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Faculty Promotion and Tenure

College of Health and Human Sciences Faculty

Many university documents describe and govern the system for the promotion of faculty to higher professorial ranks and the award of tenure to faculty. This page (https://hhs.purdue.edu/faculty-staff/promotion-and-tenure/) includes links to the most essential of those documents. As indicated by the headings for the six sections below, several documents state the policies for faculty promotion and tenure, indicate the procedures for making promotion and tenure decisions, and describe the criteria for promotion. Other documents provide instructions for faculty candidates for promotion who are preparing the document that is reviewed by promotion committees. Still other documents provide information specifically for tenure-track and tenured faculty, clinical/professional faculty, and research faculty. A final set of documents outlines the specific criteria for promotion for faculty in each HHS department and school.

A. Promotion Policies, Procedures, and Criteria

  1. ACADEMIC TENURE AND PROMOTION (POLICY I.B.2) 
    This is the most general document regarding the University’s policy about faculty promotion. Although the policy states that it affects only tenure-track and tenured faculty because clinical/professional and research faculty are not eligible for tenure, the sections of the policy that deal with faculty promotions to a higher rank are relevant to all categories of faculty. Therefore, all HHS faculty should be familiar with this policy. (Last updated on 12/17/2021)
  2. OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR GRANTING ACADEMIC TENURE AND PROMOTION
    This document supplements Document #1 and describes the promotion procedures used throughout the Purdue University system. Some sections of this document are relevant to all categories of faculty. (Last updated on 11/15/2022)
  3. STRUCTURE OF PROMOTION COMMITTEES FOR THE WEST LAFAYETTE CAMPUS
    This brief document specifies the structure and function of faculty promotion committees on the West Lafayette campus. (Date of retrieval 8/28/2023)
  4. COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES PROMOTION AND TENURE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
    This document describes aspects of the promotion process that are specific to HHS.  In particular, it describes the functioning of the primary committee in each HHS unit and of the college-level promotion committee called the HHS Area Committee. (Last updated on 8/22/2023) 
  5. CRITERIA FOR TENURE AND PROMOTION FOR THE WEST LAFAYETTE CAMPUS
    This document specifies the general criteria for faculty promotion and then elaborates on the criteria for judging a promotion candidate’s excellence in discovery, learning, and engagement.  The entire document is relevant to tenure-track and tenured faculty.  Most clinical/professional faculty will find the section on learning to be most relevant.  Research faculty will find the section on discovery to be most relevant. (Last updated on 1/1/2019)

B. Promotion Documents

  1. NOMINATION FOR PROMOTION (PRESIDENT’S OFFICE FORM 36)
    The Form 36 is the first page of every promotion document. (Last updated in 2011)
  2. INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE WITH FACULTY PROMOTION FORM 36
    These instructions are both for the Form 36 and for the format and content of the rest of a promotion document. (Date of retrieval 8/28/2023)
  3. INFORMATION ON HHS PROMOTION DOCUMENTS
    The PowerPoint slides in this document supplement the instructions in Document #6.  For example, the slides include detailed instructions for reporting students’ evaluations of a promotion candidates’ teaching.  They also explain how to report grants that a promotion candidate has received. (Last updated on 8/24/2023)
  4. TEACHING EVALUATION TEMPLATE FOR 2019-20 AND BEFORE
    This Excel template is for reporting in a promotion document, students’ evaluations of a promotion candidate’s teaching. (Last updated 5/18/2021)
  5. TEACHING EVALUATION TEMPLATE FOR 2020-21 AND BEYOND
    Because of a change in the University’s system for teaching evaluations, a different Excel template is used for reporting students’ evaluations of a promotion candidate’s classes in 2020-21 and beyond. (Last updated on 5/18/2021)
  6. INCORPORATING DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION IN PROMOTION DOCUMENTS
    This document provides examples of achievements in diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with suggestions for how to incorporate such achievements in a promotion document. (Last updated on 8/17/2022)
  7. SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR HHS UNIT HEADS ABOUT FACULTY PROMOTION DOCUMENTS
    This document is primarily for unit heads. Among other things, it provides guidance for obtaining letters from outside referees about promotion candidates’ accomplishments. (Last updated on 7/7/2023)
  8. SPREADSHEET FOR INFORMATION ABOUT PROPOSED EXTERNAL REFEREES
    This Excel spreadsheet is for submitting a list of proposed external referees for a promotion candidate to the HHS associate dean for faculty affairs in order to obtain the required approval by the dean. (Last updated 6/23/2023)

