Tenure, Promotion, and Merit Review

Navigating through the tenure, promotion and merit review process can be daunting, especially for newer faculty. The Office of Academic Affairs, in collaboration with Human Resources, is a critical source for guidance through this process, not only in terms of compliance with the University guidelines and Faculty Code but also in terms of personal mentoring.

For an Overview of the College’s promotion, tenure and re-appointment policies and procedures, please click here.  In addition, the UW Faculty Code specifies the qualifications for appointments at specific ranks.  Some key information from the Faculty Code is provided below. For more detailed information, please see the UW Office of Academic Personnel webpage on Promotion and Tenure.

For Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure

The University of Washington Faculty Code (Section 24-34) specifies the following qualifications for promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure:

“Appointment to the rank of associate professor requires a record of substantial success in teaching and/or research. For tenured, tenure-eligible, or WOT appointments, both of these shall be required, except that in unusual cases an outstanding record in one of these activities may be considered sufficient.”

For Promotion to Full Professor

The University of Washington Faculty Code (Section 24-34) specifies the following requirement for promotion to full professor:

“Appointment to the rank of professor requires outstanding mature scholarship as evidenced by accomplishments in teaching, and in research as evaluated in terms of national or international recognition.”

Definitions of Scholarly and Professional Qualifications

The University of Washington Faculty Code (Section 24-34) defines scholarly and professional qualifications for all faculty broadly as follows:

1. “Scholarship, the essence of effective teaching and research, is the obligation of all members of the faculty. The scholarship of faculty members may be judged by the character of their advanced degrees and by their contribution to the knowledge in the form of publication and instruction; it is reflected not only in their reputation among other scholars and professionals but in the performance of their students.

The creative function of a university requires faculty devoted to inquiry and research, whose attainment may be in the realm of scholarly investigation, in constructive contributions in professional fields, or in the creative arts, such as musical composition, creative writing, or original design in engineering or architecture. While numbers (publications, grant dollars, students) provide some measure of such accomplishment, more important is the quality of the faculty member’s published or other creative work.

Important elements in evaluating the scholarly ability and attainments of faculty members include the range and variety of their intellectual interests; the receipt of grants, awards, and fellowships; the professional and/or public impact of their work; and their success in directing productive work by advanced students and in training graduate and professional students in scholarly methods. Other important elements of scholarly achievement include involvement in and contributions to interdisciplinary research and teaching; participation and leadership in professional associations and in the editing of professional journals; the judgment of professional colleagues; and membership on boards and committees.”