OSU Libraries & Press
Promotion & Tenure Review, Promotion in Rank Review, and Post-tenure Review Guidelines and Procedures
Approved July 2018

Table of Contents


Table of Contents
Preliminary Remarks
General Criteria for Promotion and Tenure or Promotion in Rank
General Promotion and Tenure Criteria for Professorial Faculty
Promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor and awarding of tenure; is based upon evidence of the candidate's:
Promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor; is based upon evidence of the candidate's:
General Promotion in Rank Criteria for Instructor Faculty
Promotion from Instructor to Senior Instructor I; the candidate must:
Promotion from Senior Instructor I to Senior Instructor II; the candidate must:
General Promotion in Rank Criteria for Faculty Research Assistant
Promotion from Faculty Research Assistant to Senior Faculty Research Assistant I; the candidate must:
Promotion from Senior Faculty Research Assistant I to Senior Faculty Research Assistant II; the candidate must:
Specific Criteria for Promotion and Tenure or Promotion in Rank
Teaching Criteria
Research/Scholarship Criteria for Professorial Faculty
Promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor
Promotion from Associate Professor to Professor
Context
Service Criteria for Professorial Faculty
Procedures for Reviews
Levels of Review
Processes for Promotion & Tenure or Promotion in Rank Review
Mid-term Review
Promotion to Associate Professor and Indefinite Tenure Review
Promotion to Full Professor:
Post-tenure Review
Promotion to Senior Instructor I/II Review
Promotion to Senior Faculty Research Assistant I/II Review
Process for Peer Review of Teaching
Peer Review of Teaching Coordinator
Procedure for Peer Review of Teaching
Process for Student Review of Teaching
Process for External Evaluation of Scholarship/Service
Process for Reviewing a Candidate for Hiring with Tenure
Formation of Review Committees
Senior Review Panel (for "college" review)
Promotion & Tenure Committee (for "unit" review)
Full Professor Special Review Committee
Post-Tenure Review Committee
Appendix 1: COVID-Related Exceptions 

Appendix 2: Structured Assessment of Teaching for the Mid-term Review

Preliminary Remarks

These guidelines document the criteria for Promotion and Tenure or Promotion in Rank, and the procedures specific to each, for OSULP academic faculty. These guidelines also address Post-Tenure Review. These guidelines are based on the OSU guidelines (https://facultyaffairs.oregonstate.edu/faculty-handbook/promotion-and-tenure-guidelines), but address specific OSULP needs.
OSULP academic faculty members are either eligible for Promotion and Tenure (those with professorial ranks) or are eligible for Promotion in Rank (those with Instructor or Faculty Research Assistant rank). All OSULP academic faculty are responsible for:


As part of the review process, review letters will be solicited from students and external reviewers. All faculty members have a right to view any reviewer's evaluations submitted in connection with the faculty member's proposed promotion and tenure or promotion in rank. However some faculty prefer to waive the right to review evaluation materials requested from on-campus and off-campus reviewers. Faculty may execute the waiver if they choose to do so. However, it is not required, though faculty must still sign to indicate their choice. For more details, please see the "Waiver of Access" section of the OSU Promotion & Tenure Guidelines (see link above). In practice, "viewing" or "accessing" students' or reviewers' evaluations means reading those documents in the office of the Library Administration Executive Assistant. Candidates do receive a complete digital copy of their dossier (including external and student review letters if waiver not executed) when dossier goes to Senior Review Panel.


These guidelines should be reviewed annually by the OSULP Promotion & Tenure Committee to ensure compliance with OSU guidelines and to make necessary and timely revisions. Updates should be approved by LFA by May 30 of each year to be in effect for the next cycle of dossier preparation and review.
Home

General Criteria for Promotion and Tenure or Promotion in Rank

General Promotion and Tenure Criteria for Professorial Faculty

Promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor and awarding of tenure; is based upon evidence of the candidate's:

Home

Promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor; is based upon evidence of the candidate's:

Home

General Promotion in Rank Criteria for Instructor Faculty

Promotion from Instructor to Senior Instructor I; the candidate must:

Home

Promotion from Senior Instructor I to Senior Instructor II; the candidate must:

Home

General Promotion in Rank Criteria for Faculty Research Assistant

Promotion from Faculty Research Assistant to Senior Faculty Research Assistant I; the candidate must:

Home

Promotion from Senior Faculty Research Assistant I to Senior Faculty Research Assistant II; the candidate must:

Home

Specific Criteria for Promotion and Tenure or Promotion in Rank

Teaching Criteria

Context

While OSU Libraries’ faculty members have a wide variety of professional duties, we share one goal: to help all members of the OSU community find, organize, share, and use the information they need to create new knowledge. Working directly and indirectly with students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader community served by Oregon’s land grant university, the library faculty makes significant contributions to the teaching mission and learning environment of the university. Library faculty members work independently, and in partnership with OSU colleges, departments, and programs to accomplish these goals.

