Section 4: Tenure-Track & Tenured Faculty Policies

4.2 Tenure Track & Tenured Faculty Appointments

Tenure track and tenured faculty appointments are appointments for full-time faculty positions at the university. Tenure track faculty are employed for a probationary period prior to consideration for tenure and/or promotion. Probationary appointments generally may not exceed a period of six years. Extension of the probationary period will be considered only as described in Section 4.9.3D. Tenure track appointments are subject to annual renewal by the university. Tenure-track appointments do not create or convey any right to permanent or continuous employment, nor do they create any manner of legal right, interest, or expectancy of renewal or any other type of appointment.

Tenure appointments are appointments of full-time faculty who have been awarded tenure by the Board of Trustees upon recommendation of the president. Tenure appointments include the assurance of continued employment during the academic year, subject to the conditions described in Sections 4.9 and 4.10. Faculty members who hold a tenured appointment in a department or other academic unit, and then are transferred to another department or academic unit retain their tenure status. A faculty member cannot be compelled to relinquish tenure as a condition of the transfer.

An internal or external search is required for the appointment of all tenure-track and tenured faculty positions, except for the specific circumstances described in the Waiver of Search policy. The university policy and procedures for recruitment, application, and selection of faculty can be found on the university website. There are two types of appointments for tenured and tenure-track faculty: full-time academic year(nine-month) appointments and full-time 12-month appointments, typically applicable to some faculty holding administrative appointments.

A faculty member’s 9-month or 12-month starting salary will be clearly stated in the appointment or offer letter. In general, salary adjustment recommendations are initiated by the department chair or the director of an approved center/institute (hereafter ‘department chair’). Recommendations for salary adjustments are reviewed and approved, altered, or rejected by each of the following officers: dean, provost, and president.  When the department chair and/or dean makes salary recommendations, he or she is expected to share with the faculty the general principles and reasoning in determining salary recommendations. A faculty member may appeal his or her annual salary recommendation using the general appeals procedures discussed in Appendix B.1.