04-06-20 — April 2004

Recommendations Applications for RTP: Instructions

[Approved by the Faculty Senate April 1998; revised April 2004]

I. Eligibility and timing

1. Recommendations for reappointment should be submitted one and one-half years before the end of the first contract.
2. Recommendations for promotion and/or tenure should be submitted two years before the end of the second contract period.
3. Recommendations for tenure at the assistant professor rank should state the extraordinary circumstances that justify that action.
4. Candidates for an early promotion/tenure decision (i.e., before a decision is mandatory) must state the extraordinary circumstances or the exceptional quality of the submission by showing that they not only meet but substantially exceed the established criteria.
   1. For faculty (assistant professors with an initial three-year contract) hired prior to 1995 who have not had previous tenure-track appointments on other campuses or comparable experience in research, teaching, or professional settings: "Early" means coming forward prior to the fifth year of appointment. Recommendations should be based solely on exceptional faculty performance.
   2. For faculty hired since 1995 who have not had previous tenure-track appointments on other campuses or comparable experience in research, teaching, or professional settings, and who had completed all requirements and been awarded the terminal degree before beginning service at UNCW: "Early" means coming forward prior to the sixth year of appointment. Recommendations for promotion/tenure should be based solely on exceptional faculty performance.
   3. For faculty hired since 1995 who had not completed all degree requirements upon beginning service at UNCW and whose initial service was at the rank of instructor: "Early" means coming forward prior to the mandatory time for review, with the instructor period counting as probationary service. Recommendations for promotion/tenure should be based solely on exceptional faculty performance.
   4. For assistant or associate professors who have had previous tenure-track appointments on other campuses or comparable experience in research, teaching, or professional settings: "Early" means coming forward after the required two-year probationary period but prior to the mandatory time for review—i.e. before the sixth year for an assistant professor or the fourth year for an associate professor. In considering an early review, faculty, departments, and deans should not assume an automatic addition of years for previous service elsewhere to the years of experience at UNCW, and any candidate forwarded for such a review should be demonstrably exceptional.
1. A faculty member hired as an assistant or associate professor must complete at least two years of probationary service before being considered for tenure. No other minimum time requirement for service at any level has been established. Applications for tenure before a decision is mandatory must demonstrate that special circumstances or exceptional productivity have provided sufficient evidence that the faculty member has met the qualifications for that action.
2. An untenured assistant or associate professor may not apply for promotion without also applying for tenure.
3. A faculty member may not be tenured at the rank of assistant professor.⁽¹⁾
4. Typically, candidates for tenure and promotion are reviewed in the fall, and candidates for reappointment are reviewed in the spring. However, a faculty member hired with a start date in January may be reviewed for reappointment in the fall or for tenure and promotion in the spring if that semester is the mandatory final semester for review. Discretionary reviews, whether for tenure (with or without promotion) after the required two-year probationary period but prior to the mandatory time for review or for promotion of a tenured faculty member, may be conducted either fall or spring semester.
5. An assistant professor with an initial 4-year contract must be reviewed for reappointment no later than early in the 6th semester of employment.
6. An assistant professor with a second 3-year contract must be reviewed for tenure and promotion no later than early in the 3rd semester of that contract (11th semester of employment).
7. An associate professor with an initial 5-year contract must be reviewed for tenure no later than early in the 7th semester of employment.

II. Content

1. [B.] Instructions to the RTP candidate.
   1. Compose the application to include the first six Roman-numbered sections specified in the prescribed format. Beginning with section IV, all required subcategories must be included as numbered.
   2. [1.] Whenever it is appropriate to list items by date, use reverse chronological order (most recent first).
   3. [2.] There are typically two parts to an RTP candidate's dossier: the recommendation application (to which is appended the chairperson's⁽¹⁾ recommendation) and the supporting documentation.
      1. The recommendation application format should consist of (1) a narrative specifically prepared for the personnel action being recommended applied for and (2) lists of accomplishments. The recommendation application should be self-contained, since it is typically read in its entirety by RTP Committee members before supporting documentation is consulted. The recommendation application must be prepared in the prescribed format.
      2. Supporting documentation
         1. Supporting documentation must include:
            1. all of the candidate's SPOT summaries—the printouts summarizing results of all 16 evaluation questions—over at least the most recent two-and-one-half years, as well as copies of the Question 16 Section Summaries and frequency graphs over the same period. All SPOT results should be organized in reverse chronological order. (See Guidelines for the Administration, Use, and Interpretation of the "Student Perception of Teaching" (SPOT) Evaluation, especially Section B4.)
            2. all refereed publications published since the candidate was appointed at the present rank. A "selected" sub-collection of those publications is not sufficient, nor is a collection of photocopies of titles pages or tables of contents. Copies of publications will be returned to the candidate when the review process is completed.
         2. A table of contents or explanation of the organization of the supplementary documentation is helpful.
         3. The supporting documentation normally can be presented in one, or perhaps two, three-ring binders. It is not necessary or desirable to submit boxes of voluminous files.
2. [A.] Instructions to the administrator responsible for initiating the making the initial recommendation.⁽²⁾
   1. [4.] No later than four weeks prior to submission of a recommendation forwarding an application, request from the Office of Institutional Research a "Report of SPOT Question 16 by semester" for each RTP candidate in time to include that report with the recommendation Section IV of the application.
   2. [6.] Assemble, and consult, and take an advisory vote of the senior faculty of the school or department.
   3. [7.] Prepare, sign and date the Chair's Evaluation (Section VII of the recommendation application).
   4. [8.] Complete the Certification section (Section VIII of the recommendation application).
   5. [3.] Compose the recommendation to include Verify that the application includes the eight Roman-numbered sections specified in the prescribed format. Beginning with section IV, all required subcategories must be included as numbered. Any optional subcategories may be omitted, but those included should be numbered sequentially.
   6. [5.] Verify that all courses taught by the RTP candidate during the preceding two and one-half years are listed on that report, and sign the report to that effect.
   7. Notify the senior faculty of how the chair is recommending and append a separate senior-faculty recommendation, if any [see the process for such recommendations in the RTP Process document].
   8. [2.] Number the pages of the recommendation application.
   9. [1.] Submit 10 copies, each stapled or bound in some manner.
   10. Append one copy of the document checklist (.pdf format, Word document) as the dossier cover page.

Footnote

⁽¹⁾This policy does not apply to faculty tenured as assistant professors prior to April 2004.

⁽²⁾ Normally, this is the department chairperson.

• In the case of the School of Nursing, it is the chair of the School of Nursing Committee on RTP.
• In the case of Randall Library, it is the chair of the Randall Library Promotion Committee.
• In cases where the department chair is being recommended, the administrator responsible for initiating the making the initial recommendation is the college or school dean.