The OSU Libraries serve a broad and diverse community, including students, staff, faculty, professional colleagues, and the public. We tailor the content of our instruction and its delivery to meet the needs of these multiple populations.

Audience

The faculty member’s position responsibilities determine the appropriate audience for their teaching activities. Some faculty members work directly with undergraduate and graduate students, building their research skills. Some provide professional development to OSU faculty and researchers. Others will focus on library audiences, internally to build the capacities of library staff and externally teaching LIS courses and leading workshops for professional colleagues. We also teach members of the public, share information resources, and inform policymakers.

Teaching Philosophy

OSU librarians take a learner-centered approach, incorporating a variety of collaborative and active learning techniques. We respect the knowledge and experience our audiences bring to their learning and reinforce the understanding that learning is a dynamic, epistemic, and recursive process. We are committed to working with our audiences to help them excel as lifelong learners, able to meet the challenges of their professional, educational, or co-curricular landscapes.

Teaching Methods

An OSU Libraries faculty member considers the educational setting and the learner’s needs in order to design effective learning experiences and environments. The faculty member should develop proficiency in the pedagogical practices they are most likely to use. These include (but are not limited to) the following:

 The library faculty delivers instruction in many ways, including (but not limited to):

Evaluation

Evaluation varies depending on the methods, audience, and goals. While the specifics of the delivery and content of instruction may vary, instructional efforts should include an evaluation component that addresses how the faculty member will determine if the audience’s needs or expectations were met.

Faculty instruction and its varied forms will be peer-reviewed as part of the promotion and tenure process. The faculty member may request observations, feedback, or peer review from other faculty or professionals who are familiar with the candidate’s domain of teaching. Evaluations should also be gathered directly from the learners. In addition to these standard evaluations, the faculty member may include assessments of student learning to demonstrate the impact of their teaching activities.

The impact of non-classroom teaching should be measured in a variety of ways including (but not limited to): learner evaluations, web metrics, and usability tests.

The University’s Promotion and Tenure Guidelines suggest inclusion of a Student (or Client) Letter of Evaluation of Teaching and a Peer Review of Teaching Evaluation, but this is not always appropriate for library faculty. Appropriateness is determined based on having a significant portion of teaching included in the candidate’s position description. For those with a significant amount of teaching as a part of their position (25% or more), they should include a bullet point within their position description that states the expectation of student and peer evaluations: “Because this position has a significant portion of time devoted to teaching, input will be gathered from students (or clients) and peers to evaluate the [title of the position]'s effectiveness as a teacher. The results of these evaluations will be included in the dossier submitted for promotion and tenure in the form of the Student (or Client) Evaluation of Teaching and the Peer Review of Teaching Evaluation .”

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 and Tenure.”

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.

Home

Research/Scholarship Criteria for Professorial Faculty

Promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor

Home

Promotion from Associate Professor to Professor


Context

Home

Service Criteria for Professorial Faculty

Home

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.
Home

Processes for Promotion & Tenure or Promotion in Rank Review

Mid-term Review

Dossier preparation by the candidate typically takes several terms preceding submission near the end of Winter term of the third year of probationary appointment. If the candidate's probationary service has been either shortened for prior service or lengthened for extenuating circumstances, the review should be done during the year which best equates with the midpoint in the faculty member's probationary service. Candidates work with a mentor (if applicable) and their supervisor to prepare the dossier. The format of the dossier is the same used for the final promotion and tenure process. Teaching peer reviews take place prior to the submission of 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 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. 


