Last Revised: June 2004

• Introduction
• Areas of Assessment
• Means of Assessment
• Criteria for Tenure and Promotion
• Preliminary Review
• Procedure for Promotion and Tenure
• Amendments to the Guidelines

Candidates for promotion and tenure in the Department of English are assessed according to the procedures set forth in these guidelines for promotion and tenure, which are supplementary to the bylaws of the department. Every current full-time member of the department faculty, and every newly appointed member, shall be provided with an up-to-date copy of the bylaws and guidelines, and all members are assumed to be familiar with their provisions.

The authority to confer tenure and to approve promotion resides with the provost. The senior vice president is advised by the University Committee on Rank and Tenure, which in turn receives recommendations from the deans and academic departments.

In the Department of English, the responsibility to make recommendations concerning promotion and tenure is shared among the appropriate voting members of the faculty, the elected council of the department and the chairperson. The Department Council consists of seven members elected as follows: two professors, one associate professor and one assistant professor, elected by their peers at those ranks; one professor, one associate professor and one assistant professor, elected at large by all the voting members of the department (See Bylaws, III. Department Council).

These guidelines are subject to the provisions of the faculty handbook, which will supersede the former in cases of apparent conflict. All revisions of the guidelines must be approved by the appropriate deans, the committees and the provost.

Candidates for promotion and tenure in the Department of English are expected to have engaged in teaching, scholarship, and service to the department, to the university in its appropriate units and/or to the profession. Each of these activities is described below.

Teaching

Teaching duties in the Department of English consist of regular meetings with groups of students as listed in the schedule of courses and its amendments. Classes in English are in composition, literature and language; they are scheduled in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School. On occasion, members of the faculty teach individual students in "Special Studies" or "Independent Studies" courses, so listed in the course schedules. They may also, on occasion, teach courses for other departments and programs in the university.

Teaching includes posting and maintaining regular office hours and otherwise making oneself available for individual consultation on matters pertaining to one's courses; advising students more generally on curricular and other pertinent matters; proposing new courses; creating course materials; participating in peer teaching evaluation groups; conducting independent studies; supervising graduate theses and dissertations; serving on thesis and dissertation committees; and serving on examination boards of the department.

Scholarship

Five sorts of activity are relevant: (1) published or publishable work in composition, language, and literature in such generally recognized modes as historical, biographical, social, bibliographic, and textual scholarship; (2) published or publishable work in criticism and theory of composition, language, and literature; (3) published or publishable creative writing—e.g., poetry, fiction, drama—nonfictional prose or essays; (4) published reviews of work in the three categories listed above; (5) presentation of papers, or participation in panels, at recognized professional meetings, or by invitation, at other institutions.

Service

In this category we include membership on departmental, college, and university committees; advising student groups or moderating student activities (e.g., publications and student clubs); internal presentations; organizing conferences; developing Websites; administrative service in department, college, and university; offices held in professional organizations; such professional service as reading manuscripts for journals or publishers and evaluating candidates for promotion and tenure within the department or at other universities; membership on college and university evaluation teams; and community service and other activities consistent with the mission of the department and its programs.

Teaching

Teaching is assessed in several ways: (1) the chairperson or a delegate visits the classes of each untenured member at least once a year until the member is considered for tenure. The chairperson or delegate prepares a written report after each visit and discusses its contents in a conference with the teacher. The report is placed in the member's file in the department. (2) All courses taught in the department are evaluated by students using approved departmental forms; at the end of the semester the evaluations are read by the chairperson, who inserts a summary of them into the teacher's file and may rely on them in part when preparing the Annual Faculty Assessment. The forms are then passed to the faculty member; untenured faculty must keep their forms until tenure has been granted. (3) Other pertinent information concerning teaching includes results of surveys of graduates; the variety of courses taught; the number of dissertation and examination committees served on; new courses proposed; teaching materials developed; participation in peer evaluation groups; and evaluations of teachers and courses conducted by programs and schools of Loyola.

In addition to these instruments of assessment, candidates for promotion and tenure are encouraged to submit a portfolio of materials related to their teaching. Such portfolios may include the following items: course syllabi, selected assignments and handouts, statements outlining the candidate's teaching philosophy, materials documenting the development of new courses, or any other materials the candidate feels ought to be assessed.

Because information from chairperson's visits, student evaluations, and student surveys is part of the chairperson's files, it is the responsibility of the chairperson to assemble this material for the consideration of the members of the Department Council.

Scholarship

At the time of consideration for tenure or promotion, the candidate shall submit published and unpublished work for consideration by the voting members. Where unpublished material is submitted, the candidate shall also provide whatever documentation may be available that would assist in assessing its scholarly value (e.g. readers' reports, publishers' letters, advice from highly reputed scholars in the field).

