Kay Wolf: Promotion and tenure at the University-level is under me. I look at Vita and P&T from the highest level, while allowing the tenure initiating units to take the lead because success looks different for each department.

Everyone starts from a different place and that’s okay. The idea is to note where you need to go. Read your promotion and tenure document closely. If you have questions, ask the chair of your department and the chair of your college’s promotion and tenure committee.

It is a qualitative review. We look for high quality. Four high quality publications may be better than many more that aren’t as good.

I read every dossier that comes through this university. I look to make sure that we are consistently looking at who we are and what we are as a university. Even if everyone on the committed have said yes, I still look at them and they can be pulled.

Instruction is important to President Drake, so promotion should honor that. It should show we respect our students at all levels. Mentoring, teaching, student instruction — it is all expected to be at a high level.

Question: What is accomplishment vs. activity?

Kay Wolf: Activity is checking something off… for example, on a committee you may attend meetings but never provide input. Therefore, you didn’t really impact the committee.

What is your impact? How could the research you’re working on not be done without you? Explain the contribution and make your case.

What have you done? Have you taken courses? How are you showing dedication? Who did you mentor and where did they go? Show action over a period of time to get to impact. Take stock at the end of every year. Find a mentor who is honest with you.

When you respond to a review, make sure you read it even if the review is great. Sometimes things may be missing. Review for facts. The Chair will give you ten calendar days to respond. If you don’t agree with what was said you can respond with facts. Provide evidence that was missed. There is no form, this is your response, but do not rewrite your dossier.

It then goes to the college-level committee. They check to make sure the processed was followed correctly. The college looks at things more holistically. This provides one more level of recommendation to the Dean. The college committee is advisory to the Dean.

If the process isn’t followed it needs to go back and start again where the procedure wasn’t followed. This happens rarely, but it does happen.

Then it goes to the Dean who makes a review and writes a letter. You then get another ten calendar days to respond to the Dean and college committee.

When it gets to my office, the Office of Academic Affairs, we look to see if there were mixed reviews (where one group voted no, but everyone else was positive). If so, it goes to the university committee to review. If there were three nos for recommendation it will also go to the university committee for review. This committee writes a letter to the provost and the provost will make the final decision.

A faculty member is the only one who can pull their document and stop the process. It can only be stopped early if you’re going from assistant to associate. However, if it is a mandatory review, you can’t stop it.

The decision is final when the Board of Trustees votes on it, usually in June. Don’t use your title until this day.

It is not required to use Vita in 2018-2019. It is mandatory to use the OAA handbook format though. Make sure what you turn in is correct. This should take some time! However, don’t stop putting your data in Vita because eventually this will work and your TIU Chair may ask for the information from Vita.

Be sure to describe your responsibilities on a team, market yourself, discuss any mentoring you have done, identify your appointments and provide information on each area.

Do not repeat items in your dossier, think about what you’re trying to convey.

Narratives should demonstrate growth. Describe changes in teaching evaluations, changes in philosophy, noteworthy accomplishments for graduate or undergraduate students, curriculum development, etc.