Promotion to associate professor (and the awarding of tenure) reflects a demonstrated potential for developing a national reputation in the discipline.

1. The Department of Communication expects that Assistant Professors on a probationary appointment will:
   1. Engage in quality scholarly research resulting in publication. The Department particularly values publication in national, refereed, scholarly journals and primary - or single - authored articles.
   2. Demonstrate effective classroom teaching.  
      1. Faculty should provide four-to-five peer assessments of teaching from distinct members of the faculty. At least two of these letters should be from tenured faculty. The remaining letters can come from pre-tenure or non-tenure track (NTT) teaching faculty.
      2. Faculty should provide quantitative student evaluation data. We recognize that quantitative teaching evaluations are problematic indicators of teaching effectiveness and that context is critical to our understanding of these scores. For example, we recognize that online teaching suffers from non-response bias and that various facets of an instructor’s ascribed identity can influence how students evaluate them. 
      3. Faculty should include a statement of their teaching philosophy that demonstrates their commitment to pedagogical excellence and inclusivity in the classroom.
      4. By the time a candidate seeks promotion they should have initiated a program of advising by serving on graduate committees and acting as a graduate advisor to at least one student.
      5. Faculty can also demonstrate a commitment to teaching excellence by participating in teaching development activities such as the Association of College and University Educators program, the Online Teaching Foundations program, attending the Wakonse Conference on College Teaching, programs sponsored by the Teaching for Learning Center, etc. 
      6. Faculty are typically expected to teach a 2/2 teaching load. However, this load can be modified when a member of the faculty has a course bought out with external funding, when faculty receive research leave, when a course load reduction is negotiated during hiring or in a counter-offer. The regular teaching load may also be altered when significant service is added to the appointment as is the case with the department chair. Finally, faculty may receive a course reduction when they manage large classes with multiple teaching assistants (e.g., the public speaking course, the large media and society course).   
   3. Perform useful service to:
      1. The field, including for example conducting reviews for conferences and journals, and/or holding service roles with international, national, regional, or area-specific organizations;
      2. The university and/or college, such as serving on a university or college level committee, assisting with campus events, or serving the campus community in some other way;
      3. The department, including serving on one-to-three department level committees and regularly attending faculty meetings and other departmental functions.
      4. Although not a formal requirement, the department will consider service to the community in line with our flagship mission to bring our scholarly expertise to the state and beyond.
2. Faculty on probationary appointment will receive annual reviews from the Department Chair. These letters should offer advice about progress toward tenure with specific recommendations for improvements if needed.
3. Third Year Review Process:
   1. During the spring semester of the third year, the Department Chair in consultation with the probationary faculty member, will select the third year review chair.
   2. Early in the summer, the faculty member will provide the third year review chair with a dossier. The dossier will include a vita, copies of scholarly articles, evidence of teaching effectiveness (including peer and student teaching evaluations for each year), and evidence of service. No external letters are solicited for the third year review.
   3. The third year review chair will draft a third year review letter and submit the dossier and the letter to the tenured faculty.
   4. The entire tenured faculty will approve a final draft of the letter near the beginning of the fall semester of the probationary faculty member's fourth year.
   5. Copies of the final letter will be submitted to the probationary faculty member, the chair, and the Dean of the College of Arts & Science by the designated date, typically in late September.
4. Promotion and Tenure:
   1. Probationary faculty members will normally be candidates for promotion and tenure during the sixth year of their appointment. Faculty may apply for early promotion and tenure if their record is truly exceptional. In the case of recommendations for promotion and/or tenure before the sixth year (CRR 320.035), the College of Arts and Science defines ‘truly exceptional’ as having significantly exceeded the expectations for promotion and/or tenure. Achieving the expectations for promotion and/or tenure sooner than expected is not sufficient evidence of a ‘truly exceptional’ case. Institutional policies, such as tenure clock stopping, may result in a longer probationary period.
   2. During the early part of the spring semester of the candidate's fifth year, the department chair, in consultation with the candidate, will select a chair for the probationary faculty member's promotion and tenure committee.
   3. The department P&T committee will be comprised of all associate and full professors of the department. If there are fewer than three tenured faculty members (excluding the department chair), additional members will be selected from other associated departments in the college or university in accordance with CRR 320.035.A.1.d.
   4. The candidate will provide a dossier to the P&T committee by the end of the spring semester.
   5. The department chair will solicit external letters of review. The candidate will submit a brief list of suggested outside reviewers. The final list of outside reviewers will include names recommended by the candidate and the P&T committee.
   6. The P&T committee will review the candidate's dossier and the external letters early in the fall of the sixth year. It will vote by secret ballot on a recommendation and submit a letter with its recommendation to the department chair. The P&T committee chair, in consultation with the committee, will write a letter to accompany the recommendation.
   7. The department chair will convey the results of the P&T committee vote to the Dean, along with a separate letter of evaluation from the department chair about the candidate's suitability for promotion and tenure.

Revised Policy Approved by Faculty 12/4/2019