4.2.8 Academic Tenure.

1. Statement of Principle. The granting of tenure marks the end of a regular faculty member's period of probation and the beginning of a continuous appointment. The primary purpose of tenure is the safeguarding of academic freedom, although it is also recognized that tenure offers a degree of economic security which allows the University to attract and maintain a faculty of high ability and, hence, to strengthen the excellence of its programs and its overall academic quality.
    
2. Regular faculty with academic tenure may be removed from their appointments only through the terms and procedures described below for Dismissal for Adequate Cause (see Section 4.2.13.1) or Reduction in Force (Section 4.2.15).
    
3. Standards and Criteria for Tenure. Tenure involves the long-range commitment of the University to an individual faculty member and of faculty colleagues to each other. All decisions regarding the granting of tenure will necessarily entail judgments about both the present level of a faculty member's accomplishment and performance and the prospect of its continuation into the future.
   
   To be awarded tenure, the candidate must have a documented record of consistent teaching effectiveness (for librarians, consistent professional effectiveness), professional recognition through scholarship or creative activity; professional development, and contributions to the unit, College, University and community. In addition, the candidate should have earned the doctorate or appropriate terminal degree, except in extraordinary circumstances where the evidence demonstrates that the absence of the degree does not inhibit the faculty member's professional standing and performance.
   
   A candidate at the rank of associate professor must meet the standards and criteria for that rank to be awarded tenure (see Section 4.2.5.1). A candidate at the rank of full professor must meet the standards and criteria for that rank to be awarded tenure (see Section 4.2.5.1).
    
4. Early Tenure and/or Promotion. A faculty member may request, in writing to the Dean, that they be considered by their unit for early tenure and/or promotion (see Section 4.2.10.3). To be awarded early tenure and/or promotion, a faculty member must demonstrate that they have exceeded the expectations in all three areas of evaluation (see Section 4.2.9.1), as defined by unit and College criteria. For early promotion to full professor/senior librarian, the relevant period of time for the materials included in the application shall be the time since the first day of classes in the fall semester of the academic year, not the calendar year, in which the application to associate professor/associate librarian was submitted. Candidates for early promotion to full professor/senior librarian are not required to include items from the aforementioned fall semester in their application; any items included in the application for promotion to associate professor/associate librarian are ineligible for inclusion in the application for full professor/senior librarian. (The time period described in BOT 4.2.10.5 does not apply for early promotion to full professor/senior librarian.)