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Faculty By-Laws

Chapter Two -
Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Criteria

Since many of the appointment and promotion criteria make reference to the criteria for tenure, the tenure criteria are given first.

I. Tenure Criteria

A. Introduction

All personnel actions are inherently predictive. Their purpose is to strengthen the faculty for the future, rather than provide recognition for past accomplishment. Recognition and prediction will often coincide, but the objective is unquestionably, prediction.

The action of granting tenure is the most important and difficult prediction, involving extrapolation many years into the future based on a relatively brief period of professional performance. The variability inherent in this process requires that tenure be granted only when there is a high degree of confidence.

The Cornell University Faculty Handbook, 1990 edition, contains the University's tenure criteria. Those general criteria govern the School's actions. What follows is an attempt to explain the specific kinds of evidence that will be weighed by the faculty and administration.

B. Tenure Criteria

The School's goal is to achieve excellence in scholarly research and teaching in the field of management. The foundation for achieving excellence is the quality of the faculty. The objective of all tenure and promotion decisions is to achieve the goals of the School.

A faculty member's responsibilities are scholarly research, teaching and service contribution to the field and to the effective operation of the School. A record of research excellence is necessary for tenure. It is also expected that the candidate be an effective and preferably outstanding teacher. The relative weights applied to research, teaching and service will vary in individual cases.

The measure of research performance is the overall significance of the contribution to the field of management or to closely related disciplines. Significance of the contribution is a complex function primarily of the importance of the ideas, and, to a lesser extent, of their number and the manner in which they have been promulgated.

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II. Tenure Track Appointment and Promotion Criteria

A. Appointment as Acting Assistant Professor

The Dean may appoint an individual to an initial, one (1) year term as an Acting Assistant Professor if the person has been voted a three (3) year term as an Assistant Professor but has not yet completed the Ph.D. degree. If at the end of the first year the individual has not earned the Ph.D. degree, the Dean can decide not to renew the appointment or can extend a second, one (1) year term appointment as Acting Assistant Professor. This second appointment, as an Acting Assistant Professor, is not renewable. If the individual has completed the Ph.D. requirements, the individual's tenure clock will begin with a three (3) year term as an Assistant Professor in probationary tenure status. There will be a review for reappointment in the third year in residence if there has been one (1) year as an Acting Assistant Professor. The review will be in year four (4) if there has been two (2) years in an Acting Assistant Professor status. At any time after the initial appointment as Acting Assistant Professor the Dean can, in consultation with the individual, change the title to that of Assistant Professor if the Ph.D. requirements have been met.

B. Criteria for Appointment as Assistant Professor

Candidates for such appointments shall show evidence of significant scholarship and the likelihood of a sustained contribution to academic life as documented in publications, exemplary teaching activities and expertise in the field.

C. Junior Faculty Hiring, Alternative Process for

1. The Faculty Policy Committee, late in the Spring, has a preliminary discussion concerning hiring priorities for the following year. In this discussion, the hiring target for the Marketing group is determined while final planning for the other groups is put off until later.

2. During the Summer, the Faculty Policy Committee again discusses hiring priorities and now frames subsequent faculty discussion. The end product is a plan concerning targets for the various groups (other than Marketing which was determined in Chapter 2, Section II(C)(1)) that is written as a proposal for later discussion at a Faculty Meeting.

3. Early in the Fall, the Faculty Policy Committee proposal is discussed and amended by the full faculty at a faculty meeting that is solely or mostly devoted to this issue.

4. Actual votes concerning Assistant Professor candidates are delegated to a committee consisting of the chairs of each of the search committees, a representative from each group that is not searching and the Associate Dean. The groups referred to here are Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management and Organizations, Marketing and Operations Management.

5. For any specific candidate, any member of the committee or the Deans have the option of calling a full Faculty Meeting and having the full faculty vote on the candidate. If the committee vote and the faculty vote differ, the full faculty vote takes precedence.

