Faculty Affairs
Faculty Retention Tenure and Promotion
The university is committed to a fair, open process that emphasizes institutional support and mentoring with the goal of developing teaching excellence, professional growth and a commitment to service in every faculty member. In order to provide a supportive environment for a new faculty member, new probationary faculty members are assigned faculty mentors and develop a probationary plan. A new faculty member is expected to take full advantage of the support services.
Probationary Period: The normal probationary period before a decision related to tenure is six years. Faculty may be appointed with up to two years of service credit reducing the probationary timeline.
Probationary Plan: The probationary period should be one of professional growth and development in addition to being a period of evaluation. The purpose of probationary plans is to communicate the standards, criteria, and expectations of all levels of review (the department, college/school, and university ) during the probationary process and to provide clear, consistent, supportive, accurate, and dependable communication to the probationary faculty member. The department and the probationary faculty member share responsibility for establishing clear goals for the probationary period through the preparation of a probationary plan.
Retention and Tenure Review: Appointment or reappointment with tenure is the most important personnel decision made by the university regarding an individual faculty member. Tenure is not a right of a probationary faculty member or solely a reward for services and accomplishments during the probationary period. A decision in favor of tenure will be based upon evidence that indicates the faculty member will continue to be a valuable and productive colleague throughout their academic career. The university makes this decision with great care based upon documentation gathered and analyzed during the probationary period, and provided in the faculty member’s WPAF (Working Personnel Action File also referred to as RTP File).
Most probationary faculty members will have a six-year probationary period. The first year is dedicated to getting “your feet on the ground and running.” The probationary plan is developed and reviewed by all levels of the university review process.
Full probationary reviews will occur in the second, fourth and final probationary years. Documentation in the WPAF is reviewed against the expectations outlined in the probationary plan to determine if and how much progress is being made to achieve the criteria outlined in the probationary plan. In the sixth and final year, the WPAF is reviewed against the probationary plan expectations to determine if the criteria outlined in the probationary plan have been met.
The probationary reviews take place at the department, college/school and university levels ending with the Provost, who makes the decision regarding your future status. Prior to the Provost, all review outcomes are recommendations.
If submitting a Promotion case or Early Tenure, please request the specific case
Information page with processing and forms
RTP Comprehensive Presentation
Addition of materials after the deadline (CBA 15)
Insertion of materials after the established deadline(s) set by the President each
year is:
a) limited to materials that became accessible after the deadline,
and
b) subject to approval for insertion by the University Board on Retention, Tenure
and Promotion (UBRTP). Faculty submitting additional materials must initially submit the request (at any time prior to the Provost’s decision)
to the Office of Faculty Affairs for routing.
Following approval for insertion by UBRTP, material inserted in this fashion shall be returned to the initial evaluation committee for review, evaluation and comment before consideration at subsequent levels of review.
This provision does not affect requests for additional information or clarification from committees or administrators, recommendations, reasons, responses, etc., placed in the WPAF pursuant to university procedures in the normal course of the RTP process.
Retention, Tenure or Promotion Policies
- APM 324 Policy on Probationary Plans and Faculty Mentoring
- APM 324a Sample Probationary Plan Template (October 2018)
- APM 325 Policy on Retention and Tenure
- APM 327 Policy on Promotion
- APM 114 Policy on Faculty Consultation and Voting
- CBA Article 13 Probation and Tenure
- CBA Article 14 Promotion
Evaluation Policies
- APM 322 Policy on Teaching Effectiveness (also refer to departmental policies on Teaching Effectiveness)
- APM 323 Policy on Personnel Files
- CBA Article 15 Evaluation
- CBA Article 11 Personnel File
- Off-Year Review Process by College/School
Resources
Sample Department Chair memo Word
Sample Probationary Period Reviews by Service Credit PDF
Link to request a case such as Promotion or Early Here
Promotions for consideration during 2023-2024 were Promoted to Associate effective: 2019-2020. APM 327 Policy on Promotion
To request a Promotion case or Early Tenure / Promotion case click here to complete the request form.
To add work to Library's CSU Repository ScholarWorks
Forms (Note some are no longer needed for eWPAF)
Required
- Department Chair Memo Sample Word
- Inventory Form Word
- Link to Off-Year Review tables for reference
- New Student Ratings Summary Table/Chart (requested) Excel
Informational / Optional
No longer needed
- Cover Page/Title Page: Word
- Binder Spine: Word
- Access Log: PDF
- Table of Contents: PDF
- RTP Application: PDF
- Probationary Plan Signature Page: PDF
- Retention Recommendation Form: PDF
- Tenure and Promotion Form: PDF
- Promotion Only Form: PDF
Probationary Plan Template - redesigned version Fall 2018: PDF
Redesigned to have: Table of contents, standard font, and heading formats, moved purpose and history to the beginning, added faculty information page, and appendix.
Addition of materials after the deadline (CBA 15)
Insertion of materials after the established deadline(s) set by the President each year is:
- a) limited to materials that became accessible after the deadline,
and - b) subject to approval for insertion by the University Board on Retention, Tenure and Promotion (UBRTP). Faculty submitting additional materials must initially submit the request (at any time prior to the Provost’s decision) to the Office of Faculty Affairs for routing.
Following approval for insertion by UBRTP, material inserted in this fashion shall be returned to the initial evaluation committee for review, evaluation and comment before consideration at subsequent levels of review.
This provision does not affect requests for additional information or clarification from committees or administrators, recommendations, reasons, responses, etc., placed in the WPAF pursuant to university procedures in the normal course of the RTP process.
Off Year Review Resources
- President's Memo Regarding Off-Year Review (3/12/2007)
College Forms and Policies
College of Arts and Humanities - CAH Memo | Form in Word
College of Health and Human Services - CHHS Memo | Form in Word
College of Science and Mathematics - CSM Memo | Form in Word
College of Social Sciences - COSS Memo | Form (updated 11/2019)
Craig School of Business - CSB Memo | Form in Word
Library - HML Memo | Form in Word
Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology JCAST Memo | Form in Word
Kremen School of Education and Human Development - KSOEHD Memo | Form in Word (updated Fall 2010)
Lyles College of Engineering - LCOE Memo | Form in Word
Student Affairs - Student Affairs Memo | Form in Word updated 9/16/2009
Documents are in pdf format unless otherwise noted. The latest version of Adobe Reader is recommended.