Approved by Executive Committee in December 2021
Criteria for promotion to professor focus on accomplishments of the candidate subsequent to their promotion to associate professor, in all areas of faculty responsibility, teaching, research, and service. With regard to research and scholarship, the criteria emphasize that a candidate should have achieved national or international standing, based on substantial and sustained achievement. Candidates are also expected to have contributed to teaching and service within the school’s missions. It is relevant to consider candidates relative to peers and what would be considered the norm in terms of accomplishments and qualification.
Guidance and Oversight Committee for Associate Professors
Each new associate professor can work with the division chair to establish a guidance and oversight committee after tenure and promotion. This committee will include at least two tenured full professors; the chair of the committee must be a SAS division member and at least one other member must have been tenured through the same University Divisional committee that will review the candidate’s dossier. The guidance and oversight committee should meet at least once yearly.
Associate professors must be considered for their readiness for promotion to professor no later than the occasion of their first post-tenure review (performed in the fifth year) under Faculty Policies and Procedures section 7.17. If promotion is not sought or granted at that time, the associate professor and department chair may mutually agree upon a timeline for reconsideration, not to exceed five years between reviews; if such an agreement is not made, the default reconsideration schedule will be once every year. An associate professor may direct the Council of Full Professors (who are the Executive Committee of Full Tenured and CHS Professors) to consider them for promotion any time after their initial fifth-year post tenure review.
Each candidate will prepare a dossier to document accomplishments that warrant promotion. The dossier should be similar in format to that 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. The candidate’s contribution to his/her field must include scholarly publications. 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 two of the following three areas: research, teaching, and service. Typically, a time period of at least four years, from the time of being granted tenure, needs to have passed before consideration to promotion to full professor. Before a candidate will be considered for promotion to full professor by the Executive Committee, the candidate will meet with the division chair to advise if they should be considered for promotion.
- Dossier Preparation
- Dossier including a current curriculum vitae, annual activity reports, publications, grant proposals, and other scholarship; summary of teaching and student evaluations; and evidence of service (both at UW-Madison and to the profession more broadly), outreach, governance, and administrative work
- A minimum of 5 outside letters of evaluation
- Division chair’s summary
- Voting Procedure
All associate professors will be excused from the Executive Committee meeting of the School of Pharmacy. Two thirds of Full Professor Executive Committee members (tenure track) must be present to conduct the review. After presentation of the dossier and discussion, a formal vote will occur. Voting is 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 a quorum of members is not present. The dean will provide to the candidate 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.