OSU Libraries & Press
Promotion & Tenure Review, Promotion in Rank Review, and Post-tenure Review Guidelines and Procedures
Approved July 2018
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- demonstrated effectiveness in teaching (see specific Teaching criteria), advising, service, and other assigned duties;
- achievement in scholarship and creative activity that establishes the individual as a significant contributor to the field or profession, with potential for distinction (see specific Scholarship criteria);
- appropriate balance of institutional and professional service (see specific Service criteria).
Promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor; is based upon evidence of the candidate's:
- distinction in librarianship, as evident in continuing development and sustained effectiveness in areas such as new and innovative teaching (see specific Teaching criteria), curricular development, innovative tools and applications, or new programs and initiatives
- distinction in scholarship and should produce a body of scholarship that demonstrates a consistent commitment to research (see specific Scholarship criteria). This body of work should extend the faculty member's research program to reflect collaboration beyond the OSU Libraries, a recognized reputation for expertise, significant impact on scholarship and practice in the relevant fields, and a willingness to tackle challenging topics. All the pieces should form a cohesive picture of the faculty member as a librarian and a researcher.
- exemplary leadership in institutional and professional service, and an appropriate balance between the two (see specific Service criteria).
- NOTE: Approved January 6, 2016
- NOTE: If a faculty member goes up for full professor, but is not granted the promotion, there is no penalty. The associate professor may try again after a suitable amount of time, if they so choose.
General Promotion in Rank Criteria for Instructor Faculty
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- have a sustained record of exceptional achievement and evidence of professional growth and innovation in assigned duties (including teaching; see specific Teaching criteria).
General Promotion in Rank Criteria for Faculty Research Assistant
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- have a graduate degree appropriate to the field in which the research activities are performed, or comparable educational or professional experience;
- demonstrate a high level of competence, achievement, and potential in research, or serve effectively in a position requiring high individual responsibility or special professional expertise;
- demonstrate a high degree of initiative in research and leadership among research colleagues in the department, as documented in authorship, management responsibilities, and creative approaches to research.
- If the duties include teaching, see specific Teaching criteria.
Promotion from Senior Faculty Research Assistant I to Senior Faculty Research Assistant II; the candidate must:
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For those without a significant amount of teaching as a part of their position (less than 25%), they should include a bullet point in their position description that states that student and peer evaluations will not take place. However, in the Libraries we have an interest in maintaining that all of our faculty positions do work that makes students/faculty more successful, so include a customized bullet that addresses this goal, as an example “The Cataloging Librarian supports student success and research productivity in their primary assignment by making it easy for OSU researchers to find and engage with high-quality information resources.” In addition, include the language “Because this position does not have a significant portion of time devoted to teaching or advising, the Student (or Client) Letter of Evaluation of Teaching and the Peer Review of Teaching Evaluation will not be included in the materials submitted for promotion.”
Specific Criteria for Promotion and Tenure or Promotion in Rank
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NOTE: Revised October 2019; for those who do not undergo the Teaching Evaluation processes, there is a template letter on the Shared Drive (/Shared\P-&-T\Form A, Waivers, and Signoff Forms) to be completed by the Executive Assistant to the Dean of Libraries and included in the dossier.
Research/Scholarship Criteria for Professorial Faculty
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- Professorial faculty seeking promotion to Associate Professor should have produced a minimum of five significant pieces of scholarship. Examples of significant pieces of scholarship include (but are not limited to): peer-reviewed journal articles, invited or peer-reviewed book chapter(s), invited papers at significant conferences or contributions to refereed conference proceedings, or edited books. In addition, the results of work-related projects (such as software code or curricular materials) may be considered significant if they are widely adopted and their impact on practice can be demonstrated.
- Articles in peer-reviewed journals should account for at least three of these significant pieces of scholarship. Peer-reviewed includes, but is not limited to, pre- or post-publication peer-review or critique. This type of scholarship should be published in journals appropriate to the faculty member's professional work and expertise.
