For Faculty
Introduction to Promotion and Tenure
712 Statements
Veterinary Population Medicine
Guidelines for Departmental Statements Required by Section 7.12 of Regulations Concerning Faculty Tenure
June 2003: Approved
I. Introductory Statement
This document describes with more specificity the indices and standards which will be used to evaluate whether candidates meet the general criteria in Section 7.11 of the Regulations. For a complete perspective, the reader is advised to review Section 7 in its entirety.
II. Departmental Mission Statement
This Department has a broad mission covering teaching, research and service as defined in Section 7.11 of the Regulations Concerning Faculty Tenure. In order to be granted tenure, a faculty member will be expected to meet Departmental expectations described below for each of these three responsibilities, with some variation according to the person's appointment.
Because there is diversity within the Department in the distribution of responsibilities between these areas, individual faculty members should ensure that they have a clear understanding from the Department chair of the expectations which are held concerning their specific positions. The Chair shall ensure that these expectations have been defined in consultations with Division Heads, the Director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, the Agricultural Experiment Station and Minnesota Extension Service in cases where the faculty member has a joint appointment. In most instances, discipline-related service will be considered as part of the basis for awarding indefinite tenure as described in Section III.C.
III. Criteria for Tenure
The following description summarizes specific criteria for tenure in each of the three areas of teaching, research/scholarly activity, and service, acknowledging that allocation of an activity to a single category is arbitrary because a number of faculty activities contribute under more than one of these headings.
A. Teaching
In order to be granted tenure, a faculty member must demonstrate competence in teaching students to a level where it can confidently be expected that he or she will be effective in communicating knowledge, skills and an inquiring and analytic approach throughout an entire academic career.Effectiveness in teaching is based on the following:
1. Quality of Teaching
This will be judged by peers who have been subjected to the same evaluation themselves and who will be aware of the high standards of teaching quality that are required. Faculty will be expected to take responsibility for developing and presenting lectures and laboratory classes within a defined area, and to take steps to help ensure that students understand the issues covered, by using appropriate aids to assist in the learning process. The exact nature of the teaching responsibilities will be influenced by the part of the curriculum in which the faculty member teaches. Faculty who have significant clinical teaching responsibilities will be judged on their clinical competence and ability to impart those skills to students, as well as on their ability to teach in a more formal academic setting. Faculty will be expected to show ability, energy and enthusiasm for the various teaching tasks which they carry out.In order for others to judge whether they meet responsible expectations for their stage of career development, faculty are responsible for providing documentary evidence for consideration. A teaching portfolio should always be included. This should include a statement on the faculty's teaching philosophy as well as course contents for all courses taught. Examples of teaching materials prepared for student use are informative. Documentation of efforts in curriculum development will also help to demonstrate desirable attributes in a good teacher.
2. Peer Evaluations
Peer evaluation based on the direct observation of the candidate's instruction and review of teaching materials used in the course can be an important indicator of teaching effectiveness. The Department Chair, with Departmental Divisions Heads, will arrange for this evaluation by ensuring that at least 2 tenured faculty are present and provide a written evaluation. This evaluation should be done annually during the probationary period.3. Student Evaluations
Student evaluations of at least one course per year should include results of a survey completed by a major portion of the students enrolled in a specific course. Individual faculty are responsible for either preparing their own evaluation forms or obtaining the appropriate evaluation forms from the departmental front office and for distributing the evaluations to their students. The report forms should appropriately identify the course name and number and students should be instructed to turn them into the Veterinary Population Medicine Department Office.4. Graduate Teaching and Advising
Another very important educational activity of the Department is provision of further training through graduate programs, and supervision of interns and residents. Every faculty member should aim to develop a role in these areas. Simple measures of this role include the number of students advised for graduate degrees or other forms of advanced training, the number of Graduate Examining Committees on which the faculty member has served, and effectiveness in recruiting suitable people into graduate training. Measures of quality include evidence of competence and effectiveness in advising students, special research techniques developed, contributions to the development of new research directions, and degree of stimulus provided to graduate students. Participation in teaching graduate courses and development of new initiatives in that area are also important activities.By the time faculty members are granted tenure they should have developed a role in graduate training sufficient to make them eligible for Associate Member status in a Graduate Faculty. They should have been reviewed positively, according to the guidelines of the graduate program, at least once by their graduate program.
5. Continuing Education/Extension
As part of their educational role, all faculty have some responsibility to inform the lay public of data of importance to them, through extension efforts. In the case of faculty with Extension appointments, this task is a clearly defined part of their central responsibilities. Provision of continuing education for professional groups is also an important responsibility, especially in a professional college, and faculty will be expected to participate in such activities as part of their duties.In judging contributions to continuing education and extension, the demand for the faculty member's services and the number of programs provided will provide a guide to effectiveness, and visible forms of recognition that a faculty member has high standing as a provider of these services will be taken into account. Results of evaluations of programs will be valuable in this regard. Innovative delivery methods, use of aids, originality of approach and other indicators of quality will be viewed favorably. Faculty with joint appointments, however, is reminded that quality performance in one area, either in Extension or the College, does not substitute for quality performance in the other.
B. Research and Scholarly Activity
In order to be granted tenure, faculty will be expected to develop and demonstrate independent research capacity. Granting of tenure commits the University to the faculty member in a contractual arrangement for a lengthy period, and should be based on clear evidence of capacity to contribute in an original fashion throughout that career, through the development of scholarly activity which influences teaching and other duties as well as directly contributing to knowledge.Various forms of evidence will contribute to demonstrating this capacity. Submission of grant applications provides evidence of determination to succeed in research, and success in attaining funding shows capacity to identify productive research and to write persuasive and technically sound proposals. Given the severe competition for funding, probationary faculty should expect to have to submit a substantial number of applications to obtain funding. Evidence of persistence and growth in grant writing skills is important. In general, probationary faculty are expected to submit at least 3 grant proposals per year (or a lesser number of large grants).