The chairperson shall request written evaluations of the candidate's scholarship. These shall total four, one written by a senior member of the department and three written by external evaluators. The chairperson shall ask the candidate to submit names of qualified external reviewers in his or her field of expertise. The chairperson shall select at least one external reviewer from among those suggested by the candidate and at least one on the basis of consultation with the Department Council and members of the department in the candidate's field. Both internal and external evaluations shall be submitted to the consideration of the voting members of the department and the Department Council.

Service

Ordinarily a candidate's services to the department, the university and the profession are matters of public record. It may be necessary for the chairperson to ask those acquainted with the candidate's service (e.g., chairs and members of committees) to estimate the quality of it.

A Note Regarding Annual Faculty Assessment

Annual Faculty Assessment forms and subsequent interviews with the chairperson enable members of the department to gauge their own progress towards promotion or tenure on a regular basis. However, the assessment forms play no formal part in the process of consideration for promotion or tenure.

To devise an exact formula of qualifications for any member to be recommended for tenure or promotion would be harmfully restrictive and misleading, both for a candidate and for those members of the department who participate in making these recommendations. Individual candidates present their own "mix" of qualities. In all cases, the department seeks to retain and promote good teachers and good scholars who will comfortably surpass any set of minimal standards. At each level—untenured and tenured—and at each rank, members of the faculty are expected to maintain an appropriate balance among the activities of teaching, scholarship, and service.

It is necessary to emphasize in particular that no specific quantity of published material can guarantee a favorable recommendation for tenure or promotion. The department seeks evidence that a candidate has produced scholarly, critical, or creative work that has merited favorable recognition in the profession through acceptance and/or publication. Departmental evaluation of the quality of this work is an essential component of the recommending process, and is recognized as such in the bylaws.

Nevertheless, in most cases four or five articles, or a book, would be required. Professional and scholarly work in electronic or other media may also be presented. If the faculty member is at work on a long-term project (e.g., a monograph, edition, or bibliography), he or she may submit the incomplete or unpublished manuscript for consideration. In all cases, the department values the quality of scholarly work (as judged by the departmental and external evaluators) above the quantity of such work.

A. Criteria for Tenure

The most important criterion bearing on a recommendation for or against tenure is the long-range interest of the department and, by extension, of the university. The other criteria applied by the Department of English—teaching and service to students; scholarly or creative achievement; and service to the department, the university, and the profession—are weighed in the context of the present needs and long-range plans of the department. Candidates for tenure, like other members of the department, are expected to maintain appropriate professional relations with other members of the university community, including respectful treatment of students, colleagues and staff.

In decisions of promotion and tenure, the Department of English at Loyola places emphasis on a member's teaching and on his or her scholarship; service and the willingness to serve and perform administrative tasks are important but cannot generally be a substitute for success in teaching and scholarship.

Both teaching and scholarship are important: (1) because members of the department spend an overwhelming proportion of their time instructing undergraduates and because those students make up and will continue to make up the principal clientele of the university, the faculty must strive to provide outstanding instruction, for which continuing scholarship is necessary, to promote the intellectual and cultural growth of the undergraduate student body; and (2) because the department offers graduate programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees and because every member can have a reasonable expectation of participating in those programs within several years of his or her appointment, the faculty must be involved in scholarship to promote its intellectual and professional growth and that of the graduate as well as the undergraduate student body.

Teaching and Service to Students

The department recognizes that styles of teaching vary according to the personal attributes of each individual teacher. Furthermore, even with the assistance of chairperson's visits and student evaluations, it is impossible to make a precise measurement of a teacher's effectiveness. Nevertheless, it is possible to make an informed judgment, based on weight of evidence, whether a candidate is evidently dedicated to teaching or evidently little interested in it; whether students find a teacher well-organized, informative, clear, and interesting, or not; whether a teacher has a reputation as an available and effective counselor and advisor, or not; whether a teacher returns papers and examinations promptly and with helpful comments, or not. Such criteria as these will be used in consideration of a teacher's effectiveness.

Scholarship

Quality of published research will be assessed according to such criteria as approach, scholarly basis, originality, manner of presentation, and perceived importance of the published material to the candidate's field; reputation of the journals and/or presses publishing it; reception by the profession, as evidenced by published reviews or citations of the candidate's work; and promise of future productivity.

Tenure is normally granted only to faculty members whose performance gives evidence of scholarship and productivity which, if sustained, would merit eventual promotion to the rank of professor.

Unpublished material may also be presented for consideration. This material will be evaluated according to such standards as perceived worthiness of publication, soundness and promise of future achievement.

Service

Service to the profession, as officer in national or regional organizations, as editor of a professional journal, as manuscript reader, or the like, is considered important evidence of professional standing. Service to the department and to the university is expected when it is asked, within reasonable limits of a faculty member's time and ability. Willing, competent, and energetic service on departmental or other committees, in appointive or elective positions and at such functions as forums or student recruitment days, is looked upon favorably in tenure deliberations.