- Recognizing that positions may evolve over the course of the pre-tenure period, it is imperative that the faculty member works with the supervisor to clearly articulate the major changes in duties and how those may impact research directions. These shifts will be documented and explained in the Promotion and Tenure Dossier.
- These expectations are generalized and do not ensure success in the promotion and tenure process. Every faculty member is responsible for articulating the purpose, value, and impact of their scholarly output.
Promotion from Associate Professor to Professor
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- Tenure-track and tenured library faculty have a responsibility to engage in scholarship and creative activity. Scholarship and creative activity are understood to be intellectual and applied work that takes diverse forms; are documented; have their significance validated through peer evaluation or critique; and, are communicated to external audiences in appropriate outlets.
- Scholarship and creative activity derive from many activities, including but not limited to:
- research contributing to a body of knowledge;
- development of new technologies, materials, methods, or educational approaches;
- integration of knowledge or technology leading to new interpretations or applications;
- seeking competitive grants and contracts (particularly when the grants are highly competitive and peer-reviewed) can be a component of achievement in scholarship;
- information or data discovery, integration, application, or the teaching of information/data concepts;
- work on steering committees, funding agency panels, and editorships where the documented outcome shows a fundamental change in the field's direction.
- Scholarly Communication
- As a faculty, we support open access to our research and recognize and value the changing nature of scholarly communications in academia. Faculty members consider access issues when choosing where to publish. We prefer journals and other outlets that protect our rights to share our work broadly over those publishers and venues who limit them.
- Scholarship Expectations
- Faculty are expected to demonstrate continuous scholarly productivity and to communicate that scholarship to appropriate audiences. Doing so allows scholarly work to mature and for its impact to develop. Typically, faculty produce at least one significant piece of scholarly output annually, throughout their career.
- All the pieces of scholarly output should form a cohesive picture of the faculty member as a librarian and a researcher. New faculty will benefit from discussing research directions with their supervisor and/or mentor. Often these are refined or revised as the research develops and the position's duties evolve.
- Audience
- Library faculty communicate their work to build new knowledge and to have an impact on the collection, management, preservation, and use of information at OSU and beyond. The audiences and the relevant communication modes may vary for each piece of scholarship or creative activity. Scholarship relating to non-LIS disciplines is acceptable provided that the contributions to the discipline emphasize an aspect of the faculty's primary assignment or connect in some way to library and information science.
- Impact
- Impact of scholarly and creative work must include an articulation of the importance of the problem explored and is measured in a variety of ways including dissemination and use. Because impact indicators are difficult to interpret without context, it is important to provide descriptions of the nature and importance of the problem explored, and how the findings have impacted the conversation in the candidate's field. Evidence of the breadth of dissemination of the work can include both qualitative and quantitative metrics, e.g., descriptions of stories in the media, pageview statistics, h-index, or alternative metrics. Evidence of how peers and practitioners used the work can also demonstrate impact. Examples can include both qualitative and quantitative indicators of impact, e.g., citation counts, incorporation of the work into instruction or services, adoption of code, and requests for presentations and consultancies. Impact information can appear both in the CV and in the Candidate's Statement portions of the dossier.
- Collaboration & Authorship
- The profession is highly collaborative by nature and this is reflected in our approach to scholarly endeavors. We value collaboration because many of the issues we research require a variety of expertise to explore and provide meaningful solutions. Faculty document their contributions to collaborative scholarship so that their unique roles and contributions are highlighted and understood. Individual research projects and scholarship are also valued, but not more so than collaborative work. Faculty are also encouraged to document the contributions to scholarship for which they may not be listed as authors, such as contribution of datasets, computer code, or survey instruments to subsequent scholarly products.
