Grievance Procedure

Implementation of the new system

This transition system assumes the following: that the Trustees, University Administration, and Faculty Assembly, have approved a tenure and promotion policy as stipulated in AAUP guidelines prior to Spring of 2009; that the restructured promotion and tenure committee outlined above has been approved by the three constituencies named above prior to the Spring of 2009; and that a revised mentoring process as well as the definitions for the standards by which faculty will be evaluated also has been approved by the three constituencies named above prior to the Spring of 2009.

Thecurrentthree-personCommitteeon Advancement andTenurewill expandto fivemembersinthespring of 2009, constituted as stated in 4.b of the “Policies Relating to Academic Freedom, Faculty Evaluation, and Employment” document. The larger committee will begin evaluating faculty in the 2009-10 academic year.

In addition, before the new policy can go into effect, the facultywill have to establish the three standards it requires for promotion evaluation. The Standards Committee (defined in the Advancement and Tenure policy document) will present to the faculty a set of criteria for each of the three standards. Only upon approval by the faculty can the standards be placed in the faculty handbook. This process will insure that the criteria for the three standards are reasonable for all faculty and are consistent with administrative assessment of those standards.

If all of the above happen, thenewsystemwill be in force for newhires whose first year on campus is 20092010. For those in this class who are not granted time based on full-time service elsewhere, mandatory pretenure review based on all new requirements clearly stated in a revised faculty handbook will occur in the Springof 2012 and Tenure review (up or out with Tenure and Associate beinggranted simultaneously) will occur in the Fall of 2014. The deadlines for pre-tenure review and/or tenure may be adjusted by mutual agreement of the faculty member and the VPAA in the event of unusual circumstances, as specified in the permanent policy document.

For purposes of implementing the initial round of post-tenure review, the VPAA shall establish a schedule of reviews so that approximately one-fifth of the tenured faculty are reviewed in each year, beginning in the 200910 academic year.

Rules for faculty employed before the implementation of the new system, but not yet promoted to Associate Professor or grantedtenure

Facultyhired prior tothe Springof 2009 and who have not yet been promotedto Associate Professor and/or granted tenure may if they wish form mentoring committees, as described in the section on Policies Relating to Academic Freedom, Faculty Evaluation, and Employment. Their advancement and tenure applications will be treated in the followingmanner:

Eligible for Promotion 2007-2008, 2008-2009 (either for first time or after being denied in a prior attempt)

Old system, tenure and promotion considered separately, failure to achieve either promotionortenureallowsa facultymember totryagain. If, inthe unlikelyevent,afacultymember has not achieved tenure and/or promotion by the academic year 2009-2010, that member must submit materials in the fall of 2009. A failure to achieve tenure and/or promotion at this point will result in the fall 2009 evaluation being treated as a pre-tenure review with the faculty member being mandated to apply within one to three years for tenure and promotion again. If the faculty member is not approved for tenure and/or promotion after that period of time, he or she will receive a terminal, one-year contract. Failure to reapply will result in a terminal, one- year contract. Criteria for promotion and tenure will be based on the requirements stated in the faculty hand book at the time of hire and as documented by the promotion and tenure standards committee in Fall 2008, which will serve as a guide to the transitional candidates and the Advancement and Tenure Committeealike.