By February 28


By March 1


By March 7


By March 15


By March 25


By March 30


By May 3


By May 21


By May 25


By May 30


By June 7


By June 15

REVISED: March 2022

Home

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. 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


By March 5


By March 10


By March 15


By March 16 (and up to August 1, if summer session is relevant)


By May 31


Over the summer


By June 15


By June 30 (OR September 1 if summer session is relevant)


By Aug 31


By Sept 1


By Sept 10


By Sept 15


By September 16


By September 20


By September 25


By October 1


By November 15


By November 16


By November 30


By December 10


By five working days after Dec 10


By December 16


By Jan 7


By three working days after Jan 7


By Jan 10


By Jan 25


By three working days after Jan 25


By Feb 7



By Feb 8 (approximately)*


Spring


By June 30


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.
Home

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


By March 5


By March 10


By March 15


By March 16 (and up to August 1, if summer session is relevant)


By May 31


Over the summer


By June 15


By June 30 (OR September 1 if summer session is relevant)


By Aug 31


By Sept 1


By Sept 10


By Sept 15


By September 16


By September 20


By September 25



By October 1


By November 15


By November 16


By November 30


By December 10



By five working days after Dec 10



By Jan 10


By Jan 25


By three working days after Jan 25


By Feb 7


By Feb 8 (approximately)*


Spring


By June 30


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.
Home

Post-tenure Review

A post-tenure review (PTR) is to be performed if (info) 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.
Week _


Week _


Week _


Week _


Weeks _ - _


Week __


Week __


Week __


(Week __ )


Week __


Week __


Week __


Week __


Week __


Note: timelines diverge from this point on if external review is sought. External review extensions are given in parentheses.
(Week __)


The Associate Dean will request 5-8 letters of evaluation from national leaders in the field (at least 3 should be from the faculty member's suggested list). Only in rare cases should letters be solicited from co-authors, co-principal investigators, former professors, or former students. Letters should generally be from faculty at a tenure-track institution who have achieved tenure and are at or above the professorial level of the faculty member under review individuals of equivalent stature outside of academe who are widely recognized in the field.
The Libraries' Administration Office staff assists in the preparation and sending of packets to these reviewers. The packets should include a copy of the candidate's vita, position description(s), candidate statement, peer review of instruction summary letter and copies of (or links to) his/her publications. The Libraries' guidelines are not an official document and should not be sent to external reviewers; however, the web address for the University's Guidelines for Post-tenure Review of Faculty should be made available to external reviewers.
Week __ (or as letters are received)


Week __ (add 3 weeks if external review sought))


References to external reviewers should be by a number assigned to the reviewer and not by name. The Committee's letter of evaluation and summary shall review the candidate's performance in his/her professional assignment, scholarly accomplishment, and service. The Committee Chair notifies the faculty member that the Committee letter has been added to the open portion of the dossier.
This report will be included in the personnel file of the faculty being reviewed. If the PTR is initiated by a negative PROF, the report will address both the positive and the negative aspects of the PROF and assess their validity. Letters must include a description of the process that was used to constitute the committee.
Week __ (add 3 weeks if external review sought)


Week __ (add three weeks if external review sought)


The plan should provide detailed actions, sufficient resources as are available and measurable goals to achieve satisfactory performance within a maximum of three years. Such resources might include support for scholarly professional activities (travel, time released from teaching, equipment, clerical or technical support, graduate assistants, laboratory or other workspace, etc.) or a program for the improvement of teaching.

The candidate may add a written statement regarding the review.

Home

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


By March 5


By March 10


By March 15


By March 16


By May 31


Over the summer and fall


By June 15


By June 30


By October 1


By December 31


By January 2


By January 5


By January 15


By January 17


By January 22


By January 27


By February 28


By March 1


By March 21



By March 28


By March 29


By April 15


By April 22


By May 1

Home

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 work 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.

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


By March 5


By March 10


By March 15


By March 16 (and up to November 15, if Fall term is relevant)


By May 31


Over the summer and fall


By June 15


By June 30 (OR December 30 if fall term is relevant)


By December 31


By January 2


By January 5


By January 15


By January 17


By January 22


By January 27


By February 28


By March 1


By March 21


By March 28
? The supervisor meets with the candidate to discuss the outcome of the P&T Committee's review and the supervisor's review.
? The candidate may request a meeting with the P&T Committee if clarification is needed.
? The candidate may add a written statement regarding the reviews.


