Downloadable Resources:
Guidelines Annual Retention Reviews 2021-22
Faculty Evaluation Calendar 2021-22
A. Promotion & Tenure Calendar: Tenure-Track/Tenured Faculty
Faculty members who wish to be considered for promotion and tenure before the year indicated in the letter of appointment must obtain written approval before submitting their dossier for review.
- Faculty who have suspended clocks and want to be considered at the original date need approval from the Office of the Provost.
- Faculty who have extensions and want to be considered at the original date do not need approval from the Office of the Provost.
- During the course of the review, faculty who are being reviewed should be provided with internal reviews/recommendations at the time they are submitted to the next level of review and are allowed 14 calendar days to write a response. This response should be added to the dossier and considered by the next reviewing body alongside all the other information in the dossier. Please refer to Sections 3.10 and 3.11 of the UTK Faculty Handbook, along with the relevant Appendix: Assembly of the Tenure and/or Promotion Dossier for more information.
- Some departments and/or colleges may set earlier dates than the ones listed below.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 31, 2021 | Colleges provide lists of faculty who are going up for promotion and/or tenure to the Office of the Provost. |
| August 2, 2021 | Last day for colleges to submit requests for faculty members to be considered early for promotion and tenure in the AY 2021-2022 cycle. |
| September 10, 2021 | Promotion and tenure review committees established. |
| October 15, 2021 | Latest deadline for submission of faculty dossier and supporting materials to Department/Unit Head or College P&T Committee (colleges without departments). |
| December 31, 2021 |
Colleges with departments: Departmental P&T Committee recommendations due to college.
Colleges without departments: College P&T Committee recommendations due to the Intercollegiate P&T Committee in care of the Office of the Provost. |
| February 11, 2022 |
Colleges with departments: College P&T Committee recommendations due to the Dean.
Colleges without departments: Intercollegiate P&T Committee recommendations due to the Dean. |
| March 25, 2022 | Dean’s recommendations due to the Office of the Provost for all promotion and tenure cases, including early tenure cases (see schedule below for tenure upon initial appointment due dates). |
| June 1, 2022 | Requests for early P&T review for the 2022-2023 review cycle due to the Office of the Provost. Requests will be evaluated on a rolling basis as they are received. June 1, 2022 is the last day to submit requests. |
| Late June 2022 | Board of Trustees action on 2021-2022 tenure recommendations. All final communications of promotion and tenure decisions sent in early to mid- July. |
B. Tenure Upon Initial Appointment (TUIA)
- Tenure upon initial appointment requires two sequential steps: (1) a request for preliminary approval which should be submitted to the Office of the Provost, who will review the case and make a recommendation to the UT System; and (2) submission of the complete packet to the Office of the Provost, who will review the packet and make a recommendation to the UT System and Board of Trustees. The last possible dates for each transaction are provided below.
- Please see Tenure Upon Initial Appointment Checklist for more information about what information is needed at each step.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| August 13, 2021 | Last day for colleges to submit requests to the Office of the Provost for preliminary approval for TUIA consideration at October Board of Trustees meeting. |
| August 27, 2021 | TUIA packets due to the Office of the Provost for pre-approved cases being considered at October Board of Trustees meeting. |
| December 17, 2021 | Last day for colleges to submit requests to the Office of the Provost for preliminary approval for TUIA consideration at February Board of Trustees meeting. |
| December 31, 2021 | TUIA packets due to the Office of the Provost for pre-approved cases being considered at February Board of Trustees meeting. |
| April 8, 2022 | Last day for colleges to submit requests to the Office of the Provost for preliminary approval for TUIA consideration at June Board of Trustees meeting. |
| April 22, 2022 | TUIA packets due to the Office of the Provost for pre-approved cases being considered at June Board of Trustees meeting. |
C. Schedule for Retention and Annual Reviews of Tenure-Track Faculty including Enhanced Tenure-Track Review
- All tenured faculty members who are not on leave must be evaluated each academic year.
- All probationary faculty members beyond their first year will have a combined retention review and annual evaluation each fall.