6. After the hiring season, part of a full faculty meeting is devoted to describing the new hires, and materials for all the new hires (vitas, dissertation abstracts, etc.) are distributed to all the faculty members.

D. Reappointment as Assistant Professor

Reappointment depends on the quality of performance in the position, the availability of funds and space and the continuation of the sponsoring program. Quality of performance is judged by reasonable progress toward satisfying the criteria for tenure.

An Assistant Professor will normally be considered for reappointment during the third year of service, regardless of the rank held during these years. If the reappointment decision is favorable, the term for the second appointment is three (3) years, beginning at the conclusion of the current appointment.

If the reappointment decision is unfavorable, and if the decision occurs during the last year of the candidate's appointment, the individual is offered a terminal appointment of two (2) full semesters.

E. Internal Promotion to Associate Professor without Indefinite Tenure

This is a rarely used option at the School. In unusual cases, Assistant Professors showing extremely high promise are promoted to the rank of Associate Professor prior to being considered for tenure. These promotions do not extend the normal probationary period for the tenure decision.

F. Internal Promotion or External Appointment to Associate Professor with Indefinite Tenure

The candidate must satisfy the criteria for tenure.

G. Internal Promotion to Full Professor from Tenured Associate Professor

Promotion depends on excellence and potential in teaching and research, and a judgment that the individual has fulfilled the promise on which tenure was originally granted.

H. External Appointment to Associate or Full Professor, Tenure Track

The initial appointment is for up to a five (5) year term and can be in any combination; i.e., a three (3) year, renewable for an additional two (2) year term, if desired. Tenure must be decided no later than the terminal year, but the actual timing of such a review is negotiable. Faculty, when approving these external appointments, should consider the candidate's record to be such that it will be likely to justify tenure at the time the decision is made.

I. External Appointment or Internal Promotion from Untenured Full Professor to Full Professor with Indefinite Tenure

The candidate must satisfy the criteria for tenure. In addition, the candidate must have achieved an outstanding reputation in his or her field as a productive scholar and show evidence of being an effective teacher and a good colleague.

J. Appointment (Internal or External Candidates) to Endowed Professorships or Chairs

The Dean of the School establishes criteria for each Endowed Professorship. A candidate is normally expected to satisfy the criteria for Full Professor with indefinite tenure.

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III. Non-Tenure Track Appointment and Promotion Criteria

A. Lecturer and Senior Lecturer

Appointment as Lecturer or Senior Lecturer may be used in cases where professorial appointments are not appropriate. The responsibilities of the positions are primarily, if not entirely, in teaching; research responsibilities are not expected to be included. Persons holding such appointments will not be granted tenure and will not be eligible for Sabbatical or Study Leaves.

Senior Lecturer appointments are for periods of no more than five (5) years and are renewable. Lecturer appointments are for periods of no more than three (3) years and are renewable.

B. Criteria for Appointment as Lecturer

Appointment to the position of Lecturer depends on the School's need for the teaching abilities of the candidate and demonstrated or potential teaching effectiveness.

C. Criteria for Reappointment as Lecturer

Reappointment depends on the School's continuing need for the teaching abilities of the candidate and demonstrated teaching excellence. In addition, it is expected that the candidate will have carried out his or her share of administrative responsibilities necessary to the functioning of the School.

D. Criteria for Promotion to Senior Lecturer

Promotion is awarded in recognition of superior performance as a Lecturer, and is not normally given before six (6) years (full-time equivalent) of relevant teaching experience.

E. Criteria for Appointment of an External Candidate to Senior Lecturer

A candidate from outside the University may be appointed as a Senior Lecturer if:

1. The criteria for internal promotion to that of a Senior Lecturer are satisfied; or

2. The candidate has had particularly effective and successful performance in an extended career in Management in areas of importance to the School's teaching program, and shows evidence of potential teaching effectiveness.

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Last Modified: February 13, 2004

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