- NOTE: Adopted October 2011, Updated Spring 2016
Service Criteria for Professorial Faculty
- Communities: Members of the OSU Libraries faculty serve as engaged participants in the evolution of the Libraries and Press and in the governance of the University. We are involved with shaping and strengthening the library, information science, and archives professions. We apply our expertise and skills to the needs, issues, and challenges of the University, and our local, national and global communities.
- Expectations: Service is an important professional value for librarians and archivists, and OSU Libraries' service expectations for faculty reflect this. Candidates for promotion should be able to show growth in their service record over the period being evaluated. We recognize that service roles and assignments may be opportunistic. Our expectations revolve around demonstration of growth and willingness to accept opportunities as they arise, within the time allotted for service in the position description. Faculty are expected to broaden and deepen their networks of service and influence as they move through their career. They may do so by:
- Demonstrating leadership growth by holding progressively more responsible service positions (within their respective communities). Examples of progression include but are not limited to:
- Serving on a committee (college, university, union, or professional association) and then chairing it.
- Organizing workshops, institutes, or similar meetings for ever broader or more varied audiences at the state or national levels
- Serving in elected leadership roles of increasing responsibility within a professional organization.
- Being active in a local professional organization, and then moving to a regional or national association.
- Increasing impact on the profession through policy development, grant funded projects and collaborative efforts. Examples include:
- Serving on a consortium task force and being a catalyst for a significant policy or operations decision.
- Successfully pursuing grant or funding opportunities that support meaningful policy or services.
- Building a reputation for expertise within a professional community or subfield. This may include such activities as:
- Delivering invited workshops or presentations at professional meetings, professional development events, etc.
- Serving as a manuscript or article reviewer for professional publications.
- Serving on journal editorial boards, or conference program committees.
- Consulting on work relevant to professional expertise at OSU, in Oregon or nationally.
- Collaborating within the university. Some examples of this:
- Developing relationships across the university by serving on committees and task forces external to the OSU Libraries and Press.
- Serving as an advisor or mentor to students and student groups beyond regular teaching duties.
- Representing the university to the local, regional, national and international audiences.
- Demonstrating leadership growth by holding progressively more responsible service positions (within their respective communities). Examples of progression include but are not limited to:
- Evaluation and Impact: To meet this requirement, OSU Libraries and Press faculty should clearly demonstrate:
- How their service record demonstrates professional growth, as outlined above.
- How their service record benefits the OSU Libraries & Press, the OSU community, the citizens of Oregon, and their professional community.
- Context: The University's Promotion and Tenure Guidelines simply state that successful candidates have "an appropriate balance of institutional and professional service" and define this as "significant impact on one's academic unit and/or professional community as reflected in awards, involvement in significant university service (elected and appointed), leadership in professional organizations (elected or appointed)." As members of a land grant university, the OSU Libraries' faculty are committed to service to advance the library, institution, state, and profession. We work with a variety of communities and constituents depending on our professional interests, duties and expertise. Consequently, the service component of our work is variable, but the outcome is shared. We do this by actively engaging with appropriate audiences and communities and demonstrating the impact of that engagement.
- NOTE: Adopted March, 2017
Procedures for Reviews
Levels of Review
Academic faculty candidates for promotion and tenure or promotion in rank go through multiple levels of review, including "unit" review and "college" review. Promotion and tenure resides in the academic unit, which for OSULP faculty is the library. The OSULP Promotion and Tenure Committee review is the equivalent of the "unit" review in OSU colleges. Since OSULP is not part of a college, the necessary "college" level review is done by the OSULP Senior Review Panel and the Dean of Libraries. Additional review is provided by the supervisor along with review of teaching by unit peers, review of teaching/advising by students, and review of scholarship and service by external peers. Final decisions on promotion and tenure for professorial faculty are made by the OSU Provost and Executive Vice President, but the primary responsibility for evaluating the candidate's performance and recommending promotion and tenure rests with OSULP academic faculty and the Dean of Libraries. Final decisions on promotion in rank for instructors and faculty research assistants are made by the Dean of Libraries.
