Criteria for Non-tenure Track Reappointment and Promotion

Non-tenure track faculty have a heavier teaching load than tenure-track faculty; therefore, teaching and service are the most important categories for consideration of reappointment and promotion. However, active scholarship is desirable and should be considered as well.

TEACHING: Teaching includes classroom, online or hybrid, and non-credit instruction; supervision of research, student internships, professional practice, theses, and doctoral dissertations; academic advising and acting as a mentor; the improvement and enrichment of course offerings and other instructional activities within the faculty member’s discipline or profession; participation in interdisciplinary courses, honors courses and other special courses offered through any part of the University; development of curricula and, the writing of textbooks and the development of other instructional materials to enhance education in the faculty member’s discipline or profession.  Effective teachers must demonstrate depth and breadth of knowledge in their discipline, must communicate this knowledge to others, and must give evidence of a continuing development of their knowledge so as to insure their continued effective teaching over the duration of their appointment.  Effective teachers stay informed of advances and current thinking in their subject area and relate this information to teaching in a meaningful and balanced way. This might be evinced through revision of syllabi and development of new courses or instructional modules. Effective teachers communicate enthusiasm for their subject and have a responsibility to create a positive environment for learning that stimulates imaginative thinking.  They maintain a critical attitude toward their teaching and strive continuously to improve it. 

Teaching may also involve direct student academic advising or mentoring in specific programs.

SERVICE: Service includes the contributions a faculty member makes to the University, to society at large and to the academic profession.  Typically for faculty members in the Teaching Title series in FASC, the types of service expected will be to the department, college, University, and to society at large. Contributions to the effective operation of the University at all levels are most typically demonstrated by significant academic and professional service to the department, the discipline, the faculty, the undergraduate colleges, the graduate programs, the campus, or the University as a whole, through such activities as recruitment of scholars to the University, evaluation of peers, contributions as a fellow, contributions to important committees and other activities in support of the academic development of the University and the enhancement of student academic development and student life programs. Contributions to society at large are most typically demonstrated through the application of the faculty member’s academic expertise and particular professional skills to the solution of international, national, state, county and local problems and by service for the public good on governmental and other special committees, boards, agencies, civic groups and commissions.  It may include related speech to media, publication in popular venues, talks to alumni, or other organizations based on the faculty member’s academic expertise.  Contributions to the advancement of the academic profession are most typically demonstrated by active participation in professional and scholarly associations; by service on editorial boards and as a reviewer of scholarly works and proposals; by participation on expert committees, or practice committees of professional associations or institutions. 

SCHOLARSHIP AND/OR CREATIVE ACTIVITY: Active scholarship by non-tenure track faculty is encouraged. In the disciplines of art history, theater history and musicology, scholarship includes papers presented before scholarly bodies, books, reviews, chapters in books, scholarly work on exhibitions and other publications. The appointment of a faculty member in the creative or performing arts may permit the primary concentration of his/her efforts on scholarship, on artistic accomplishment, or on a balance between the two that is appropriate both to the artist/scholar’s appointment and to the particular stage of his/her career. For faculty members with such appointments, artistic accomplishment in the fields of literature, music, art, dance, or drama, is most often demonstrated by dissemination of the artist’s work through performance, publication or exhibition in professionally recognized settings, usually outside the University. The artist’s work shall have an intrinsic value equal to scholarship and shall be subject to equally rigorous evaluation. In the visual and performing area, creative activity may include visual art and/or electronic media exhibitions at the regional, national and international level. For theater faculty, creative activity may include performances in plays, as well as directing and playwriting activities. In the musical arts, creative activity also includes concerts and recitals before local, regional, national and international audiences, as well as recordings, CDs and media broadcasts. For composers, the production and publication of musical compositions shall define scholarship.