Promotion and Tenure
As a faculty member in the College, you are expected to promote our commitment to excellence in teaching, scholarship and service, as well as academic freedom of thought, teaching, learning, inquiry and expression. Our promotion and tenure guidelines conform to VCU’s faculty promotion and tenure policies and procedures of Virginia Commonwealth University, with procedures specific to the College and its programs, and establish and define the standards for appointment, promotion and tenure within the College.
The best judges of a faculty member’s contribution are colleagues both within the university and within the profession. Our guidelines, along with the university and approved departmental guidelines, are designed to facilitate peer evaluation; in doing so, we strive to ensure established standards of faculty performance while protecting the rich blend of unique talents and diverse accomplishments that constitute the core of the College and the university.
What is “third-year review?"
Pre-tenure or pre-promotion review is usually carried out in a faculty member’s sixth semester and is sometimes called third-year review. A review should be completed at least three years prior to applying for tenure or at least two years before applying for their first promotion except in the case of term faculty instructors who are applying for promotion to term faculty assistant professor.
Note from By-Laws
Term faculty members hired at the instructor level will typically be eligible to be considered for promotion after three years of full-time faculty experience at VCU. Exceptions may be granted by the department chair, in consultation with the dean, based on such considerations as prior service at another academic institution, receipt of a terminal degree or exceptional performance. For more details on reviews, see section 3.2.3 of the College of Humanities Sciences P&T Guidelines.
Timelines
Dates are subject to change, but they will generally be within about two days of the listed date.
Third-Year and Pre-Promotion Review Timeline
December 1: Chairs complete the Pre-Promotion Review Form; faculty members undergoing review are given access to Google Drive folders
February 22: Faculty undergoing third-year review complete dossiers; review committees given access to Google Drive folders
April 1: Review committees complete reports and upload them to the Google Drive folder; chairs/directors given access to Google Drive folders
May 1: Chair/director reports completed and uploaded to the Google Drive; chairs/directors meet with faculty members to discuss the reports
Promotion and/or Promotion and Tenure Timeline
The timeline below applies to faculty undergoing evaluation for tenure, for promotion from assistant to associate professor, and for promotion from associate to full professor. A separate timeline for faculty undergoing evaluation for promotion from instructor to assistant professor follows.
April 15: Chairs/directors provide CHS Faculty Affairs with names of candidates/committees
April - May: Peer committee members charged
May 1: Faculty candidates given access to Google Drive folders
May 1 to June 15: For candidates requiring external review, candidates share mini-dossier (scholarship) with committee chairs; external reviewers identified
May 1 to July 15: Committee chairs share candidates’ dossiers with external reviewers for candidates requiring external review
August 16: Candidates finish uploading all materials to Google Drive folder P&T sites
August 17: Peer committee members provided access Google Drive folders
August 17 - August 24 (approximate): Peer committees meet to determine:
- Lead author for sections of the peer committee report
- Committee member who will record meeting minutes
- Committee member who will collect former student feedback (usually a standard format adopted by units)
- Committee member who will solicit colleague’s feedback, especially for committee work
- Committee member(s) who will observe the candidate teaching
August 24 - September 21 (approximate): Peer committees meet to discuss and review the document, feedback and external reviewer letters (where required); writing and editing occurs between meetings
September 15: College P&T Committee charged; they select a committee chair and assign primary report writers and review dates
September 22 - September 30 (approximate):
- Peer committees meet to discuss and review the final draft
- The committee votes using a Google Form; committee members sign the document page using DocuSign
- All supporting materials are uploaded to the Google Drive folder
September 30: Peer committee report, scanned signature page and minutes uploaded to Google Drive folder; peer committee access removed
October 1: Chairs/directors provided access to Google Drive folders
October 14: Chair/director reports uploaded to Google Drive folders
October 15: College P&T Committee provided access to Google Drive folders
November 30: College P&T Committee reports uploaded to Google Drive folders
December 1: Dean provided access to Google Drive folders
January - February: Candidates meet with dean to review the peer committee, chair/director and dean’s reports
Promotion Timeline for Instructor to Assistant Professor (Term Faculty)
April 15: Chairs/directors provide CHS Faculty Affairs with names of candidates and the peer committee members names for departments that require peer committee review for instructors
April - May: Peer committee members charged
May 1: Faculty candidates given access to Google Drive folders
September 30: Candidates finish uploading documents to Google Drive folder
October 1: Peer committee members provided access Google Drive folders
October 1 to October 23 (approximate):
Peer committees meet to determine:
- Lead author for sections of the peer committee report
- Committee member who will record meeting minutes
- Committee member who will collect former student feedback (usually a standard format adopted by units)
- Committee member who will solicit colleague’s feedback, especially for committee work
- Committee member(s) who will observe the candidate teaching
Peer committees meet to discuss candidate’s dossier. Writing and editing occurs between meetings.
October 23 - October 31 (approximate):
- Peer committees meet to discuss and review the final draft
- Committee votes using a Google Form
- Committee members sign the document page using DocuSign
- All supporting materials are uploaded to the Google Drive folder
October 31: Peer committee report, scanned signature page and minutes uploaded to Google Drive folder; peer committee access removed
November 1: Chairs/directors provided access to Google Drive folders
November 30: Chair/director reports uploaded to Google Drive folders
December 1: Dean provided access to Google Drive folders
January - February: Candidates meet with dean to review the peer committee, chair/director and dean’s reports