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Processes for Promotion & Tenure or Promotion in Rank Review
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- The supervisor, in consultation with other supervisors, reviews the final results of the mid-term review with the faculty member and discusses issues or concerns raised during the review. A copy of the review and the recommendations, signed by the faculty member, the supervisor and the University, is placed in the individual's personnel file.
REVISED: July 2024
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Promotion to Associate Professor and Indefinite Tenure Review
Dossier preparation by the candidate typically takes place during several terms preceding submission at the end of Summer term of the fifth year of probationary appointment, though teaching reviews will generally take place earlier. Candidates work with a mentor (if applicable) and their supervisor to prepare the dossier. The candidate will be gathering student evaluation of teaching, consultation, advising, or mentoring data for each year leading up to dossier submission. OSULP interprets "students" to be constituents, internal or external to OSU, for whom the candidate has provided instruction, consultation, advising, or mentoring. As applicable, during the fifth year of probationary appointment, the candidate will collect student names and email addresses for student review of teaching/consultation/advising/mentoring letters.
By March 1
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- *NOTE: exact deadline posted on OSU P&T website
- The Dean of Libraries submits the completed dossier to the Office of Faculty Affairs to be reviewed by the campus Promotion and Tenure Committee. In addition, a copy of the completed dossier is placed in the Libraries' personnel files.
- When all necessary reviews and discussions have been completed, the Provost and Executive Vice President will make the final decision on promotion and indefinite tenure.
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In the case of a negative decision, the basis for the denial will be stated, along with information on the right to appeal. Faculty not approved for promotion and tenure by the Provost and Executive Vice President may appeal to the President within two weeks of receipt of the letter announcing the decision. Extenuating circumstances, procedural irregularities that were not considered by the Provost and Executive Vice President, and factual errors in the evaluations are grounds for appeal. When appealing, the candidate should write a letter to the President stating which of the above criteria for appeal applies, and stating the facts that support the appeal. No other supporting letters will be considered. The President has the right to request additional information.
After the University level review is finished, the complete dossier is retained temporarily in the Office of Faculty Affairs. The dossier is subsequently returned to the Dean of Libraries, typically at the start of the next academic year. After confidential letters have been removed, the dossier is retained as part of the faculty member's personnel file.
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Promotion to Full Professor:
Dossier preparation by the candidate typically takes place during Spring and Summer preceding submission, though teaching reviews will generally take place earlier. Candidates work with their supervisor to prepare the dossier. The candidate will be gathering student evaluation of teaching, consultation, advising, or mentoring data for each year leading up to dossier submission. OSULP interprets "students" to be constituents, internal or external to OSU, for whom the candidate has provided instruction, consultation, advising, or mentoring. During the year preceding dossier submission, the candidate will collect student names and email addresses for student review of teaching/consultation/advising/mentoring letters.
By March 1
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- *NOTE: exact deadline posted on OSU P&T website
- The Dean of Libraries submits the completed dossier to the Office of Faculty Affairs to be reviewed by the University Promotion and Tenure Committee. In addition, a copy of the completed dossier is placed in the Libraries' personnel files.
- When all necessary reviews and discussions have been completed, the Provost and Executive Vice President will make the final decision on promotion and indefinite tenure.
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In the case of a negative decision, the basis for the denial will be stated, along with information on the right to appeal. Faculty not approved for promotion or tenure by the Provost and Executive Vice President may appeal to the President within two weeks of receipt of the letter announcing the decision. Extenuating circumstances, procedural irregularities that were not considered by the Provost and Executive Vice President, and factual errors in the evaluations are grounds for appeal. When appealing, the candidate should write a letter to the President stating which of the above criteria for appeal applies, and stating the facts that support the appeal. No other supporting letters will be considered. The President has the right to request additional information.
