Reappointment
The policies and procedures governing the annual reappointment reviews of probationary Faculty are found in the University Policy Register. Each academic year, specific reappointment guidelines and a timetable for each step of the review are distributed by the Office of the Provost.
The guiding principle for reappointment reviews of tenure-track Faculty is, “Given the years of service to date and the number of years until mandatory tenure review, is it reasonable to expect that the probationary Faculty member will undergo a successful tenure review?” Thus the purpose of annual reappointment reviews of probationary Faculty is to assess their progress toward tenure and to provide each candidate with constructive feedback regarding that progress. To this end, both the candidate’s academic unit and the Campus will conduct reappointment reviews using the same criteria utilized for tenure reviews. Furthermore, when Tuscarawas Campus reappointment candidates are evaluated by their academic units, the academic unit must use the Tuscarawas Campus guidelines concerning the weighting of the candidate’s accomplishments in teaching, scholarship, and service, and candidates for reappointment should include in their dossiers a copy of the weighting criteria from Section C below.
Faculty members in the first year of a tenure-track appointment are generally reviewed at the beginning of the Spring semester. Beginning in the second year, reappointment reviews are generally concurrent with tenure and promotion reviews during the Fall semester. Tuscarawas Campus probationary Faculty members are evaluated by both their academic unit (department/school/independent college) and the Campus. Each individual candidate for reappointment must develop, organize, and submit a file of evidence documenting his/her efforts and accomplishments in teaching, scholarship, and service, to support the case for reappointment using the University approved system.
As part of the documentation for teaching, it is required that reappointment candidates include in their dossiers an annual peer observation of their teaching, preferably from a senior colleague in the same or a related discipline. The file should also include specific goals in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service, along with both short-term and long-range plans for achieving these goals. Candidates must first review their dossier with their unit administrator (department chair/school director/independent college dean), who will certify its completeness. Once complete, a candidate’s dossier will then be available to the Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion Committee of the candidate’s academic unit and to the Tuscarawas Campus Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion Committee for their respective reviews and recommendations.
For Faculty members following the traditional tenure clock for Assistant Professors, the review after completion of three (3) full years in the probationary period at Kent State University is particularly critical. Upon completion of the third year of the probationary period, the RTP Committee should consider the record of the candidate’s achievements to date. Specific concerns expressed by the RTP Committee and/or the Chair during this stage of the probationary period should be addressed by the candidate in subsequent reappointment reviews.
In the event that concerns about a candidate’s progress toward tenure are raised during a reappointment review, the appropriate RTP Committee and the associated chair/director/dean will provide detailed prescriptive comments to serve as constructive feedback. Candidates should regard such feedback seriously and take care to address it in their subsequent reappointment reviews. Candidates may seek to work with their mentor or the Tuscarawas Campus RTP Committee to develop a suitable, positive plan for meeting the Campus’ tenure and promotion expectations. However, the candidate is solely responsible for her/his success in implementing this plan.
From time to time, personal and/or family circumstances may arise that lead a probationary Faculty member to request an extension of his/her probationary period. Such an extension is referred to as “tolling” or “stopping the tenure clock.” The policy and procedures governing modification of the probationary period can be found in the University Policy Register.