At APF, we remain deeply committed to holistically supporting faculty growth and success. This leadership development initiative is one of several efforts we are undertaking to ensure that our academic personnel processes are transparent, equitable, and aligned with the University’s mission.
Designed for academic leaders—including deans, chancellors, divisional deans, associate deans, and associate vice chancellors—this program provides tailored support and professional growth opportunities. It focuses on critical issues faced by department and unit leaders while fostering collaboration, insight, and practical strategies for success.
Core Themes of Leadership Development
This initiative explores essential topics that reflect the challenges and opportunities of academic leadership at UW, including:
Navigating the research enterprise and fostering innovation
Promoting campus and community safety
Budgeting strategies across schools, colleges, and campuses
Advancing teaching excellence and its evolving status
Practical leadership insights, ethics, and governance at UW and within Washington state
Strategies for faculty recruitment, promotion, development, mentorship, retention, and tenure
Understanding ethics, risk management, and compliance in leadership roles
Strengthening advancement, development, and endowment efforts
Examining the scope and impact of undergraduate and graduate education
Enhancing global engagement, research, and societal impact
Embedding inclusive excellence in higher education
Exploring the Faculty Code and shared governance principles
Revising Promotion and Tenure Criteria
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE FOR ACADEMIC LEADERS
All units must revise promotion and tenure criteria by March 21, 2026 to reflect evolving faculty work and institutional values. This quick reference guide outlines goals, best practices, common pitfalls, and available support. Review the full guide and resources to ensure your unit’s process is clear, inclusive, and Faculty Code–aligned.
Revising Promotion and Tenure Criteria
WHY IT MATTERS
All units must review and update P&T guidelines by March 21, 2026 to align with evolving faculty work and institutional values.
THE CHARGE
Goal: Ensure clarity and inclusivity — not to expand requirements, but to recognize the full range of faculty contributions. Key areas to address:
Research, scholarship & creative works (including open science)
Service (department to global, including advocacy)
Interdisciplinary research & collaboration
Changing funding landscape realities
Entrepreneurship & innovation
Community engagement & global partnerships
Mentoring of students and colleague
WHAT SUCCESSFUL REVISIONS LOOK LIKE
The School of Public Health, recently highlighted at the Promotion and Tenure Criteria workshop hosted by the Office for Academic Personnel & Faculty, broadened its criteria to include community-engaged and educational scholarship grounded in institutional equity values. Meanwhile, the Foster School of Business refined teaching-track expectations through iterative, Faculty Code–aligned revisions.
PROCESS ESSENTIALS
Governance first
Work through faculty elected councils with clear charge statements
Be inclusive
Focus groups and town halls
Department-level input
Transparent feedback loops
Get expert help
Faculty Code experts (Secretary of Faculty)
Office for Academic Personnel & Faculty, Development and Operations support staff
Peer institution examples
Allocate resources
Dedicated staff support for writing/editing
FTE consideration for equity-focused work
Timeline: Start now for March deadline
WHAT TO AVOID
Vague language (“interesting research,” “team player”)
Biased terminology that disadvantages certain groups
Overly narrow definitions that exclude valid scholarship
Criteria that don’t reflect current funding realities
Avoid developing guidelines in a prescriptive, top-down manner; instead, aim for an inclusive process that incorporates input from all levels within the unit.
IN SUMMARY
Your P&T guidelines should be specific enough to answer “What do I need to do to get promoted?” yet broad enough to recognize diverse contributions. APF provides workshops, expert consultation, and resources to support your revision process. Workshop facilitators are willing to provide their expertise in support of any unit upon request
The University of Washington is updating promotion and tenure guidelines to fully recognize community-engaged scholarship as rigorous, impactful academic work. This overview highlights why CES matters, key evaluation principles, and forthcoming tools and resources. Read the full guide to explore criteria, examples, and upcoming toolkits supporting equitable CES review.
Developing Promotion & Tenure Guidelines for Community-Engaged Scholarship (CES)
The University of Washington is revising promotion and tenure guidelines to ensure they reflect the full range of faculty contributions, including community-engaged scholarship (CES). This effort aligns with UW’s mission, vision, and values, and responds to the Provost’s October 2025 charge to update policies for clarity, equity, and inclusivity.
WHY IT MATTERS
CES advances public impact and supports diverse scholarly activities.
A 2024 survey revealed that over half of faculty and staff do not feel fully supported in CES work under current criteria.
Updating guidelines strengthens tri-campus capacity for community engagement and affirms CES as scholarship.
KEY COMPONENTS
Toolkit Development:
Institution-wide affirmation that CES is scholarship (now in Faculty Code).
Unit-level criteria with discipline-specific examples and peer review pathways.
Reviewer support (rubrics, templates, inclusion of community partners).