After the University level review is finished, the complete dossier is retained temporarily in the Office of Faculty Affairs. The dossier is subsequently returned to the Dean of Libraries, typically at the start of the next academic year. After confidential letters have been removed, the dossier is retained as part of the faculty member's personnel file.
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Post-tenure Review
A post-tenure review (PTR) is to be performed if (i) requested by a faculty member (ii) requested by the unit head or supervisor after one negative review or (iii) a faculty member receives two consecutive negative periodic reviews of faculty (PROF). A negative PROF is defined as receiving unsatisfactory assessment of one or more areas identified in the position description (e.g., teaching, scholarship, service, outreach). A negative PROF must always be followed by either a PTR in the same or following year, or a PROF in the following year to determine if sufficient progress has been made to overcome the deficiencies identified in the first PROF.
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The candidate may add a written statement regarding the review.
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Promotion to Senior Instructor I/II Review
Dossier preparation typically takes place during Summer and Fall terms preceding submission, though teaching reviews will generally take place earlier. Candidates work with a mentor (if applicable) and their supervisor to prepare the dossier. The candidate will be gathering student evaluation of teaching, consultation, advising, or mentoring data for each year leading up to dossier submission. OSULP interprets "students" to be constituents, internal or external to OSU, for whom the candidate has provided instruction, consultation, advising, or mentoring. During the year preceding submission, the candidate will collect student names and email addresses for student review of teaching/consultation/advising/mentoring letters.
Per Rick Settersten - Effective for the 2023-2024 promotion cycle, the University will no longer require external letters of evaluation for promotion to the ranks of (1) Senior Instructor I & II, (2) Senior Faculty Research Assistants I & II, and (3) Senior Research Associates I & II. This is a pilot year during which these letters will be eliminated, not optional. University Human Resources and the Office of Faculty Affairs will collect data and revaluate this decision at the conclusion of the AY23-24 promotion cycle.
The OSUL P&T committee will determine what updates should be made to our guidelines regarding the external review letter process after University Human Resources and the Office of Faculty Affairs have completed their evaluation of the change in external review letter process in 2024.
By March 1
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- Dean of Libraries makes the promotion in rank decision and communicates it to the Executive Assistant to the Sr. Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. Final decisions for promotions for Instructors will end with the Dean of Libraries.
- The candidate receives written notification of the promotion in rank decision.
- The Dean of Libraries may announce successful promotions to all library staff.
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Promotion to Senior Faculty Research Assistant I/II Review
Dossier preparation typically takes place during Summer and Fall terms preceding submission (though teaching reviews, if applicable, will generally take place earlier). The candidate works with a mentor (if applicable) and their supervisor to prepare the dossier. The candidate will be gathering, if applicable, student evaluation of teaching, consultation, advising, or mentoring data for each year leading up to dossier submission. OSULP interprets "students" to be constituents, internal or external to OSU, for whom the candidate has provided instruction, consultation, advising, or mentoring. During the year preceding submission, the candidate will collect student names and email addresses for student review of teaching/consultation/advising/mentoring letters.
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Peer Review of Teaching Coordinator
The Peer Review of Teaching Coordinator (Coordinator) is a tenured library faculty member and member of the Promotion & Tenure committee. The coordinator is typically selected by the new P&T Committee Chair and serves a one-year term, September - August.
Procedure for Peer Review of Teaching
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Per the OSU promotion and tenure guidelines, students will be invited to participate in the review of faculty for promotion and tenure. OSULP interprets "students" to include all constituents of the candidate's teaching audience, internal or external to OSU, for whom the candidate has provided instruction, consultation, advising, or mentoring. The following guidelines from the OSU Promotion & Tenure Guidelines (Student Letter of Evaluation section) have been modified for OSULP.
The purpose of the student evaluation letter is to document the student perspective of the candidate's effectiveness as a teacher, research consultant, advisor (if applicable), or mentor (if applicable). In order to provide the university with a consistent source of information for the process, the unit P&T committee and the unit supervisor should endeavor to organize student committees for faculty evaluation using the following process.