B. Promotion to Associate Professor

Ordinarily a candidate will be recommended for promotion to the rank of associate professor when recommended for tenure, but in some cases a faculty member may be promoted to associate professor earlier. A recommendation for early promotion to associate professor implies that a candidate has, in a time briefer than will permit a judgment for tenure, demonstrated his or her teaching ability and his or her scholarly, critical, or creative accomplishment by means of publications or work in other media that in their number, scope, depth or significance constitute clear evidence of maturity in the profession. Such publication constitutes one, but not the only, criterion for tenure, which is a more comprehensive estimate of the faculty member's capabilities together with department needs.

C. Promotion to Professor

For promotion to the rank of professor, a candidate must have continued to make significant contributions to the department, the university and the profession in the areas of teaching and service. The most important requirement for promotion to the highest academic rank is, however, distinguished scholarly, critical, or creative achievement since the time of promotion to the rank of associate professor. Ordinarily this achievement takes the form of an additional authored book, or scholarly edition, or number of substantial articles. As with tenure and the promotion to the associate professorship, but at a higher level, the exact quantity of published material is not the sole determinant; there must be unmistakable evidence that the candidate has made, and continues to make, important contributions to his or her field of knowledge.

During the third year as an assistant professor, a candidate shall have a preliminary review of his or her progress towards tenure. The review is conducted by the tenured members of the department and of the Department Council to determine whether the faculty member is making appropriate professional progress towards the final tenure review. The preliminary review is advisory to the candidate and to the chairperson, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the provost.

For faculty hired at the rank of associate professor and coming up for tenure in their third year, no preliminary review will be conducted. If the probationary period agreed upon at the time of hiring is longer than three years, a preliminary review will be conducted during the faculty member's third year.

For the preliminary review, a candidate for tenure will be asked to supply a letter discussing his or her teaching, service, and research and scholarship or creative work; a curriculum vitae; copies of all published work and works in progress that are ready for review; and other pertinent material as specified by the provost. These will be examined by the tenured members, by the Department Council, and by the chairperson.

On the basis of the review, the chairperson will discuss with the candidate his or her progress toward meeting the departmental requirements for tenure. The chairperson shall also send a written summary of the evaluation to the faculty member and to the dean. This statement becomes part of the candidate's departmental file. The dean also provides the chairperson and the candidate with his or her own recommendation.

Requests for promotion are normally initiated by the chairperson. Any faculty member may, however, request that he or she be considered for promotion, or may nominate another faculty member for promotion. Ordinarily tenure review is determined by years of service; in special cases a faculty member may request that he or she be considered early for tenure.

Each candidate for tenure, or for the rank of professor or associate professor, is asked by the chairperson to submit a letter, curriculum vitae, and any other supporting materials on the basis of which the candidate is to be considered. The letter, curriculum vitae, and supporting materials, including the chairperson's statement quoting student opinions of the candidate's teaching, as well as four evaluations of the candidate's scholarship or creative work by three external and one internal evaluator particularly qualified in the candidate's area, are distributed to all the eligible voting members of the department, as defined below. Offprints and copies of other scholarly or creative work by the candidate, as well as student evaluations, are made available in the offices of the department for the inspection of the eligible voting members. All voting members are expected to review these materials.

The chairperson calls a meeting of all eligible voting members (see below), the purpose of which is to discuss the candidate's teaching, scholarship or creative work, service, and any other matters relevant to the application. No voting takes place at this meeting. Proceedings of this meeting are strictly confidential.

The chairperson calls for a written vote of the eligible voting members to be received soon after the meeting. Eligibility is determined in this manner: all tenured members are polled on a candidate for tenure; the professors and associate professors are polled on a candidate for promotion to associate professor; the professors are polled on a candidate for promotion to professor. They are asked to vote in favor of the candidate's application, or not in favor, or to abstain. They may add to their votes letters explaining their reasons, and are in fact urged to do so. All letters, which are to be signed, are treated with strict confidentiality by the Department Council.

The Department Council now reviews the written poll of the eligible voting members, the evaluations of scholarship, and whatever other evidence can be gathered. No member of the council of a rank equal with, or lower than, that of the candidate will take part in the discussion of, or voting on, that case. On the basis of all this information, the council makes a recommendation to the dean of the college. The chairperson attaches to the recommendation of the Department Council his or her own recommendation, the result of the poll of the faculty, and the evaluation of scholarship.

The chairperson shall keep the candidate informed at each stage of this process. A faculty member may voluntarily withdraw from the promotion or tenure review process at any time, in accordance with the provisions of the faculty handbook. Effective dates of promotion and tenure, and all rights of appeal from these decisions, are also described in the faculty handbook.

Amendments to the guidelines may be proposed in writing at any time by any voting member. The entire document shall in any case be reviewed every five years beginning in 1997/98. Changes become effective when approved by two thirds of the voting members of the Department, and when ratified by the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the appropriate committees and the provost.