Promotion and Tenure

Information on this page addresses the promotion processes and policies for both tenure-track and tenured faculty and professional track faculty. Use the navigation to the left to find the information you need. University policy on Appointment, Promotion and Tenure is available here.

Tenure-Track and Tenured Faculty

Forms and Templates

Linked below are various forms, templates and examples that will be helpful as you progress through the APT process. Several of these forms and templates have changed recently, as a result of changes to the University’s APT policy.

Tenure Delay

Parenting

Tenure-track faculty who become parents through birth, adoption, foster care, or legal guardianship while employed at the University are automatically granted a tenure delay. A second automatic extension for the birth or adoption of another child will also be granted. To notify the department and other administrators, the faculty member logs in to the Tenure Delay website and indicates on the Tenure Delay Submission Form that he or she seeks a tenure delay due to childbirth or adoption. The appropriate administrators receive an automatic notification of the tenure delay.

Personal or Professional Circumstances

Tenure-track faculty may also request an extension of time for tenure consideration, based on personal or professional circumstances which are other than parenthood. Such a request must be approved by the faculty member's department chair and dean, as well as by the Provost.

• Personal circumstances are individual or family situations (other than the birth of a child) that substantially impede normal professional development of the faculty member.
• Professional circumstances are individual, departmental, or facility related situations that are beyond the control of the faculty member and substantially impede normal professional development of the faculty member. See the Frequently Asked Questions for a few examples.

COVID-19

The University implemented a separate and optional tenure delay In recognition of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on faculty member activities. Faculty members may only request a tenure delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic one time. More information regarding this tenure delay is available here.

Procedures

The procedures for requesting a tenure delay follow. (Note that the request should be made no later than the end of the Spring semester prior to the year in which the individual is slated to be reviewed.)

1. The tenure-track faculty member should initiate the request by discussing the request with his/her Chair. The Chair's support is necessary to continue with the Tenure Delay Request process. The faculty member then logs in to the Tenure Delay website and indicates on the Submission Form the reason for the tenure delay (parenting, personal personal or professional circumstances, COVID-19).
2. To approve the request, the Chair logs in to the Tenure Delay website, indicates his or her support of the request, and provides detail and documentation as necessary.
3. The Dean must also approve the request, by logging in to the Tenure Delay website, indicating approval, and providing detail and documentation as necessary. Note that along with their approvals, both Chair and Dean should indicate their strong support of the candidate's request for a tenure delay, including additional detail and documentation as appropriate or necessary.
4. After a decision is reached by the Provost, the Office of Faculty Affairs will notify the Provost, Dean, Chair, faculty member and the Office of Personnel and Budget, which will make the actual change of tenure review year in the University's database systems.

For additional information, see the University policy, Extension of Time for Tenure Review Due to Personal and Professional Circumstances. Also see below for FAQs and more information about tenure review dates for mid-year hires.

Tenure Delay FAQ

The following Frequently Asked Questions were gathered by the ADVANCE Program and are intended to address topics of general interest to faculty at the University of Maryland at College Park. For further information about the University of Maryland ADVANCE Program for Inclusive Excellence and our activities, please see advance.umd.edu. See below for more information about tenure review dates for mid-year hires.

Tenure Clock Policy

In an effort to create a more rational and fair system for determining the tenure review date for mid-year hires, the following change was made, beginning in academic year 2012-2013.

The majority of newly appointed tenure-track faculty arrive on campus between July 1st and August 23rd. The tenure clock begins immediately for these faculty members: their mandatory tenure review year is six years hence (three years for Associate Professors without tenure). Previously, October 1st started the new tenure-review year (i.e., candidates initiating their appointments October 1st or later have their tenure clocks start the following year). Commencing in the academic year 2012-2013, this “beginning date” changed from October 1st to January 1st of the following year.

Below are examples to illustrate the change:

• Candidate starts her employment on August 23, 2017 and begins her tenure clock immediately. Thus mandatory review would occur in the sixth academic year, 2022-2023.
• Candidate starts her employment on October 1, 2017, also beginning her tenure clock immediately, and is slated for a mandatory review in 2022-2023.
• Candidate starts her employment on January 15, 2018, so her tenure clock does not start until the 2018-2019 academic year. Hence her mandatory review year is 2023-2024.

Other Resources

Workshops

Workshops regarding the promotion process are offered annually by the Office of Faculty Affairs. Presentations from each of the most recent workshops are linked below.

• Presentation for Candidates for Tenure
• Presentation for Candidates for Promotion
• Presentation for APT Administrators and Staff

Current APT Committee Members

Changes to the APT Policy & Guidelines | 2015

Click here to review changes made to the APT Policy and Guidelines during the 2015 revision cycle. 

Annual Report

Professional Track Faculty

In April 2015, the University Senate passed, and the President subsequently approved, campus-wide guidelines for the Appointment, Evaluation, and Promotion (AEP) of Professional Track (PTK) faculty. The guidelines are linked to the left.

• All appointments and promotions are initiated by the appointing unit according to the criteria in the unit PTK-AEP policy.
• Unless otherwise governed by a college policy, appointments and promotions to the lowest level in PTK ranks (e.g. Lecturer, Assistant Research Scientist) are reviewed and approved at the unit level.
• Appointments and promotions to the middle level in PTK ranks (e.g. Senior Lecturer, Associate Research Scientist) begin at the unit level and are reviewed and approved at the next administrative level, which is the college for departmentalized colleges or the Office of Faculty Affairs for non-departmentalized colleges.
• Appointments and promotions to the highest level in PTK ranks (e.g. Principal Lecturer, Research Scientist) begin at the unit level, proceed through the college within departmentalized colleges, and are ultimately reviewed and approved by the Provost. For cases to be reviewed by the Provost, dossiers must be submitted, through the online AEP dossier management application, by March 1 of a given academic year promotion cycle.

College Level Plans

As required by the campus guidelines, colleges submitted their AEP policies to the Senate's Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC) for review and approval during the 2015-2016 academic year. Departments in departmentalized colleges, as well as research institutes and centers, are also required to develop unit-level AEP policies and have them reviewed and approved through the college's dean's office. Faculty should contact their unit heads to learn about unit-level policies.

Promotion Committee Members

Forms and Templates

Linked below are various forms, templates and examples that will be helpful as you progress through the AEP process. Several of these forms and templates have changed recently, as a result of changes to the University’s APT policy.