributions in teaching, curriculum development, student supervision, administration, etc. that the candidate feels are particularly significant.

Outline of the Case File

The case file for submission to the FTPC is prepared by the Chair and the DTPC. It consists of the Candidate's Brief, additional materials considered by the DTPC, and the Chair's covering memorandum. 

1. SUMMARY REPORT FORM (.DOCX)
2. CHAIR'S COVERING MEMORANDUM (1-2 pages) & PERFORMANCE REVIEW TABLE
   • Membership of the DTPC
   • Brief employment history of the candidate, pointing out any exceptional considerations or special arrangements at the time of employment.
   • Summary of the DTPC’s assessment of the candidate in:
     • Scholarship:
       • If applicable, include comments concerning any unusual aspects of the referee selection process, possibly including candidate's objections to any referees chosen. Include possible comments on the candidate’s contributions to joint publications, and explain the significance of comparisons by referees to others in the field. For disciplines in which conference proceedings have particular significance, please explain the importance of these publications with detailed commentary.
     • Teaching:
       • Include an explanation of how to interpret student questionnaire results, and a description of how various aspects of teaching effectiveness are evaluated; include commentary on student supervision, assessing both quantity and quality.
     • Service.
   • Recommendation of the DTPC, including the voting record and explanation of negative votes.
   • Copies of all written assessments within the department made of candidates are not necessary unless deemed relevant by the Chair for a particular reason.
   • Provide DTPC Attestation paragraph at end of memo, prior to signatures of DTPC members:  “I acknowledge that I received a copy of the memo ….”
   • Include annual performance rating table after Chair’s memo [teaching, research, service, overall; 0-2 scale] last five years (or years since last promotion or tenure).
3. CV & CANDIDATE’S BRIEF
4. DOCUMENTATION ON SCHOLARSHIP
   • Information sheets for external referees.
     • Indicate whether the candidate or committee suggested the referee by putting an “X” in the box.  If a referee declines or does not respond, the information sheet is not to be included.
   • Letters from external referees.
     • If the referee did not sign their letter, then attach the e-mail in which the letter was sent with.   The e-mail will be put right before the letter.
     • Other materials (internal evaluations, copies of reviews, etc.). Where there is a significant amount of joint work with a co-author, a statement concerning relative contributions should be obtained from the co-author. If the research is interdisciplinary, opinions should be sought from individuals in other departments who are qualified to comment on parts of the work.
5. PEER TEACHING
   • Include evaluations from other faculty members who sit in the candidate’s class and evaluate them.  When faculty begin their 2^nd probationary term, it might be an idea to have their courses evaluated that year, in case they are not teaching in the fall term in the year that they decide to go forward for promotion and tenure.
6. DOCUMENTATION ON TEACHING
   • Table of student course evaluations by course for the last 5 years (or years since last promotion or tenure); include meaningful interpretive information.   The course evaluations themselves need not be included unless they are from another faculty (ie. Engineering) or if the Chair feels it necessary to include one for a particular reason.
   • If letters from former students are included, the procedure used to solicit these responses should be explained.