Chairs, directors, deans, review committees, and staff all play essential roles in the tenure and promotion (T&P) process. These resources provide guidance for how to best advise and review candidates.
Tenure and Promotion Guide
The Tenure and Promotion Guide, which is updated annually in January, is a master compendium of policies and processes for all tenure and promotion events. This webpage (and its counterpart for candidates) replicates some of its information for the sake of easy accessibility.
For information on the context of writing evaluations of performance amid the many impacts of COVID-19, please read Guidance on COVID-19 and Tenure and Promotion Evaluations.
For information about the distinction in processes between tenure-track and nontenure track faculty, please view the candidates page.
Guidelines for Conducting Remote Tenure and Promotion Reviews
With many units meeting remotely to consider tenure and promotion cases due to COVID-19, the University Tenure and Promotion Committee and the Office of Faculty Affairs have jointly developed guidelines for such meetings. If you have any questions about meeting remotely, please contact the Office of Faculty Affairs at facultyaffairs@unlv.edu.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is a key element of the tenure and promotion review process for all involved, including faculty reviewers, chairs, deans, and other administrators. The links below provide instructions for how to complete the mandatory Confidentiality Acknowledgement and more context for the role of confidentiality in the process.
All review committee members must review, sign, and forward a signed Confidentiality Acknowledgement form to their dean, chair, or director.
- Download the document: Confidentiality Acknowledgment form
- Fill it out. Note that date will auto-populate from the dropdown arrow on the right edge of the box. Please indicate the unit whose committee you are serving on, with no abbreviations.
- Save it with the filename:
- “ConfidentialityAcknowledgment_LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_YEAR.pdf”
- Email it to your chair, director, or dean (leader of whatever unit whose committee you are serving on).
- Go to your unit’s folder in X/Groups/Promotion & Tenure.
- Find the subfolder name “Confidentiality Agreements”.
- If one does not already exist, create a subfolder in it with the name of the year the review takes place in (i.e., “2019” would be for committee reviews conducted in 2019, with new rank effective 7/1/2020).
- Save the confidentiality agreements you have received in that subfolder.
This brief video contains important information about confidentiality in the tenure and promotion promise, and much more. Viewing it satisfies the training required outlined in the Confidentiality Acknowledgement.
External Reviews
The external review process is now conducted entirely within UNLV Folio. See the Tenure and Promotion Guide for complete details of how to solicit reviews using Folio. The below links will be helpful in selecting and soliciting reviewers.
Notification of Application and Case Creation
Notifications about applications for all tenure and promotion cases must come from the candidate’s dean’s (or director’s) office. Information needs to be supplied via the Request for Case Creation Form.
For tenure-track candidates and those being evaluated on the tenure-track timetable (research faculty), the Office of Faculty Affairs needs to be supplied all the information by March 1 of the year in which the candidate is being reviewed for tenure and/or promotion. For lecturer and faculty in residence, the Office of Faculty Affairs must be notified by September 1 of the year in which the candidate is seeking promotion.
Cases will not be created, and reviews will not be conducted, if the necessary information is not received by the Office of Faculty Affairs by the deadline. All promotion cases will be held over to the following year.
The Office of Faculty Affairs also creates cases for midtenure and midpromotion reviews. To have a case created, please use the Midtenure and Midpromotion Case Creation Qualtrics Survey
Submitting Supplemental Achievements
If a candidate becomes aware of a major achievement after sending their tenure and/or promotion case forward for review (on or before September 1), they are to notify their chair or supervisor (or their designate), who will download and complete this form:
After filling out and saving the pdf, the chair/supervisor will then upload it to the “Supplemental Documents” section of the candidate’s tenure and/or promotion packet. It will be visible to the candidate and all subsequent reviewers.
Please note that the above procedure is the only appropriate method for notifying reviewers and administrators of achievements not documented in the candidate’s initial application. Candidates are advised not to send articles, notifications, or other information to members of committees or the administration.
Informing Candidates about Progress
Per the UNLV Bylaws (III.6.4), while the process is ongoing, candidates must be notified if a negative recommendation has been made.
If a department recommends against tenure and/or promotion, the department chair is responsible for notifying the candidate—this is also true when the chair themselves makes a negative recommendations.
If a college committee recommends against tenure and/or promotion, the dean is responsible for notifying the candidate—this is also true when the dean themselves makes a negative recommendations.
Candidates must be informed about the negative recommendation at the same time as the requisite administrator is moving the case forward: i.e., when the chair moves the case to the college level, or the dean to the university level. When notifying the candidate of the negative recommendation, the administrator should inform them that a negative recommendation was made, and the party that did it (i.e., department, college, chair, or dean). The administrator should not disclose the vote (if applicable) or the reasons for the denial.
A candidate with a negative recommendation at the university level will be notified by the Provost.
There is no mandate that candidates be advised when the case is moved forward with positive recommendations, but it is permissible to inform them of this, as long as the confidentiality of all deliberations is maintained.
Key Dates
Tenure Track Faculty
- January: Faculty members notify their department chair/unit director or dean of their intent and begin planning for the submission of their application.
- March 1: The dean’s office notifies the Office of Faculty Affairs of the college’s tenure and/or promotion candidate for the upcoming year. OFA staff then create the cases for the candidates by April 1. Even before the case is created, candidates can update their activities.
- May 1: Candidate submits preliminary application through UNLV Folio. By this point, all activities should be up to date, with the external waiver, research/creative portfolio, and any other materials required for external review submitted. Candidates can still add to and edit materials in their cases (including the impact statement).
- May-June-early July: Chair or other designated administrator solicits and receives external reviews via UNLV Folio.
- May 15: By this date, chairs and personnel for all department/unit and college tenure and promotion committees must be selected and OFA notified to grant them access in UNLV Folio.
- July 15: External review letters are strongly encouraged by this date.
- September 1: or when the department faculty begin their review (whichever is earlier): Last date when candidate can add to or edit materials in their case. After this time, candidates can ask their chairs to submit Supplemental Achievement Notifications to the Office of Faculty Affairs.
- October 1: Last date on which a candidate can request a Supplemental Achievement Notification.
- First Friday in October: Deans “send” tenure and promotion cases forward for review by the University Tenure and Promotion Committee.
- October - December: The University Tenure and Promotion Committee begins their review of cases
- December 3: The University (Faculty Senate) Tenure and Promotion Committee provides recommendations to the President and Executive Vice President and Provost.
- July 1: The new rank of all faculty members who received promotion becomes official.
Nontenure-Track Faculty
For lecturers and faculty in residence, much of the process is unit determined, with these key deadlines:
- September 1: The Office of Faculty Affairs must be notified by the dean’s office of all candidates.
- December 1: All application materials, and recommendations from the unit, chair/director, and college due to the dean.
- January 15: All application materials with all recommendations, including that of the dean, are due to the Office of Faculty Affairs, with no exceptions.
- July 1: All promotions become official
Questions
The promotion and tenure process is managed by the Office of Faculty Affairs. Questions regarding the process can be directed to facultyaffairs@unlv.edu or to a member of the Office of Faculty Affairs staff.
Janet Dufek, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
Phone: 702-895-0702
Email: janet.dufek@unlv.edu
Allison Sahl, Director of Faculty Services
Phone: 702-895-4890
Email: allison.sahl@unlv.edu