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Promotion and Tenure

Full details about faculty appointments and promotion guidelines are on the UGA Provost’s Office website.

In any year, a department head/dean may determine not to extend a contract to a non-tenured faculty member. This determination may be made following a recommendation to the head by the unit faculty, consistent with the department and the PTU’s written criteria.

Promotion (eligible during the fourth year as an assistant, must go up to the sixth year)

In general, faculty will be recommended to the rank of associate professor after five years as an assistant professor and recommended to the rank of professor after five years as an associate professor.

Faculty who are performing significantly above the expectations for their current rank may be considered for “early” promotion in their fourth year. Strong justification in the PTU head’s cover letter is required for any early promotion recommendation.

Tenure

The tenure probationary period is five years; only associate professors and professors are eligible for tenure. A maximum of seven years may be served without the award of tenure (if the initial rank is Instructor, the maximum time served without tenure is 10 years). You can find full guidelines for requesting an extension of the tenure probationary period due to an FMLA event on the Provost’s website.

Non-tenured faculty in their sixth probationary year and who have not been turned down for tenure in their fifth year must be reviewed for tenure unless they request in writing not to be reviewed. Such requests should be submitted with the department head and dean approval to the provost, via the Office of Faculty Affairs, by May of the fifth year in rank.

To calculate your rank, it depends on your type of contract. Faculty on academic-year contracts must be appointed on or before the beginning of Fall semester for that academic year to count toward your year in rank. Faculty on fiscal year contracts must be appointed on or before the beginning of the Spring semester for that year to count toward your year in rank.

Promotion and Tenure: The Process

  1. The faculty member “will prepare their dossiers detailing their achievements and performance in their areas(s) of responsibility.” This dossier should include:
    • Current vita (use VPAA format)
    • Statement of main accomplishments to date (2 pages)
    • Detailed description of achievements to date (12 pages)
    • Faculty Evaluations
    • Third-Year Review (if applicable)
    • External Letters of Recommendation

The PTU Head appoints a committee to review materials & prepare a written report. This report includes general evaluation, vote, a brief discussion of strengths, a brief discussion of weaknesses (if any), and specific recommendations for the next few years.

The committee reports to PTU faculty and all eligible faculty vote on whether progress is sufficient as per the Guidelines for Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure. The written report with the faculty vote is given to the department head. The department head reviews the report with the faculty member in a face-to-face meeting.

The faculty member may prepare a written reply to the departmental report, which becomes a part of the report. A written response is recommended if there are inaccuracies or misunderstandings in the departmental report. No written response is required if the faculty member agrees with the report.

The departmental third-year review report and any written faculty response become a section in the promotion dossier. SAVE A COPY FOR YOURSELF.

Note: This process may vary by department, including what materials the faculty member must prepare for a third-year review beyond the vita, their main accomplishments, and discussion of achievements; the committee composition; the timeline for completing the process; or expectations.

Promotion and Tenure: Formatting Your CV

As an effort to produce a more uniform reporting procedure, particularly as it affects publications, the curriculum vitae should be prepared in the following outline form and included in the dossier in the section indicated in the guidelines for preparing both the promotion and tenure dossiers.

  1. Academic history
    • Name
    • Present rank, recommended rank, proportion time assignments
    • Tenure status
    • Administrative title (if any)
    • Graduate faculty status
    • Highest degree, the institution, the date
    • List of academic positions in chronological order with titles and inclusive dates
    • Other professional employment (current and previous), dates
    • Post-graduate awards (fellowships, lectureships, etc.)
    • Resident instruction and continuing education narrative summary of facts (e.g., courses of instruction, enrollments, academic advising, etc.)
  2. Scholarly activities
    • Publications (include all categories listed below; if there are no entries for a particular category, state “none”; indicate the number of pages for books or chapters)
    • Books authored or co-authored (in print or accepted); distinguish original editions and revisions
    • Books edited and co-edited (in print or accepted); distinguish original editions and revisions
      • Chapters in books (in print or accepted)
      • Monographs (longer than articles, in print or accepted)
      • Journal articles (in print or accepted)
      • Abstracts (in print or accepted)
      • Book reviews (in print or accepted)
      • works submitted but not yet accepted
      • Any other (e.g., popular articles)
      • Creative contributions other than formal publications
      • Grants received (dates, amounts, principal investigator or co-principal investigator)
      • Recognitions and outstanding achievements (prizes, fellowships, etc.)
      • Areas in which research is done
      • Supervision of student research (including the number of theses and dissertations supervised)
      • Editorship or editorial board member of journals or other learned publications
      • Convention papers

Note: Mark with an asterisk those publications that have gone through stringent editorial review; mark with a double asterisk those publications that were invited and carry prestige and recognition)

Note: Mark with an asterisk those that have a published counterpart; mark with a double asterisk those papers that were specially invited, i.e. keynote papers

  1. Public services performed: Extension, international programs, local community services, and relations, and to governmental and non-governmental agencies
  2. Other services: This would include, for example, service on departmental, college, or university committees and special administrative assignments; service to student groups and organizations and to support units such as libraries, computing services, and health services

Each of the above categories should have a heading entry and, as will be the case, if there are no entries to be made in the categories, enter “none.” This will assure that each category is attended to and that there is a common mode of presenting the information.

The UGA Libraries has a handy citation tracking guide to help with this process.

Promotion and Tenure: Keeping Records

Documentation is imperative on your career track journey. It’s recommended that every faculty member keep a file folder for every year (hard copy or electronic), a file of all publications (hard copy or electronic), and files for types of records kept across years (course comments, unsolicited letters, etc.)

Specifically, faculty should retain the following records:

  • Vita in VPAA format updated at least annually
  • Teaching evaluations with numerical data and student comments for every course
  • Evaluative data collected on your supervision (field placements, directed readings)
  • Unsolicited letters (e-mails) from students on your teaching, advising, or mentoring
  • Number of students advised at each degree level per year
  • Number of student committees on which you serve (as chair and as a member)
  • Information on what your graduates are doing
  • A list of guest lectures done in classes especial those outside your department
  • A copy of each of your publications
  • A copy of papers presented at conferences
  • A list of journals where you review & approximate number of reviews done each year
  • Unsolicited letters (e-mails) regarding your research
  • Grant proposals
  • Citations of your work
  • Media that you develop
  • Performance videos
  • Written reviews of any of your books articles, media or instructional material
  • Activities for state and national professional organizations committee member reviewer of papers, programs, nominations elected offices held
  • List of service activities
  • Unsolicited letters regarding your service activities
  • A copy of your annual faculty activity report and written faculty review