C. For Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty

  1. TENURED AND TENURE-TRACK FACULTY
    This memo from the provost, which is specifically for tenured and tenure-track faculty, is updated every spring. (Last updated on 5/25/2023)
  2. EXTERNAL LETTER-WRITERS FOR THE UPCOMING ROUND OF PROMOTION AND TENURE, AND LANGUAGE FOR THE MESSAGE SOLICITING LETTERS
    This memo from the provost is specifically for tenured and tenure-track faculty. (Last updated on 4/6/2023)

D. For Clinical/Professional Faculty

  1. CLINICAL/PROFESSIONAL FACULTY
    This version of the provost’s memo is specifically for clinical/professional faculty.  (Last updated on 5/25/2023)
  2. CLINICAL/PROFESSIONAL FACULTY APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION (VI.F.10)
    This University policy is mostly about the appointment of clinical/professional faculty, but it includes a few comments about their promotion. (Last updated on 6/1/2022)
  3. PROCEDURES FOR APPOINTING AND PROMOTING CLINICAL/PROFESSIONAL FACULTY
    Some details about the promotion of clinical/professional faculty are stated in this document. (Last updated on 7/1/2014)

E. For Research Faculty

  1. RESEARCH FACULTY
    This version of the provost’s memo is specifically for research faculty. (Last updated on 5/25/2023)
  2. RESEARCH FACULTY APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION (VI.F.8)
    This is the version for research faculty of Documents #1 and #14. (Last updated on 7/1/2023)
  3. PROCEDURES FOR RESEARCH FACULTY APPOINTMENT, REVIEW, AND PROMOTION
    These guidelines supplement the previous document. (Last updated on 7/1/2023)

F. Criteria for Promotion for Faculty in Each HHS Unit

The HHS promotion policy requires unit heads to work collaboratively with their faculty to prepare documents that summarize the criteria for promotion in the unit.  The current document or documents for each unit are listed below.

HEALTH AND KINESIOLOGY

  1. Criteria for Promotion for Tenure-Track, Tenured and Clinical/Professional Faculty (Last full revision Fall 2016; Amended 5/1/2023)

HEALTH SCIENCES

  1. Criteria for Promotion for All Categories of Faculty (Last full revision 2/2/2024)

HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT

  1. Criteria for Promotion for Tenure-track and Tenured Faculty (Last full revision 5/5/2021; Amended 4/6/2023)
  2. Criteria for Promotion for Clinical/Professional Faculty (Last full revision 4/6/2021; Amended 4/6/2023)

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY SCIENCE

  1. Criteria for Promotion for Tenure-track, Tenured and Clinical/Professional Faculty (Last full revision 1/31/2023)

NURSING

  1. Criteria for Promotion for Tenure-track and Tenured Faculty (Last full revision 12/11/2019; Amended 3/30/2023)
  2. Criteria for Promotion for Clinical/Professional Faculty (Last full revision 12/11/2019; Amended 3/30/2023)

NUTRITION SCIENCE

  1. Criteria for Promotion for Tenure-track and Tenured Faculty (Last full revision 5/1/2023)
  2. Criteria for Promotion for Clinical/Professional Faculty (Last full revision 5/1/2023)

PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES

  1. Criteria for Promotion for Tenure-track and Tenured Faculty (Last full revision 3/23/2023)
  2. Criteria for Promotion for Clinical/Professional Faculty (Last full revision 3/23/2023)

PUBLIC HEALTH

  1. Criteria for Promotion for Tenure-track, Tenured, and Clinical/Professional Faculty (Last full revision 2/22/2021; Amended 4/24/2023)

SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING SCIENCES

  1. Criteria for Promotion for Tenure-track and Tenured Faculty (Last full revision 5/2/2023)
  2. Criteria for Promotion for Clinical/Professional Faculty (Last full revision 5/2/2023)