- February 16: Associate Professors submit an updated draft dossier to their Department Head (DH) for recommendation if they should submit for promotion in the coming cycle.
- March: DH and Departmental P&T Chair discuss any promotions to full professor that have been submitted and DH meets with any potential candidates.
- April: DH and Department P&T Chair meet to review/discuss promotion process, including candidates for early tenure and promotion. Discussion involves who specifically to nominate for promotion to professor next academic year and who is up for each of the normal pre-tenure reviews.
- In the case of early tenure reviews, see guidelines here (add once TL FAC has approved)
- In the case of promotion to professor candidates, following the DH’s consultation with the Departmental P&T Committee, an email/memo is sent from the DH to the Dean for approval of submission of candidates for promotion to professor. For more details about this process please refer to the Guidelines For Consideration of Promotion of Tenure-Line Associate Professors at https://www.ems.psu.edu/resources-faculty-and-staff/human-resources/guidelines-consideration-promotion-tenure-line-associate.
- May: DH meets with candidate(s) to review process. Note: now would be the appropriate time to invite candidates to submit their CVs to the AI Support team for entering into the system, if appropriate and not done already – click here to submit a CV: https://activityinsight.psu.edu/activity-insight-cv-submission/.
- May 1: DH notifies Dean’s Office of any early tenure requests for submission for approval. Dean submits request and justification to VPFA’s office, to include CV and statement of support from DH. DH also confirms the names of any faculty member seeking promotion to professor with the Dean’s Office.
- May 15: Request external evaluator names from candidate.
- Candidate provides DH and P&T support staff member with 4-6 names (along with mailing and email addresses) of potential external evaluators along with a paragraph describing everyone named. This list should be provided to the DH no later than 1-2 weeks following the initial meeting.
- Items to note for external evaluators:
- List should include people at the same or higher rank (full professors)
- Importance of international letters (especially for promotion to professor)
- Exclusions based upon research conducted with and/or publication of articles with candidate.
- Adding a list of names of people with whom there might be a significant personal or professional conflict (e.g. collaborator, previous supervisor, mentor, etc.).
- A sample of the candidate’s publications is to be included in the package that goes to external evaluators, along with a Research Statement from the candidate (typically just the Research portion of their narrative statement, usually 1-2 pages). The candidate should provide DH and P&T support staff member with a list of 3-7 publications and copies of those publications. The copies are sent to the external evaluators. The publications should be ones that best reflect the candidate’s work either historically or currently. This list should be provided to the DH no later than 1-2 weeks following the initial meeting.
- Additionally, the candidate will provide their most recent CV for inclusion.
- May 15- 20: DH and P&T Chair review the list of potential external evaluators provided by the candidate. They select some of the proposed external evaluator names and add additional names. Often, the DH and/or P&T Chair also seek input from a senior faculty member in the same field as the faculty member up for review when selecting the external reviewers. This process helps to ensure a potential external evaluator who may be antagonistic towards the candidate isn’t solicited for a letter. NOTE: The DH needs to note which external evaluators were put forward by the candidate and which were not. The majority of names must NOT come from the candidate.
- May 21: After external evaluators are selected, a draft list with descriptions is completed and sent to the Dean for approval. Once approved by the Dean, exploratory emails from the DH may be sent soliciting participation. The external evaluators who agree to write a letter are documented on the log. The updated and final version is sent to the Dean’s Office for their records, as well as being included in the dossier.
- After July 1: formally communicate the remaining timeline with the candidate(s) (as soon as AC23 and the Guidelines are updated by the VPFA’s office).
- July 8: Last date for listing of external evaluator suggestions submitted to Dean for approval.
- July 8: Request student feedback reviewer names from candidate
- Candidate provides DH and P&T support staff member with two or more names of Penn State faculty members who will serve as student feedback reviewer/s. This list should be provided to the DH no later than 1-2 weeks following the initial meeting. The list can include the DH if the candidate wishes.
- July 15-August 1: Letters requesting external evaluation are sent out mid-summer, with preference given to July due to College/University deadlines. The letters are sent via email and/or express mail (if requested). A response date would be September 1 (letter dated July 15) or September 15 (letter dated August 1). Requests should be made by August 1 at the latest.
- July 22: Finalize student feedback reviewer committee
- DH reviews the list of potential student feedback reviewers provided by the candidate and chooses at least one to serve as a student feedback reviewer.
- DH reviews the list of departmental P&T committee members and chooses one member to serve as a student feedback reviewer.
- DH advises these individuals of their upcoming roles and that they will receive the charge on August 19.