NOTE: the timeline below specifically addresses the Associate Professor and Professor reviews. Timeline modifications for Senior Instructor I/II review and Faculty Research Assistant I/II review are specifically noted in those timelines.
By March 15
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- The unit P&T committee and the supervisor jointly generate an additional list of student names taken from class lists of the courses, workshop attendees lists, research consultations, and advisees (if appropriate).
- The supervisor begins to request review letters from the combined list of students. Students graduating in June or August must be contacted before graduation. The supervisor may wish to work with Library Administration Executive Assistant to determine when students are graduating. An attempt should be made to request input from students whose collective experience represents the profile of the teaching, research consultation and advisory (if appropriate) duties of the faculty member. For example, if a faculty member teaches all undergraduate courses, it is appropriate for all letters to come from undergraduates. If the faculty member teaches, consults with or advises a mixture of undergraduate and graduate students, the chosen students' backgrounds should reflect that diversity in order to provide sufficient information to evaluate the candidate's performance.
- Letters to the students requesting the evaluative reference must inform the student as to who will see their review letters. Access to those letters will be determined by whether the candidate has signed a waiver of access. Students must also be informed that only signed letters will be used as part of the process. Sample letters are available on a restricted shared drive: Shared\P-&-T\Student_review_of_teaching\Sample_letters
- As a rule, one half of the letters should be from the list generated by the candidate and one half from the list generated by the unit. In practice, the supervisor and candidate work together to generate the list of student names.
- There is no specific minimum number of letters required. The total number of letters should be on the order of 4-12, depending on the complexity of the candidate's teaching duties.
- If an insufficient number of students agree to write letters, the P & T Committee and the supervisor should select an additional set of names from the existing lists and request letters from those students.
- Supervisor begins planning the formation of the Student Review Committee in order to have this committee in place by October deadline.
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Approved
- Revised May 7, 2010
Process for External Evaluation of Scholarship/Service
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To facilitate contact with the external reviewers, candidates should provide the following info for each external reviewer: Name, Title, Rank, Mailing Address, Phone, Email.
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Processes for Reviewing a Candidate for Hiring with Credit Toward Tenure or Hiring with Tenure
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Process approved 2023-03-07 and updated 2024-5-20
Formation of Review Committees
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The Special Review Committee members shall serve on the committee only for the duration of the review.
NOTE: Revised March 2019
Post-Tenure Review Committee
- Overview
- The Libraries' Post-Tenure Review Committee (PTR Committee) is a peer review group that conducts a critical, objective, and fair evaluation of each faculty member undergoing PTR. The PTR Committee forwards its review and recommendations to the Dean of Libraries and to the candidate's supervisor.
- Composition and Selection
- The PTR Committee shall be composed of library academic faculty who are at or above the rank of the faculty member being reviewed, who do not have conflicts of interest pertaining to the faculty member undergoing PTR
- The current P&T Chair shall initiate the election of the PTR Committee using a ballot listing those library academic faculty eligible for service. All members of the current P&T Committee and Senior Review Panel are eligible to vote.
- The PTR Committee shall also include a representative from outside the library.
- The external committee member shall be selected by the PTR Committee from a list of those faculty members at or above the rank of the faculty being reviewed. The list (at least three such faculty members) shall be provided by the faculty member undergoing PTR.
- Service
- Service on the PTR Committee shall be for the duration of the specific PTR only.
Appendix 1: COVID-Related Exceptions
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- 50 to 75% teaching & outreach appointment - 4-6 learning experiences
- 25 to 49% teaching & outreach appointment - 2-3 learning experiences
- 10 to 24% teaching & outreach appointment - 1 learning experience 1
1 This proposal is modified from the OSU Extension process: https://employee.extension.oregonstate.edu/resources/evaluation-assessment/electronic-community-evaluation-teaching-ecet
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