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Academic Personnel

Case Workflows & Outcomes

2025 – 2026 Promotion & Tenure Cycle

Workflows

The promotion/tenure process is extremely complex and can take over a year from the start of the process until there is a final decision. Below are detailed workflows that show the path a case will take as it works its way from the appointing unit through to the provost.

Outcomes

Along the paths detailed above, there are various outcomes based on the type of promotion action.

Mandatory promotion/tenure
  • Favorable
    • Deans/chancellors are notified first, who may communicate the outcome to the candidate prior to the official letter being sent
    • Faculty receive a 10% salary increase in accordance with their promotion in rank Faculty Code Section 24-70 B.2, Faculty Code Section 24-71 A.2, and EO 64.
      • If promotion and merit increases occur in the same year, the increases will be applied in the order of their effective dates.
      • The award of tenure without an associated promotion in rank does not include a promotion salary increase.
  • Postpone
    • Deans/chancellors are notified first, who may communicate the outcome to the candidate prior to the official letter being sent
    • When the case is reviewed the following year, a new case must be initiated and the only possible outcomes are favorable or denial.
  • Withdrawal
    • If a case receives an unfavorable recommendation from the dean/chancellor, the candidate has the option to withdraw their case from consideration prior to submission to the provost.
    • Withdrawal from further consideration must be accompanied by a letter of resignation, effective no later than the last day of appointment in the current academic year (e.g. June 15 or June 30 for employees with 9- and 12-month service periods respectively).
    • By resigning, the faculty member will no longer be able to hold any clock-managed professorial tracks (i.e., tenure-track or tenured, WOT, research, or clinical dental-pathway) at the University of Washington, but may be eligible for other faculty or other employment opportunities within the UW.
  • Denial
    • Deans/chancellors are notified first, who may communicate the outcome to the candidate prior to the official letter being sent
    • The faculty member will be granted a terminal academic year of employment at the current rank (Faculty Code Section 24-41). Except for the terminal year, a faculty member denied mandatory promotion is ineligible for employment at the University of Washington as a faculty member.
Non-Mandatory promotion/tenure
  • Favorable
    • Deans/chancellors are notified first, who may communicate the outcome to the candidate prior to the official letter being sent
    • Faculty receive a 10% salary increase in accordance with their promotion in rank Faculty Code Section 24-70 B.2, Faculty Code Section 24-71 A.2, and EO 64.
      • If promotion and merit increases occur in the same year, the increases will be applied in the order of their effective dates.
      • The award of tenure without an associated promotion in rank does not include a promotion salary increase.
  • Unfavorable
    • If promotion/tenure is not supported by the SCC, the case may not be reviewed by the provost
    • If the candidate provides a response to the dean/chancellor’s decision, that will be forwarded to provost’s office for information only
    • Future promotion/tenure reviews will be independent of the outcome of this case and will require the initiation of a new case in a future year