Midterm Review

The midterm review is designed to approximate the major elements and standards of the tenure and promotion process but does not include soliciting evaluations from reviewers outside the University of Oregon. The midterm review replaces the annual review for that year.

During the fall term of the academic year in which the review will take place (typically during year 3), the Dean’s Office will contact the faculty member with the midterm review notice to request their review material and winter term class schedule.

To get started, please read through the information below, take a look at the templates provided by SOMD and the Office of the Provost (OtP), and review the instructions for assembling your portfolios and submitting the material.

If you have questions or would like to see examples of past faculty submissions, please contact Tiffany in the Dean’s Office.

Deadline: Faculty material is due to the Dean’s Office by January 5

If the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, materials are due the next business day.

Step 1: Compile your Review Material

The faculty member is responsible for preparing the following material:

1. Curriculum Vitae (signed and dated)

A comprehensive and current curriculum vitae that includes the faculty member’s current research, scholarly and creative activities, and accomplishments, including publications, appointments, presentations, and similar activities. The CV must distinguish between peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed work. Use text highlighting to help identify the accomplishments since arriving at UO.

The OtP CV template is not required to be used, but the principles and formatting suggestions are important to follow

The promotion and tenure dossier requires faculty to document Awards and Student Mentorship. Although this information is not required for the midterm review, we recommend you start documenting this information now (in 2+ years from now, remembering student names and dates will be much harder).

Tip: Add these two sections to your CV if they are not already included or track this information in a separate document to be included in the promotion dossier. 

Awards
Awards should identify applicable information, including the awarding organization (internal/external), title, duration of the award period, and amount if carrying a monetary component. Separate awards into the following categories, as applicable. 

  • Teaching awards
  • Research awards
  • Service/Administration awards
  • Other awards

Student Mentorship
List all advisees at UO and external during the review period. Include the date, name, and title of the project supervised (if applicable). Use the OtP CV templates and the SOMD Student Mentorship document to help with formatting. 

  • PhD or DMA advisees
  • Master’s thesis advisees
  • Postdoctoral scholar advisees
  • Undergraduate honors advisees
  • Other

2. Candidate’s Statement (signed and dated)

A 3-6 page statement developed by the faculty member describing and evaluating their performance against the applicable criteria for tenure and promotion. The statement should expressly address the subjects of teaching; scholarship, research, and creative activity; and service contributions to the academic department, center or institute, school or college, university, profession, and the community. The statement must also include a discussion of contributions to institutional equity and inclusion.

3. Waiver Statement (signed and dated)

A signed and dated document establishing the candidate’s chosen waiver status for the dossier. More information about the waiver statement including waiver letter templates.

Since midterm reviews do not include external letters of evaluation, please select either the full waiver or non-waiver letter.

4. Evidence of Scholarship

Comprehensive scholarship, research, and/or creative activity material, and any appropriate evidence of national or international recognition or impact.

The SOMD table of contents template is not required to be used, but it will give you an idea of how to organize your material.

5. Evidence of Teaching

Representative examples of course syllabi or equivalent descriptions of course content and instructional expectations for courses taught by the faculty member, examples of student work and exams, and similar material.

The SOMD table of contents template is not required to be used, but it will give you an idea of how to organize your material.

  • OtP FORM  Candidate Teaching History
    • if applicable. Recommended if you do not have a list of courses taught (listed year by year) included in your CV. This form is especially important for documentation of course releases each year from reduced teaching loads specified in their offer of appointment, buyouts, leaves, sabbaticals, and administrative appointments.

6. Evidence of Service

Evidence of the faculty member’s service contributions to their academic department, center or institute, school or college, university, profession, and the community. Such evidence could include white papers authored or co-authored by the faculty member, commendations, awards, op-ed pieces, and/or letters of appreciation. The portfolio may also include a short narrative elaborating on the faculty member’s unique service experiences or obligations. Typically faculty outline service work in their CV and candidate statement so the service material section in the dossier is brief.

The SOMD table of contents template is not required to be used, but it will give you an idea of how to organize your material.

The Dean’s Office will add the following material to the file:

  • Original Offer Letter
  • SOMD TTF Review Criteria (faculty may select which version to use if there has been a change in criteria since the time of hire)
  • Teaching Evaluation Material including peer reviews and student experience surveys.
  • Instructor Reflection Report – This is optional. If you would like it included, please indicate so when you submit your materials to the Dean’s Office. If you do not indicate this preference, the report will not be included automatically.

Step 2: Assembling and Submitting the Review Material

Organize Your Material – evidence of teaching, scholarship, and service

  • Create a table of contents that outlines the contents of your material (use the templates linked above or create your own).
  • Save your table of contents as a PDF.
    • Repeat this process so you have three separate table of contents PDF files; one for each category – teaching, scholarship, and service.
  • Gather your example material/evidence and save each document as a PDF.
    • If your material is viewable online include a document with URL links to access the material.
  • Open the table of contents PDF and use the “organize pages” feature in Adobe Acrobat to add the material/evidence to the PDF behind the table of contents, in order. Save.
  • Open the bookmarks tab and create bookmarks to navigate to each section of your PDF.
  • Repeat; you should now have three complete PDF dossiers for each category (teaching, scholarship, and service).

Read the review instructions document for more details on organzing and assembling the dossier material if needed.

Material Submission

Submit your material as PDF files. You should have six individual PDFs once you are complete. Email your material to Tiffany in the Dean’s Office or share via OneDrive or DropBox if the file size is too large to email.

Please note that individual PDF files submitted by the faculty member, along with material from the Dean’s Office, will be combined and organized into the OtP midterm dossier template. The Dean’s Office will help with the final dossier organization to make sure the most up-to-date dossier template is being used but to help understand what the final product will look like, please look at the OtP midterm dossier template.

If any of the OtP template links above are broken, visit the Faculty Personnel Processes: Guides, Forms, & Templates page.

Step 3: Teaching Observations and SOMD Review Process

Send a list of your winter classes and teaching schedule (class names, times, locations) to the Dean’s Office with your review material.

As part of the SOMD review and balloting process, tenured faculty will have the opportunity to observe your teaching (typiclaly during weeks 2 and 3 of winter term).

The midterm dossier is reviewed internally by tenured SOMD faculty, your Department Head, the SOMD personnel committee, and the Dean. Faculty will receive a final report from the dean and will have the opportunity to meet with the dean (and submit an optional response) before the material is forwarded to the Office of the Provost for review.

Step 4: Review Outcomes and Notification

Possible outcomes of the midterm review are:

  • Issuance of a new contract extending to the date by which a tenure decision is required.
  • Issuance of a new contract of insufficient duration to reach the tenure decision necessitates an additional midterm review before a tenure review.
  • Issuance of a non-renewable contract.

The Office of the Provost will notify the faculty member of the review decision and contract renewal no later than June 1. The summary report is to be placed in the faculty member’s departmental or college personnel file.

Additional Resources

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Updated 9/10/2024