Tenure and Promotion Issues
This site provides a variety of information to increase faculty success when planning for tenure and promotion. In addition to this site, every year the Women's Caucus offers a Promotion & Tenure Workshop during the spring semester. The provost, a college dean, and recently tenured and promoted faculty speak about the P&T process and how to be successful; they also answer your questions. It is an invaluable tool and faculty who have attended say that they learn something new and important; many faculty return every year as a way to stay focused on their goals.
"A deep sigh of relief and a calm smile on my face has always occurred whenever I have left a Woman's Caucus Promotion and Tenure Workshop. In my first tenure track position, I was confident of only one thing: I knew I didn't know as much as I could. This workshop provided me with practical advice, a sense of communal support and positive encouragement that proved invaluable whenever I thought of tenure and began to sense a building of tension in my body and an anxious look on my face. I knew it would all turn around at each workshop." -Pamela A. Gibson, Ph.D., Department of Urban Studies & Public Administration
We look forward to seeing you at the annual Women's Caucus Promotion & Tenure Workshop.
Contents
ODU Tenure and Promotion Policies
ODU's policies, procedures and schedules related to tenure and promotion are contained in the Faculty Handbook. Check the Faculty Handbook online for complete and up-to-date information. The URLs below are current as of 9/26/07:
Tenure Tips
from: Getting Tenure by Marica Lynn Whicker, Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld, and Ruth Ann Strickland. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. 1993.
External Reviewers for Tenure and Promotion
External evaluations are required for tenure and promotion. The policy is found at http://www.odu.edu/ao/facultyhandbook/index.php?page=ch02s19.html (ret 9/26/07).
Stopping the Tenure Clock for Family Care Issues
ODU's policy on stopping the tenure clock for life care events (e.g., child birth, adoption, responsibility for care of dependent others) is in the Faculty Handbook on pp. 49-50 (when retrieved 9/25/07) and also available at http://www.odu.edu/ao/facultyhandbook/index.php?page=ch02s19.html The policy is reproduced below:
- Probationary Period
- The following do not count as part of the probationary period:
- A period of time, not to exceed one year, may be excluded from the probationary period, upon the approval of the provost and vice president for academic affairs subject to the following conditions.
- That the faculty member submits a request in writing to the department chair. The department chair and the dean shall forward the request with a recommendation to the provost and vice president for academic affairs.
- The request must be the result of the occurrence of a serious event. A "serious event" is defined as a life-altering situation which requires the faculty member to devote more than eight hours of each day to alleviate the impact of the event for a period greater than six weeks and less than one year. These events may include the birth of a child, adoption of a child under the age of six years, serious personal illness or care of an immediate family member including parent, stepparent, child, or spouse.
- The faculty member shall provide documentation to justify the time requested and the seriousness of the event.
- The request shall be made no later than one year from the first day of the serious event.
- The faculty member must have been adequately performing the duties assigned prior to the first day of the serious event.
- Faculty who are awarded this exclusion shall have no requirements or expectations beyond those of any probationary faculty member.
- Work accomplished during the excluded period may be cited in the tenure case.
- Requests for exclusion may be made at any time during each academic year. No request shall be made after the application for tenure has been submitted.
- Decisions will be made within 60 days of the receipt of the faculty member's request by the department chair.
- The decision of the provost and vice president for academic affairs is final.
By Debra Major. Download PDF.
An Easy Way to Make Course Evaluations into PDF Files
Here's a very easy way to make PDF copies of the Course Evaluation Reports that are available on the ODU website beginning with Fall 2003. First, you need to have a PDF print utility in your list of printers. In Arts & Letters we use PDF995, a free download. Once you have that, do the following:
- Go to Course Evaluations
- Click on any semester's Instructor's Report (The first time in a session you do this you'll be prompted to Login using your Midas account)
- Click on a course
- Go to File > Print
- Choose the PDF utility
- Choose the directory and folder you want it to go into and then give it a name (you might create a folder in your H drive called "Course Evals" and then use this convention: Semester Course, for example F07 SOC 320)
- Hit Print (This gives you a PDF copy on your drive, not a printed copy)
Family and Medical Leave Policy
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires the university to give eligible faculty and administrators with faculty rank 12 weeks of job-protected leave during any 12 month period for:
the birth, adoption, or foster care of a child;
the serious health condition of the employee; or
the serious health condition of an immediate family member.
The leave will be paid or unpaid according to the applicable university leave policy.
Faculty and administrators with faculty rank taking leave under the FMLA have a guaranteed right to return to their same jobs or a job with equivalent status and pay. Health benefits must continue during the leave at the same level and conditions as if the faculty member or administrator had continued to work.
The faculty member or administrator must give 30 days advance notice to their supervisor of the need to take FMLA leave when it is foreseeable for the birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care, or for planned medical treatment. When it is possible under the circumstances to provide advance notice, the faculty member or administrator must notify the supervisor as early as is practicable.
A request for leave due to a serious health condition must be supported by a certification from the health care provider. This includes the faculty member's/administrator's or family member's health care provider. The certification should include the date on which the health condition began and its probable duration. The certification for a family member should include a statement from the health care provider that the faculty member or administrator is needed to care for the family member.
The chair and/or dean, in conjunction with the faculty member, will be responsible for developing a work-management plan for hiring replacements or assigning work and/or teaching to others when a faculty member takes leave under the provisions of this section.
The complete Family and Medical Leave Act Policy may be found in the University's Policies and Procedures, #6050.
- Approved by the president
August 5, 1993
Revised August 24, 1995
Revised January 23, 1998
