Boise State University

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

PROMOTION AND TENURE GUIDELINES 

[Website address: http://cobe.boisestate.edu/govern/index.htm]

Adopted December 1988

Revised January 2000

Revised May 2002

Revised May 2004
Revised May 2006

I. PREAMBLE

A. PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY

1. While there are many rewards for performance at Boise State University, two of the most important to a faculty member's career are the awarding of faculty rank and tenure. The faculty reward structure in general, and the promotion and tenure criteria in particular, help determine the character of the institution. Both the substance and the perceived fairness of the promotion and tenure process influence faculty morale, faculty relationships with their students and colleagues, their perceptions of their role in the university and broader community, and their perceptions of themselves.

2. A set of guidelines governing the awarding of promotion and tenure must be consistent with the overall goals of the institution. Further, the guidelines must provide clear criteria both to those seeking promotion and tenure and the administrators and faculty committees who must evaluate their applications. Such criteria must be sufficiently specific to ensure that faculty members understand the nature of their responsibilities and that faculty promotion and tenure committees and administrators can make judgments that remain consistent even as different people occupy such positions of responsibility. However, the criteria must leave ample room for professional judgment on the part of faculty committees and administrators since each candidate for promotion or tenure presents a unique set of characteristics and services to the college and university.

3. Promotion and tenure guidelines must be perceived to be a mechanism for encouraging and rewarding excellence. They are based on the presumption that faculty members are already highly motivated and that they look to the promotion and tenure guidelines for direction as they seek to serve in ways most valuable to the college and university.

B. RELATION TO STRATEGIC PLAN

1. The College of Business and Economics has developed a strategic plan, which sets forth the goals and objectives it will pursue. The plan defines two major strategic objectives, which encompass the three areas of professional activity undertaken by faculty: teaching, research and scholarly activity, and service. The strategic objectives imply that improved and enhanced efforts are anticipated in these three areas.

2. The purpose of this document is to set forth the College of Business and Economics Promotion and Tenure Guidelines, which, through their application, will contribute to the achievement of the College's strategic objectives. Thus faculty members should be fully cognizant of the College's Strategic Plan.

C. RELATION TO UNIVERSITY PROMOTION AND TENURE GUIDELINES

1. The University guidelines for faculty promotion (5330-B Faculty Promotion Guidelines) and tenure (5340-B Faculty Tenure Procedures) can be found in the Boise State University Policy Manual, located on the web at http://policy.boisestate.edu/index.asp.

2. The purpose of these College of Business and Economics guidelines is to make more explicit the types of activities faculty members are expected to undertake in order to receive a favorable tenure and/or promotion recommendation (to the University) from the College of Business and Economics. Thus, the guidelines complement, but do not supersede, the University requirements.

D. RELATION TO COBE ACADEMIC WORKLOAD POLICY DOCUMENT

1. The College of Business and Economics has developed an Academic Workload Policy document that explicitly describes the relationship between the College’s workload policy and this COBE promotion and tenure document. The description in the COBE Academic Workload Policy of the relationship between the two documents is as follows:

a. “The academic workload policy document differs from the promotion and tenure document in that this [workload] document provides standards for measuring faculty inputs in the areas of teaching, scholarly contribution, and service, while the promotion and tenure document provides standards for assessing outcomes in areas of teaching, scholarly contribution, and service. This [workload] document addresses faculty efforts in generating work product. The promotion and tenure document provides standards to assess the quality and quantity of the work product.”

II. EVALUATION AREAS
A faculty member's performance in the following three areas will be evaluated: teaching, research and scholarly activity, and service. Each of the areas is briefly described below.

A. TEACHING
Teaching, which can occur in a variety of forms and settings, is the act of imparting knowledge and motivating others to learn and discover. In a university setting, teaching is naturally and inexorably linked with research and scholarly activities leading to knowledge acquisition and creation.

B. RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY
Research and scholarly activity are the pursuit of knowledge through critical and exhaustive investigation and experimentation as well as the analysis, synthesis, and application of existing knowledge. In a university setting, knowledge acquired and created through research and scholarly activity manifests itself through written and oral communication with peers as well as in an enhanced ability to impart knowledge through teaching. In the broadest sense of the term, scholarly activity reflects the faculty member's intellectual contribution.

