Date of Notice: January 22, 2020
Current Status: Approved February 12, 2020
Motion Type: Legislation
Sponsor: Jack Boss (Music, Chair of FPC 2018-2009)
Carol Silverman (Anthropology, Chair of FPC 2019-2020)
Elizabeth Skowron (Psychology, Senate President 2019-2020)
Motion
Section I
1.1 WHEREAS the UO Senate passed an Expedited Tenure policy for the University of Oregon in January 2018 (Policy 11.02.04); and
1.2 WHEREAS the university’s experience with the policy to date demonstrates that the policy provides the academic units with leverage when seeking to hire tenured faculty members whose credentials have been established through promotion and tenure processes at other research institutions; and
1.3 WHEREAS the policy has demonstrated that it significantly lessens the administrative burden at the unit and college levels for these tenure reviews; and
1.4 WHEREAS all ten cases of expedited tenure considered since January 2018 have had positive outcomes;
1.5 WHEREAS expanding the expedited tenure review process to include experienced associate professor candidates will likely result in additional faculty hiring advantages,
1.6 WHEREAS no unit or department thus far involved in an expedited tenure case has elected to reconsider its decision to use the expedited process after the Expedited Tenure Review Committee (a subset of the Faculty Personnel Committee) has completed its review, as provided for in the original policy; and
1.7 WHEREAS consistently staffing a complement of five Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC) members on the Expedited Tenure Review Committee (ETRC) has resulted in an unmanageable service burden on University FPC members; and
1.8 WHEREAS excellent teaching at the University must be consistently fostered and maintained; and
Section II
2.1 BE IT HEREBY MOVED that the eligibility for expedited tenure review shall continue to include full professors and shall be changed to include associate professors who have been tenured and in rank for a minimum of three years, and
2.2 That new faculty who are hired through the expedited tenure process may be brought in as full professors or as associate professors, depending on their qualifications, and are brought in at no greater than their current rank (i.e., full professors or associate professors). For associate professors to be considered for a promotion to full will require the faculty member be reviewed by the full promotion and tenure process; and
2.3 That the final step of returning the completed review to the originating unit so that faculty members may reconsider their decision to recommend expedited tenure shall be designated as optional in the case of individuals appointed at the rank of full professor, enabling units that wish to retain this step to do so, whereas other units may elect to forego it, and
2.4 That the final step of returning the completed review to the originating unit so that faculty members may reconsider their decision to recommend expedited tenure shall be required in the case of individuals appointed at the rank of associate professor, with the unit faculty also required to vote on the decision to use expedited tenure, and
2.5 That the number of Faculty Personnel Committee members required constitute the Expedited Tenure Review Committee shall be changed from “five members” to “three to five members,” and
2.6 That the Expedited Tenure Review Committee shall always consider teaching evaluations of candidates, as available, in their review process for positions with significant any teaching responsibilities.
Financial Impact: Cost Neutral