Faculty

Tenure and Promotion - Faculty
(Articles XXII & XXIII)

Eligibility: You are eligible for tenure after three or more years of tenure-track service at WSU, or after two years of such service if you also have three years of credited prior service. Credited service must be agreed upon between the faculty member and the dean of his/her college during the faculty member’s first year at Wayne.

School of Medicine: Typically in non-clinical departments in the School of Medicine, tenure is granted at 100%. However, in the clinical departments of the School of Medicine there may be appointments of clinical faculty with fractional tenure at no less than 25% but less than 50% of full tenure.

Criteria: As with your Annual Reviews, evaluation of your candidacy for tenure shall be based primarily on your performance in teaching and scholarship, measured against the specific considerations of your department/division and college. Each department shall delineate those factors most relevant to evaluation of a candidate’s qualifications. Consideration will also be given to your non-instructional service to the department, college, university, and/or profession. A tenure candidate who holds the rank of assistant professor should (except in extraordinary cases) be qualified for promotion to associate professor at the time he/she is recommended for tenure. The contract specifies that there shall be no ranking of recommendations of candidates for tenure from a unit, and there shall be no fixed proportion of tenured to non-tenured faculty in any unit.

Evaluation: At each level of the process, evaluation of your candidacy for tenure is conducted by elected committees as well as administrative personnel:

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Departmental Tenure and Promotion (T&P) Committee.

A committee of tenured faculty elected by faculty in that department (or the entire tenured faculty if a department chooses this method) will evaluate your application for tenure or promotion. The contract specifies that faculty holding administrative positions above the unit and in the reporting line shall not be eligible for election. The unit chairperson will chair the T&P Committee without vote. A two-third’s affirmative vote is required for the T&P committee’s recommendation to be forwarded to the department chairperson, who will attach his/her written assessment and forward both documents to the dean/ director of the school/ college.

School/ College Tenure and Promotion (T&P) Committee.

The school or college T&P Committee (elected from tenured faculty in the school or college) will evaluate candidates recommended for tenure by their department’s T&P Committee and/or by their department chairperson. The Committee may also initiate recommendations for promotion if the school or college does not have departments. The T&P Committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the dean/ director, who will attach his/her written assessment and forward both documents to the President or his/her designee.

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University Faculty Tenure and Promotion Committee.

A university-wide T&P Committee established by joint appointment of the Academic Senate Policy Committee and the Provost shall advise the President on tenure and promotion cases for which he/she seeks counsel, and for those cases where his/her decision is not to grant tenure or promotion. If the committee by a two-thirds vote disagrees with the decision to deny tenure or promotion, its recommendation will be forwarded to the President for his/her consideration. The President retains the ultimate right to grant or deny tenure and promotion.

Appeals: You can appeal a negative recommendation of your departmental T&P Committee and/or chairperson and appear before the committee, if you so choose. If the Committee and/or chairperson reaffirms their negative decision, you may still have your request for tenure forwarded to the dean/ director of the school/ college, and may designate two tenured faculty to appear before the school/ college T&P Committee on your behalf. A negative decision at the level of the school/ college can be appealed for reconsideration as well. If reaffirmed, it cannot be appealed to the President or the University T&P Committee, unless the school/ college is the initiating unit for the promotion request.

Grievances: If you and the union believe that a negative recommendation was based on the exercise of your constitutional rights, violation of due-process, or on violation of the procedures specified in the Agreement, you can file a grievance. If the grievance proceeds to arbitration and the arbitrator finds such violations occurred, the case will be submitted to the University T&P Committee and to the Provost or other designee of the President. Within six months of receiving the recommendation of the Committee and the Provost/ designee, the President will send you written notice of his/her decision. The President’s decision is final and not subject to further appeal or grievances.

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