- August 16: first draft of the material for the three sections (Teaching, Research, and Service) should be entered into Activity Insight for review. OPTIONAL - John and Nicola can review the draft.
- August 19: Departments send names and titles of Dept P&T Committee members and updated P&T Criteria and Procedures for Selecting Committee Members to John and Nicola
- August 19: DH charges the members of the student feedback review committee via email (template email provided). The P&T support staff member provides them with quantitative and qualitative student feedback from SEEQ/SRTE responses across the courses taught during the review period. This information should be provided to the committee via a secure Teams/Sharepoint/One Drive site. Reviewers are charged with:
- Examining student feedback and writing a report of no more than 750 words describing insights about the candidate’s teaching effectiveness derived from the above-mentioned feedback. The report must be submitted to the DH by no later than September 24
- As applicable, reviewers should incorporate attention to the elements of teaching effective course design, effective instruction, inclusive and ethical pedagogy, reflective and evolving practice
- Note: Reviewers are advised to consult with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Effectiveness for guidance for how to interpret student feedback
- August 25: DH and/or P&T support staff coordinates dates/times for peer evaluations to be conducted during the semester for relevant faculty members, per the EMS “Peer Teaching Evaluations for Tenure and/or Promotion” guidelines.
- September 1: a first draft of the Narrative Statement and a first draft of the optional Teaching Portfolio (if candidate wishes to submit one) are sent to P&T support staff.
- Mid to End of September: VPFA’s office holds their annual P&T Workshop.
- September 15: DH reviews dossier and Narrative Statement for content, corrections, etc. P&T support staff member handles editorial changes.
- September 24: final draft of the Narrative Statement and a final draft of the optional Teaching Portfolio are sent to P&T support staff.
- September 24: Student feedback review reports are due to the DH. As they are received, the DH forwards them to P&T support staff for inclusion in the dossier and to the candidate for their review. If a candidate perceives that the report inadequately represents their teaching effectiveness based on student feedback, the candidate may revise their narrative statement to address the perceived discrepancy.
- September 28: final draft of the dossier submitted for review (or word document submitted). The student feedback review should be included. OPTIONAL - John and Nicola review the draft.
- October 1: All promotion and tenure review committees and procedures established.
- October 7: MANDATORY - Send final draft of COMPLETE dossier including P&T form/s, Narrative Statement, student feedback review report, external letters, etc., to John and Nicola for final review. Note: this MUST be done BEFORE passing to the first review level.
- October 18: obtain candidate signature on final version of dossier plus optional Teaching Portfolio and optional raw data for student feedback (the Teaching Portfolio and raw student feedback data can both be included in the supplemental materials) BEFORE the dossier is passed to the first review level – the Department P&T Committee – typically via PTORP.
- No later than November 5: Department P&T Committee reviews dossier and prepares committee letter.
- November 30: Dossier ready for DH review and DH letter preparation.
- December 10: Dean charges College P&T Committee
- December 20: final version of dossier with DH letter is given back to P&T support staff for preparation of submission to Dean’s Office.
- First Workday in January: 4th Year, 6th Year, and Promotion to Professor dossiers due to Dean’s Office and submitted via PTORP.
- January 7 – February 7: College P&T Committee meets to review dossiers and prepare draft letters
- January 15: 2nd Year dossiers due to John and Nicola for review BEFORE going to the department committee.
- February 1: deadline for factual changes to 4th, 6th, and Promotion to Professor dossiers. Any factual changes made between the date the final version of the dossier was signed by the candidate (before it went to the first level of review) and February 1 must be substantive and mutually agreed upon by the DH and the candidate.
- February 7: College P&T Committee’s reviews completed
- February 7 – 28: Dean completes their reviews of 6th year and Promotion to Professor dossiers including consulting with the College P&T Committee as appropriate
- February 28: Dean advises 6th year and Promotion to Professor candidates whose dossiers have successfully completed College-level reviews that their dossiers have been forwarded to the University-level
- First workday in April: 2nd Year dossiers are due to Dean’s Office and submitted via PTORP.
- Early May (the Friday before Spring Commencement): The University provides results to the Dean who advises 6th year and Promotion to Professor candidates of their tenure and promotion decisions
Throughout the process, everyone needs to do their part on time.
Adopted: EMS Executive Council, March 26, 2024
Updated: April 30, 2024 (to match changes to the ‘Peer Teaching Evaluations for Tenure and/or Promotion’ guidelines)
Updated: June 6, 2024 (to include a link to the Promotion to Professor Guidelines)
Updated: July 1, 2025 (to incorporate student feedback review process)
Updated: November 3, 2025 (to highlight Department Head review of dossier)