- In exceptional circumstances, a probationary faculty member may be evaluated during the first academic year at the discretion of the department head. Probationary faculty are required to have an enhanced tenure-track review in their third or fourth year.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| October 1, 2021 |
Generally, faculty members should submit their materials for annual evaluation and retention four weeks prior to the departmental due date for recommendations to the College. |
| November 1, 2021 | Deadline for departmental recommendations on annual evaluations and retentions to the College. |
| November 30, 2021 |
College recommendations due to the Office of the Provost for any faculty in the second year of their probationary period and whose appointment will not be renewed. (See Faculty Handbook 3.11.4.4 for dates related to notice of non-renewal.) |
| January 14, 2022 |
College recommendations on all other annual evaluations due to the Office of the Provost. |
| March 15, 2022 |
Provost recommendations on annual evaluations and all other retentions to be finalized in the online review system. |
See Faculty Handbook (3.11.4.4) for dates related to notice of non-renewal. Retention reviews for second-year faculty need to be completed at an earlier date so that a fully-executed review is completed by December 15th to stay consistent with the Faculty Handbook.
D. Schedule for Periodic Post-Tenure Performance Review
- Except where applicable according to the UTK Faculty Handbook Appendix: Procedures for Periodic Post-Tenure Performance Review, each tenured faculty member must undergo some form of comprehensive performance review no less often than every six years.
- The Periodic Post-Tenure Performance Review (PPPR) shall not substitute for the Annual Performance and Planning Review in the year a faculty member is scheduled for PPPR.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| September 10, 2021 |
College nominations for Periodic Post-Tenure Review (PPPR) Committee members due to the Office of the Provost. |
|
November 22, 2021 |
All PPPR Committees appointed. |
|
January 28, 2022 |
All evaluation materials uploaded to the PPPR System by faculty under review, department head and Office of the Provost. |
|
February 4, 2022 |
Evaluation materials made available to PPPR Committee. |
|
April 1, 2022 |
PPPR Committee submits reports to faculty members, department heads, deans, and provost by March 25th. |
|
Various depending on two-week time intervals
|
Faculty members and departments heads have 14 calendar days to submit a response to the PPPR committee report to the dean. The faculty member has 14 calendar days to provide the provost with a written response to the dean’s recommendation. |
|
May 27, 2022 |
Provost notifies all parties on final recommendation. |
E. Non-Tenure Track Faculty Promotion Review
Some departments and/or colleges may set earlier dates than the ones listed below.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| December 17, 2021 | Requests for early promotion review consideration for spring 2022-2023 review cycle due to the Office of the Provost. Requests will be evaluated on a rolling basis as they are received. December 17 is the final deadline. |
| January 14, 2022 |
College provides list of faculty who are going up for promotion to the Office of the Provost. |
| February 4, 2022 |
Latest deadline for submission of eligible non-tenure track faculty dossier and supporting materials to Department/Unit Head or College Committee (colleges without departments). |
| March 4, 2022 |
Departments submit recommendations to colleges. |
| April 1, 2022 |
College NTT Faculty Promotion Committee submits recommendations to dean. |
| May 20, 2022 |
Dean makes recommendations to the provost. |
| June 30, 2022 |
Provost notifies candidates of outcome of the process. |
F. Non-Tenure Annual Performance & Planning Review
- All regular, full-time, non-tenure track faculty, beyond their first year of employment, must be evaluated each year using the online Faculty Review System.
- A non-tenure-track faculty member must have annual evaluations for every year under review to be considered for promotion.
- In the review, supervisors should clearly document the faculty member’s allocation of effort in each of the areas of teaching, research/scholarship, and service during the review period and only evaluate faculty in these areas. Supervisors should also review the expected effort allocation with the faculty member for the upcoming year.
- Some departments and/or colleges may set earlier dates than the ones listed below.
| DATE | Event |
| January 21, 2022 | Generally, non-tenure track faculty members should submit their materials for annual evaluation four weeks prior to the departmental due date for recommendations to the college. |
| February 25, 2022 | Deadline for departmental recommendations on non-tenure track annual evaluations to the College. |
| April 11, 2022 | Deadline for College recommendations on non-tenure track annual evaluations to the Office of the Provost. |
| May 16, 2022 | Deadline for Provost recommendations on non-tenure track annual evaluations to be finalized in the online review system. |
Questions?
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