By March 29


By April 15


By April 22


By May 1

Home

Process for Peer Review of Teaching


As outlined in this document, Peer Review of Teaching refers specifically to the evaluation of teaching for the tenure and/or promotion process.
The OSU Faculty Handbook states, "When teaching is part of the faculty assignment, effectiveness in teaching is an essential criterion for appointment or advancement. Faculty with responsibilities in instruction can be promoted and tenured only when there is clear documentation of effective performance in the teaching role."
Library faculty are also encouraged to use a variety of evaluation methods, including peer review, to improve their teaching. While candidates may include information from peer reviewers to discuss their professional development as teachers in the vita or candidate statement, the focus of the Peer Review of Teaching Letter will be the documentation of effective performance in the teaching role.

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


Scheduling


Reviewers


Summary Letter


Approved

Home

Process for Student Review of Teaching

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


By March 16 (and up to August 1, if Summer Session if relevant)


By June 30 (or Sept. 1 if Summer Session is relevant)


By October 1


By November 15


Approved

Home

Process for External Evaluation of Scholarship/Service


Candidates for promotion and tenure, candidates for promotion in rank, as well as some who will go through the post-tenure review process, will be evaluated by external reviewers (6 minimum, 8 maximum for professorial faculty; 4 for Faculty Research Assistants and Instructors). Candidates must submit a list of at least 5 evaluators (4 for FRAs and Instructors) who meet the criteria stated below and from this list at least three letters (two letters for FRAs and Instructors) will be obtained for the final dossier. If additional names are needed, these will be obtained from the candidate by the unit head. The other evaluators are to be selected by the Associate Dean.
Letters should generally be from leaders in the candidate's field, chosen for their ability to evaluate the candidate's scholarly work. Letters should not be solicited from co-authors or co-principal investigators who collaborated with the candidate in the last five years. In general, letters should not be solicited from former post-doctoral advisers, professors, or former students. If such letters are necessary, include an explanation and state why the evaluator can be objective. Letters should generally be from tenured professors or individuals of equivalent stature outside of academe who are widely recognized in the field. External letters for professorial faculty should never be solicited from clients or others whom the candidate has directly served in his/her work. For FRA's and Instructors, the letters can be from internal evaluators who have worked with the candidate but can objectively evaluate the candidate's dossier. Careful consideration should be given to minimizing conflict of interest when choosing all evaluators.
This web page provides additional tips: https://academiclibrarianstatus.wordpress.com/

By May 31


By January 31st (and only if external review was requested)


To facilitate contact with the external reviewers, candidates should provide the following info for each external reviewer: Name, Title, Rank, Mailing Address, Phone, Email.
Home

Processes for Reviewing a Candidate for Hiring with Credit Toward Tenure or Hiring with Tenure

Process for Reviewing a Candidate for Hiring with Credit Toward Tenure

For any OSULP tenure-track position, a candidate may ask to be hired with credit toward tenure. The University allows this providing that the number of years of credit for prior service are stated in the offer letter, along with the date by which tenure must be granted. 

At the time the hiring manager is in negotiations with a candidate to offer them a tenure track position, the candidate may request to receive credit toward tenure. In this scenario, the procedures listed below will take place. Due to the time-sensitive needs of the review, the P&T Committee shall give this process priority. All promotion and tenure deliberations are confidential. 

Procedures 

Process for Reviewing a Candidate for Hiring with Tenure

At the time a hiring manager is in negotiation with a candidate to offer them a tenure-track position, the candidate may request to be hired with tenure.  

Procedure for out-of cycle review for promotion and tenure prior to being hired

On certain occasions, a candidate who already has tenure at their current institution, may request to be hired with tenure. The University allows this, providing the Libraries' Promotion and Tenure process is used to review the candidate and generate a recommendation on the tenure decision.

Timeline (in business days)

Process approved 2023-03-07 and updated 2023-10-20


Home

Formation of Review Committees

Senior Review Panel (for "college" review)


Promotion & Tenure Committee (for "unit" review)



Full Professor Special Review Committee

Until such time as there are sufficient faculty at OSU Libraries to wholly form a committee to review OSULP faculty seeking promotion to Professor, the P&T Committee Chair and the Senior Review Panel Chair, in consultation with the Dean of Libraries, will form a Special Review Committee of OSULP and OSU faculty with Professor rank.

