University Promotion and Tenure Committee

Purpose or Function:  The University Promotion and Tenure Committee shall receive the material related to tenure or promotion (curriculum vitae and recommendations from the department chair, dean, and promotion/tenure committee) from the Provost, and shall review the material concurrently with the Provost. This committee shall evaluate each candidate’s materials according to the appropriate college’s most recent promotion or tenure bylaws/guidelines and the University’s promotion and tenure criteria. The committee shall avoid consideration of irrelevant and extraneous information. The committee may ask for additional information from candidates.

The chair, a non-voting member, may participate in the discussion of each candidate’s material. After review of each candidate’s material, the committee shall prepare a written assessment of the candidate’s qualifications and a recommendation for each candidate. The votes for and against the recommended candidates will be recorded by the chair (without the names of those casting the votes) and sent to the Provost along with the recommendation and assessment.

The committee will also consider the complete dossier of any faculty members who are appealing negative decisions at either the dean or college promotion and tenure committee level. The committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the Provost.  The voting and deliberations for the appeals process will be the same as for the recommended candidates with one exception.  If the committee’s recommendation to the Provost on an appeal case is not unanimous, written rationale for each of the differing views must be presented to the Provost in addition to the vote count.

This committee is advisory to the Provost and President. Even if the committee’s assessment of a candidate is negative, that negative assessment will not halt the consideration of the candidate’s file by the Provost and President. According to System Regulations, the President of the University must recommend candidates to The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents for official approval of promotion and tenure bids.

The committee should submit its recommendations to the Provost no later than March 5.

Membership: The members are elected by the respective college faculties.

Chair: Selected by the Provost and the President.