Subcommittee Information provides guidance on how subcommittees are formed and used in faculty promotion and tenure reviews, with procedures for units that have three or more eligible voting faculty as well as those with fewer than three.
Procedures for when there are at least 3 eligible voting faculty members in the candidate’s appointing unit
If there are at least 3 eligible voting faculty members in the candidate’s department (or undepartmentalized college or school), an optional step in the faculty review phase is to use a subcommittee. If used, this subcommittee must be comprised of at least 3 eligible voting members, and may include faculty members from other units who have appropriate expertise. Subcommittee members shall be given the opportunity to review the candidate’s record, including external letters.
The subcommittee must submit a written report and recommendation. The candidate must receive a written summary of this report that identifies members of the subcommittee. For purposes of confidentiality, the summary shall omit specific attributions and may omit the vote count.
The candidate, if they choose, may respond in writing to that report within 7 calendar days. Documentation that the candidate was provided a copy of the summary of the subcommittee report and opportunity to respond shall be included in the record.
The first mandatory step of the faculty review process for candidates with at least 3 eligible voting members in their appointing unit involves an assessment by the appointing unit’s eligible voting faculty members.
These faculty members must receive or have access to a copy of the candidate’s record and, where applicable, the subcommittee report and recommendation, and the candidate’s response to the subcommittee report, before the discussion and promotion/tenure vote.
The eligible faculty members in the candidate’s appointing unit shall then meet to discuss the candidate’s record and to vote whether to recommend promotion/tenure.
If an initial report was produced by a subcommittee, all members of the subcommittee may participate in the discussion, but only eligible voting faculty in the candidate’s appointing unit may be present for the vote. For guidance on voting eligibility for matters of promotion and/or tenure, refer to the Promotion and Tenure Voting Matrix.
After the unit level discussion and vote by eligible voting faculty is completed, the chair/director/campus dean (or dean or dean’s designee in an undepartmentalized school/college) is required to prepare a written summary of the discussion and recommendation and provide that summary to the candidate.
Again, for purposes of confidentiality, the summary report shall omit specific attributions and may omit the vote count. The candidate may then choose to respond to that report within 7 calendar days. Documentation that the candidate was provided a copy of the summary report and opportunity to respond is to be included in the record.
Procedures for when there are fewer than 3 eligible voting faculty members in the candidate’s appointing unit
For appointing units with fewer than 3 eligible voting faculty members, the review shall be conducted by a subcommittee and the recommendation of the subcommittee shall be used in lieu of a vote by the department (or undepartmentalized college or school).
The subcommittee shall include all eligible voting faculty in the candidate’s unit who are available to serve and may include eligible voting faculty members from other units who have appropriate expertise. Subcommittee members shall be given the opportunity to review the candidate’s record, including external letters.
The subcommittee must submit a written report and recommendation, and the candidate must receive a written summary of this report that identifies members of the subcommittee. For purposes of confidentiality, the summary shall omit specific attributions and may omit the vote count.
The candidate, if they choose, may respond in writing to that report within 7 calendar days. Documentation that the candidate was provided a copy of the summary of the subcommittee report and opportunity to respond is to be included in the record.