  The committee will generally be formed by the end of the summer term or early fall term - as close to the candidate’s dossier submission as possible - so that the established review timeline can be followed. If constitution of the review committee is delayed, the review timeline will need to be adjusted.

The Special Review Committee will comprise at least three OSU faculty with Professor rank. Eligible OSULP faculty with Professor rank and no conflict of interest regarding the candidate under review are expected to serve on the Special Review Committee, along with faculty who hold Professor rank in other OSU units.

 

The OSULP P&T Committee Chair and the OSULP Senior Review Panel Chair will serve as ex-officio (non-voting) members of the committee. The ex-officio members of the committee provide both broad disciplinary context and knowledge about the library’s expectations and guidelines. Additional candidate evaluation and candidate advocacy is provided by the supervisor’s letter, the Dean of Libraries’ letter, and, if needed, by letters of support included in the dossier, which the supervisor letter puts into context   (see Section IX in the campus P&T guidelines ).

 

The Special Review Committee will select the chair from among its voting members. The OSULP Senior Review panel chair will serve as moderator at committee meetings. 

When faculty outside of OSULP are needed to comprise the Special Committee, the OSULP Promotion & Tenure Committee members will be asked to submit names of OSU faculty they feel will adequately represent their interests in the candidate’s review (this is in lieu of OSU requirements to vote on the Special Committee Members given the potential need to ask several rounds of possible committee members before a committee is finally constituted). 

The P&T Committee Chair and the Senior Review Panel Chair will consult the Dean of Libraries and review the list of potential committee members. The Dean of Libraries may offer recommendations of their own. The Dean of Libraries will likely consult with the candidate in making these recommendations. The consultation with the Dean of Libraries is an opportunity to prioritize the list. The Dean of Libraries will extend the invitations, on behalf of the OSULP P&T Committee, to OSU faculty to serve as Special Review Committee members. The Senior Review Panel Chair will be copied on these invitations.

The Special Review Committee members shall serve on the committee only for the duration of the review.

NOTE: Revised March 2019

Home

Post-Tenure Review Committee

Home

Appendix 1: COVID-Related Exceptions 

(NOTE: Approved December 2020)

It is not mandatory for candidates to submit teaching evaluations for review for the period beginning in Spring Term 2020 and continuing until the University reverts to mandatory collection of student evaluations of teaching. Due to major disruptions in the teaching and learning experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rapid transition to remote instruction and balancing work and life from home, teaching evaluations are optional for this period. If the candidates collected teaching evaluations during this period, they may choose to include all or some of them in their dossier. Candidates cannot be penalized in any way for not including teaching evaluations during this period, regardless of whether they collected them or not. This decision was made based on direction and input from the OSU Provost, as well as the OSU Libraries Promotion & Tenure Committee.

Candidates are encouraged to explain how Covid-19 affected the different areas of their position, and how they addressed these challenges, throughout the document. For example, in providing context to the teaching and research areas of the Vita section. See this document for suggested best practices from UMass on documenting COVID in dossiers.

 Appendix 2: Structured Assessment of Teaching for Mid-term Review

In line with the OSU Policy for Mid-Term Reviews for Tenure-Track Faculty , OSULP faculty with instruction in their position descriptions include in their dossier structured, assessment-based evaluations from the teaching and learning experiences in which they engage. Evaluations are to be distributed over the time period under review.

The candidate will gather evaluative input by creating, distributing, gathering, and summarizing structured student or client evaluations. Evaluations can include a range of student feedback such as the existing Student or Workshop Evaluation Form or another appropriate assessment the library instructor creates for their learning experience in consultation with their supervisor. Additional examples include one-minute reflections distributed at the end of a class session or surveys evaluating a LibGuide. 

Students or clients may include, but are not limited to, OSU students, staff, and faculty (such as OSU instructional designers or other OSU teaching faculty with whom the candidate has a learning relationship), and librarians from other institutions.

Learning experiences can include, but are not limited to, guest lectures, workshops, tutorials, research consultations, LibGuides, Canvas modules, or exhibits/displays. The number of evaluations to include in the dossier will be prorated based on the faculty member's FTE assignment for teaching (as indicated in their position description).


1 This proposal is modified from the OSU Extension process: https://employee.extension.oregonstate.edu/resources/evaluation-assessment/electronic-community-evaluation-teaching-ecet