C. SERVICE
Service consists of professional activities other than teaching and research and may be divided into three areas: 1) professional service, 2) institutional service, and 3) public or community service.

1. Professional service consists of service to academic and professional organizations, which have direct ties to a faculty member's academic areas of interest.

2. Institutional service consists of service to the University, the College of Business and Economics, and to the department.

3. Public or community service involves professional service (including consulting) to local, regional or national organizations, public or private.

III. PERFORMANCE CRITERIA AND ELIGIBILITY
To be recommended for promotion in rank and/or tenure, the applicant must demonstrate how he/she has contributed to achieving College of Business and Economics goals in the areas of teaching, research and scholarly activity, and service.

A. GENERAL PROCEDURAL GUIDELINES

1. A faculty member wishing to apply for promotion and/or tenure must normally have an earned doctorate (or equivalent terminal degree). In addition, the candidate must have completed a specific number of years of experience as defined in the Boise State University Policy Manual.

2. A faculty member who is eligible for promotion and/or tenure shall, together with his/her department chair, compile pertinent data necessary for evaluation. All evaluation information, together with the department chair’s recommendation, shall be made available to the Promotion and Tenure Committee and administrators by October 15.

B. EXPECTATIONS FOR ACADEMIC RANK AND TENURE
The quality of a candidate's performance in the areas of teaching, research and scholarly activity, and service determines whether a candidate shall be recommended for promotion and/or tenure. This section describes the criteria on which a recommendation for promotion to each rank and/or tenure will be based.

1. Promotion to Assistant Professor

a. To be promoted to assistant professor, a candidate must have completed the relevant terminal degree and show promise in the areas of teaching, research and scholarly activity, and service. Assistant professor is an entry-level rank in which academics gain their initial experience and begin to establish themselves as teachers and scholars.

2. Promotion To Associate Professor

a. To be promoted to associate professor, a faculty member must be an accomplished teacher. The candidate must have established an initial pattern of significant research and scholarly activity including publication in peer-reviewed journals. These two criteria represent the most significant elements of the faculty member’s mission at Boise State University. The faculty member must also have a record of providing high quality service. However, service cannot be considered in place of or substituting for teaching and/or scholarly activities.

b. An applicant must have five years of appropriate experience, and may apply for promotion during the fifth year. At least two of these years must be acquired at Boise State University. A year or more of professional experience in one's discipline outside an academic environment may be substituted for one year of the above five.

3. Promotion to Professor

a. The rank of Professor represents the highest academic achievement which can be attained. A candidate for full Professor is expected to have achieved additional distinction clearly above that of an Associate Professor.

b. Candidates for the rank of Professor shall be advanced for promotion only when their records clearly demonstrate outstanding performance and commitment to both teaching and scholarly activities; these two criteria represent the most significant elements of the faculty member’s mission at Boise State University. The candidate's research and scholarly activities, including peer-reviewed publications, must demonstrate that he/she is an established scholar. The candidate must have a service record which shows leadership and dedication in taking on important roles in institutional maintenance and development and in the life of the wider community.

c. An applicant must have at least eight years of appropriate experience and may apply for promotion during the eighth year. At least three of these years must be acquired at Boise State University and must be in the rank of associate professor. A year or more of professional experience in one's discipline may be substituted for one year of the above eight.

4. Granting Academic Tenure

a. The awarding of tenure commits University resources for extended periods. Tenure decisions affect the long-term quality of the institution. Thus, the tenure recommendation is based both on the candidate’s past performance in the areas of teaching, research and scholarly activity, and service, and on an assessment of the candidate’s potential for continued performance in these areas during future years. In addition, a tenure decision must involve questions about dedication, collegiality, and participation in a life of scholarship.

b. A candidate for tenure must have a clearly established record as an accomplished teacher. It must be clear that the dedication to students is a part of the faculty member’s established professional pattern and that this pattern will continue. Similarly, a pattern of research and scholarly activity must be an integral part of the candidate's professional life. A candidate must also have established a solid record of service and must demonstrate a commitment to continued service.

