Approved by Executive Committee in December 2021
Associate Professors will be considered for promotion at the time of their first post-tenure review. If promotion is not sought or granted at that time, the division chair and Associate Professor should agree upon a time for reconsideration not to exceed five years. If no agreement is reached, the reconsideration will happen once annually. If promotion is not granted at the time of their first post-tenure review, Associate Professors may contact the division chair at any time and direct that the Council of Full Professors consider them for promotion.
The dossier should be similar to the format described for promotion or appointment to Associate Professor. In addition, documentation must include evidence that the candidate has continued to grow in stature in the performance areas cited above or other evidence demonstrating professional growth and achievement commensurate with the rank of Professor. Documentation must be provided of further accomplishment since the initial appointment or promotion to Associate Professor. Typically, an Associate Professor can be promoted to Full Professor based on excellence in one area and significant accomplishment is a second area of the following, Research, Teaching, and Service. The areas of excellence and significant accomplishment may be the same or different from the areas evaluated for promotion from Assistant to Associate Professor. Associate Professors may be considered for promotion before their first 5-year post-tenure review in cases of outstanding academic performance. In this event, before a candidate will be considered for promotion to Full Professor by the Executive Committee, the candidate will first be discussed by the current Full Professors in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division to advise if they should be considered for promotion. Typically, a committee is composed of the division chair and one other tenured full professor from the division and is formed to prepare a presentation to the full professors of the division in which the faculty member provides a dossier for review.
If the Associate Professor decides to seek promotion after being advised by the Full Professors in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, the dossier and selected manuscripts may be sent for review by outside letter writers. A request for outside letters is optional and the decision to make this optional request will be made by the candidate for promotion. After the dossier is complete and the letters are received (if applicable), the candidate should be brought forth to the Executive Committee for approval. The candidate’s dossier, letters, student and peer teaching evaluations, and committee summary are provided to the Executive Committee one week prior to the meeting. Typically, the chair of the committee makes the presentation to the Executive Committee. A recommendation to promote to the rank of professor is forwarded to the Dean’s office following an affirmative recommendation by a majority of the full professors on the Executive Committee.
- Dossier preparation
- Dossier including CV
- Request of outside letters of evaluation (optional, typically 5 if requested)
- Division Chair’s summary
- Voting Procedure
All Associate Professors will be excused from the Executive Committee meeting of the School of Pharmacy. Advisory members (CHS and Clinical tracks) at the Full Professor rank are invited to attend and participate in the discussion, but a particular quorum of advisory members is not required. Two thirds of Full Professor Executive Committee members (tenure track) must be present to conduct the review. After presentation of the dossier and discussion, an advisory vote will be conducted by the advisory members, followed by a formal vote by the tenure track members. Voting in both cases will be conducted by a signed paper ballot. Two-thirds of the tenure track members present need to vote in favor in order for the vote to be considered a favorable recommendation for promotion. The review/vote will not be conducted if the quorum of members is not present. The Dean will provide the results of the Executive Committee action along with the Dean’s assessment within 5 days of the Executive Committee meeting. - Right for reconsideration and appeal of a negative decision
A faculty member receiving a negative outcome may request within ten business days of receiving the written decision a reconsideration by the Council of Full Professors. The meeting shall be held within twenty calendar days after the faculty member concerned requests reconsideration. The faculty member concerned shall have an opportunity to attend the reconsideration meeting accompanied, if they wish, by a representative of their choice, to respond to the statement of reasons, and to present any written or oral evidence or arguments relevant to the decision. Reconsideration is not a hearing, nor an appeal, and shall be non-adversarial in nature.
Within five business days following the reconsideration, the chair shall convey the decision of the Council of Full Professors to the faculty member concerned in writing. If the decision is adverse, the faculty member may appeal to the dean. The dean has fifteen calendar days to consider the faculty member’s appeal and render a decision in writing. In cases when an adverse decision is upheld by the dean, that decision may be appealed to the Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities (CFRR). Should a departmental decision on promotion be positive, and that decision is reversed by the dean, the faculty member will be notified in writing of the dean’s decision and the reasons for the decision within five business days. The faculty member may appeal a dean’s adverse decision to CFRR. In the event of an adverse decision by the Council of Full Professors or by the dean, the faculty member will have twenty calendar days from the date of the decision to appeal to CFRR. The CFRR will decide on the validity of the appeal – basing its assessment on whether or not the decision on promotion was based in any significant degree on impermissible factors outlined in UWS Administrative Code 3.08[1][a], [b], and [c] and will transmit its findings to the faculty member concerned, the department chair, the department’s Council of Full Professors, the dean, and the provost. If CFRR finds that a decision in 7.16.D.2 or 7.16.D.5 was based in any significant degree on impermissible factors, it may remand the case back to the decision maker or send it to the next higher appointing authority. If the provost is involved, they will, in consultation with the Divisional Committee Review Council (DCRC) (FPP 7.17.C.7), make the final decision on promotion. That decision will be rendered within 30 calendar days of the date of the CFRR report. The provost’s decision will be final. In the event of an adverse decision that the faculty member chooses not to appeal or appeals without success, the chair or designee will meet with the faculty member to discuss how to create a stronger case for promotion. A negative decision on promotion does not preclude consideration in subsequent years.