Ordinarily, the annual reviews of probationary faculty follow the six-year timetable described in the next section. However, a faculty member may ask for an early review for promotion and/or tenure, or a shorter timetable may have been specified in the offer of appointment. Exceptions to the six-year timetable are described in this section.
Faculty first appointed at mid-year
For a faculty member first appointed at mid-year, the tenure timetable begins at the start of the next academic year. The DEO must submit an evaluation of teaching during the first semester of appointment and an assessment of communication competence, in accordance with University policy (Operations Manual, III-13).
Extensions of the probationary period
A faculty member who qualifies for an extended probationary period submits a request for extension to the DEO, who forwards it to the Dean’s Office with their recommendation. The Dean considers the request and forwards it to the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs with a positive or negative recommendation. The Associate Provost make the final determination.
A request for an extended probationary period that reaches the Office of the Provost by July 1 will affect the probationary review conducted during the subsequent academic year. For example, an extension requested in the summer following the second year of the standard six-year probationary period would delay the third-year contract-renewal review by one year.
An extension does not change the normal criteria for a tenurable record, nor does it imply that the faculty member will be held to a standard higher than the one they would have had to meet if the tenure decision had been made in the year when it was originally scheduled. On the other hand, an extension of the probationary period does not guarantee that the faculty member’s contract will be extended through the year in which the tenure decision is due.
Under a directive from the Associate Provost for Faculty and CLAS policy, if a candidate for tenure has received an extension of the tenure-clock, a statement to that effect must be read aloud at the start of the first meeting of the departmental promotion and tenure committee for that candidate and again at the start of the first DCG meeting. The paragraph may be read by the DEO or by the chairs of the respective committees. The currently approved language for that statement is as follows:
- The extension granted is a University policy-based adjustment owing to a specific career-development impediment and the extension neither changes the normal criteria for a tenurable record nor implies that the candidate should be held to a standard higher than the one they would have had to meet if the reappointment or tenure decisions had been made when they were scheduled originally.
Grounds for extension
Per university policy (Operations Manual, III–22.8): For each minor child (e.g., biological, adopted, stepchild, or by guardianship) added to the family of a probationary faculty member from two years prior to the initial appointment through September 1 of the tenure decision year, and upon relevant notification, the faculty member's probationary period shall be automatically extended twelve months per child (up to two children). Extensions for the addition of more than two children may be considered under the Discretionary Extensions provisions (e)(ii). It is a faculty member's responsibility to notify their DEO, who forwards the request to the Area Associate Dean, of the relevant qualifying event that activates the automatic extension of the faculty member's tenure clock, as described in the Policy Manual.
The tenure clock may in some cases be delayed when a faculty member takes an approved unpaid leave without fringe benefits for personal or professional reasons.
Probationary faculty occasionally have their original tenure timetable extended because of a significant but temporary impediment to the usual pattern of productivity expected of a tenure-track faculty member—for example, on account of serious illness.