c. A faculty member normally becomes eligible for promotion and tenure during his/her fifth year of service. All faculty members, regardless of rank, must apply for tenure no later than during the sixth year at Boise State University. If a faculty member applies for tenure before his/her sixth year and does not receive tenure, then he/she shall remain in the status of non-tenured faculty. Such a non-tenured faculty member may reapply for tenure unless the university decides that a terminal contract is appropriate. However, if a faculty member does not receive tenure by the end of his/her sixth year, then the faculty member’s next contract shall be a one-year, terminal contract unless the department chairperson and the Dean of the college, school, or division recommend that the individual be placed on an appointment as an adjunctive faculty member. A faculty member must be judged qualified for promotion to the rank of associate professor to be considered qualified for tenure. A faculty member may apply for promotion and tenure in the same year.

d. Under extraordinary circumstances and in compliance with BSU Policy 5340-B, up to two years of appropriate experience outside BSU may be counted as a part of the above five.

IV. EVIDENCE WHICH MAY BE USED IN SUPPORT OF AN APPLICATION FOR PROMOTION OR TENURE
It is the faculty member’s responsibility to compile the documentation supporting his/her application for promotion and/or tenure. This section illustrates the types of documentation which might be used to support a candidate’s application.

A. TEACHING

1. Faculty teaching assessments may be based on three categories of educational accomplishment:

a. Teaching effectiveness

b. Course and curricular improvement

c. Teaching development

2. In the teaching assessment process, faculty should be credited for contributions in each of these areas.

3. The teaching assessment process should de‑emphasize competitive rankings based on student evaluations and incorporate other qualitative contributions related to these three areas.

4. Examples of the kinds of evidence that may be considered for each category include:

a. Teaching Effectiveness

(1) Student evaluations (required)

(2) Evaluations by the department chairperson (required)

(3) Peer evaluations

(4) Letters from former students or others who have knowledge of the candidate's teaching performance

(5) Testing of students' abilities to carry out tasks indicated by course outcomes

(6) Other examples of outcome measures of teaching effectiveness are acceptable

b. Course and Curriculum Improvement

(1) Evidence of activities designed to improve quality of teaching; e.g., through use of innovation in instruction/testing, learning activities, revising objectives, technology use, maintaining currency, and development of "immersion" learning opportunities.

(2) Evidence of activities designed to improve quality of curriculum; e.g., participation in or cooperation with teaching‑related committees, coordinating/developing multi‑section courses, incorporating cross‑cutting competencies, increasing accessibility and/or responsiveness, and reinforcing/building on student’s previous learning.

(3) Evidence of service to students outside of class; e.g., through advising or mentoring

c. Teaching Development

(1) Evidence of continuing professional development; e.g., participation in teaching conferences and workshops, development of technology skills pertinent to teaching, and visiting comparison institutions.

B. RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY

1. Both the quality and quantity of scholarly work will be considered. It is the candidate’s responsibility to demonstrate that the quality and quantity of research documented in his/her application merit promotion and/or tenure.

a. Examples of the types of evidence which demonstrate research and scholarly activity include (but are not limited to):

(1) Articles in refereed journals

(2) Books or research monographs

(3) Chapters in books or monographs

(4) Other published articles

(5) Papers presented at academic conferences and/or published in proceedings

(6) Published book reviews

(7) Participation as a paper discussant or panel discussant at academic conferences

(8) Grants and contracts for research and scholarly activities

b. Examples of the types of evidence which demonstrate the quality of research and scholarly activity include (but are not limited to):

(1) Peer review of the candidate’s scholarly work

(2) Acceptance rates and stature of the academic journals in which the candidate’s work has been published

(3) Citation of candidate’s scholarly work or other recognition in the candidate’s discipline

(4) Letters from respected professionals in the candidate’s discipline

(5) Professional recognition by scholars in field area

(6) Professional reputation (both inside and outside the University)

C. SERVICE

1. Service consists of professional activities other than teaching and research and may include one or more of the following activities: 1) professional service, 2) institutional service, and 3) public or community service. Examples of service include:

a. Professional Service:

(1) Holding offices in a national, regional, or local academic organization

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