Section 4.9: Faculty Planning & Evaluation

4.9.5 Mid-Tenure-Track Review

For each tenure-track faculty member, the department tenure and promotion committee and the department chair will conduct a Mid-Tenure Track Review to assess the faculty member’s record of performance since the beginning of the probationary period. The Mid-Tenure-Track Review informs the faculty member of her or his progress toward the award of tenure during the third or fourth year of the probationary period, which may be extended past the fourth year of the probationary period for any faculty member who has been granted an extension of the probationary period (with the year to be determined by the department chair after consultation with the faculty member). For academic units without departments, the Mid-Tenure-Track Review will be conducted by the academic unit tenure and promotion committee and the dean.

The Mid-Tenure-Track Review should coincide with the Annual Performance Review process described in Section 4.9.1.

The tenured faculty play an important role in the Mid-Tenure-Track Review and are responsible for providing the faculty member with a clear, thoughtful, and professional evaluation of:

1. the faculty member’s ability to sustain a level of activity that comports with the department’s expectations for faculty members at the rank of the faculty member under review and
   
   
2. the faculty member’s progress toward promotion and tenure in the context of the Faculty Handbook, his or her appointment, academic unit guidelines, and department guidelines.

The evaluation criteria for the quality of a faculty member's mid-tenure-track accomplishments should be the same as those used for award of tenure.