Production of quality scholarly publications is a key measure of academic ability. Publication in refereed journals gives unequivocal evidence that the research findings are accepted as scientifically defensible by peer scientists in the specialty area, and provides a common measure of quality across different fields. Faculty should therefore aim to publish in such journals on an adequate scale to satisfy evaluators that they can meet scientific standards in their field. The number of papers required to demonstrate this will depend on the nature of the research and the scope of each publication. However, a minimum of 10 papers published or accepted in scientifically reviewed publications, during the probationary period, is expected. Both publications and grant submissions should reflect the faculty member's attempt at establishing an independent research program. Significant collaboration in joint research efforts will also be positively considered.
Faculty members in a clinical/diagnostic department draw on two major sources for their research productivity studies in which material is obtained in the course of clinical and other service activities, where the research is primarily observational in nature, and structured research which tests a scientific hypothesis and requires a research worker to design and implement an investigational approach to a problem. Both of these methods can make important contributions to knowledge if carefully applied, but each faculty member should ensure that they complete some studies of the second type since these demonstrate that they can effectively use all of the components of the scientific method.
Books, book chapters and review articles are scholarly products that will be weighed appropriately in any evaluation process. For faculty with Extension appointments, extension publications of substance will provide important complementary evidence of ability to carry out that scholarly function. Book chapters and review articles will usually be computed at a 1.5:1 ratio with scientifically reviewed articles. Patents obtained will be valued at a 1:2 ratio with scientific publication. Software programs will be weighed equally with scientifically reviewed publications. Invited presentations at national and international meetings as well as scientific abstracts will also be viewed as positive contributions.
When a faculty member is being evaluated for tenure, the provision of at least three sample publications of the author's choosing to the evaluators will provide them with a method of assessing quality and type of publication.
C. Service
1. Discipline-related Service
Faculty in a clinical and diagnostic department frequently carry significant service responsibilities. These additional responsibilities may include non-teaching clinical work, diagnostic laboratory services and disease investigations (especially as consultative services to practicing veterinarians). The provision of such service is an important mission of the University and hence a necessary part of the responsibilities of many faculty. Essential to the recognition of service as a factor in granting of tenure is that the individual must be developing original scientific insights germane to specific types of problems in the course of conducting service work, so that the style and standard of service offered within the profession is potentially raised as a consequence. In reviewing this aspect of a faculty member's performance, therefore, evaluators will look for innovativeness and openness to new concepts and approaches. Probationary faculty should provide information of the actual number of cases/year attended by them or their influence in a services caseload. Practicing DVMs utilizing the service provided by faculty should be surveyed as an indicator of quality of service.2. Service to the profession, University, and community
Faculty may consult on a broader scale to organizations, professional groups and individuals where expert advice is needed. Contributions of special expertise to organized veterinary medicine also fall under this category. In addition, faculty will be expected to contribute to the governance of the Department, the College and the University. Such activities are essential, but do not in themselves represent qualifications for tenure. By the time a faculty member is granted tenure it is expected that he or she will be making significant service contributions. Time spent performing service to the profession, University, and community will be considered when weighing quantity of teaching, research and discipline related service productivity, but performance of administrative duties will not be used as a substitute for quality in each of the three criteria.D. External Review
In addition to the above the candidate is to be evaluated upon the following: Letters from authorities in the candidate s field assessing the candidate s scientific contributions, particularly to determine whether or not the candidate would be considered for promotion and tenure at the reviewers home institute.
IV. Promotion
A. To Associate Professor
Promotion to the rank of Associate Professor is usually associated with a decision concerning tenure and thus should meet the standards for tenure.B. To Professor
For promotion to Professor, in addition to criteria used for Assistant and Associate Professor appointments, evidence is sought for a national-international reputation based on the quality of contributions made by the candidate. It may include numerous invitations to national-international symposia, elections to prestigious scientific organizations and holding of offices in societies. Evidence of a continuous research publication record should also be provided. The establishment and quality of a training program for pre- and post-doctoral trainees that has resulted in placing trainees in academic and industrial positions in their fields will be considered. Faculty being considered for promotion to full professor should have full membership in their graduate program.External Review
Letters from authorities in the candidate's field assessing the candidate's scientific contributions, particularly to determine whether or not the candidate is among the leaders in his/her field.
V. Procedures
The Department complies with the Procedures for Reviewing the Performance of Probationary Faculty as provided by Sections 16.3, 7.4 and 7.61 of the Regulations Concerning Faculty Tenure and distributed annually by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Promotion and tenure procedures timeline:
August 15
Department P&T subcommittee meets to review probationary and contract faculty, tenured associate professors and P&A employees.September 1
Chair meets with faculty and P&A employees requesting to go forward and/or for individuals the P&T subcommittee have recommended P&T action to discuss promotion process.October 1
Faculty and P&A employees submit updated CVs and Annual Report of Accomplishments (ARA).October 15
Department faculty and appropriate P&A employees review CVs and Annual Report of Accomplishments and then vote to recommend which individuals should prepare promotional dossier.Individuals going forward for promotion or tenure begin to prepare promotional dossier.
October 15 - December 1
Chair works with individuals to prepare dossier and obtain external review.November 1
P&T subcommittee complete draft of Form 12 documents for all probationary and contract faculty.December 1
Department Tenured faculty review dossier and vote on promotion and/or tenure of faculty under consideration.December 15
Chair completes letter of evaluation and dossier is submitted to Dean's Office.