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Faculty Review & Promotion Taskforce

The overall purpose of the UTK Faculty Review and Promotion Taskforce is to provide recommendations to the UTK Provost’s Office about a number of issues related to tenure-track faculty review and promotion processes. The work of the taskforce is distributed across three working groups, each of which will focus on a different facet of promotion and review:


Working Group: Lasting Impacts of COVID-19

This working group will focus on the differential and lasting impacts of the COVID-pandemic on review and promotion, including on promotion that takes place at time that is removed in time from the pandemic. The pandemic has impacted scholars and scholarship in different ways, and new research continually emerges documenting these impacts. Already, a number of studies have shown that the work of women and faculty of color has been impacted to a much greater extent than other faculty. This working group will make recommendations about how we continue to recognize, accommodate, and address the impact of the COVID-pandemic as faculty move through the review and promotion processes during the next 8-10 years.

Group Members
Suzie Allard,
Group Co-Chair
CCI
Katherine Ambroziak CAD
David Bassett CEHHS
Joshua Fu TCE
Brian Krumm LAW
Thura Mack LIB
Charlie Noble,
Group Co-Chair
HCB
Todd Reynolds CAS
Ragan Schriver CSW
John Stier HCA
Tracey Vitori CON

Working Group: Equity, Fairness, and Inclusion

This working group will identify potential biases that exist in the annual review and promotion processes which might impact a faculty member’s abilities to thrive and advance. This working group will make recommendations about how to ensure these processes are equitable and fair, and that achievements are considered relative to opportunity. This working group is invited to consider the evidence used in these processes, such as teaching evaluations, citation metrics, and grant-making, all of which have been shown to be impacted by race and gender. This group will also consider how invisible labor and contributions related to UTK’s strategic plan such as diversity, inclusion, and collaboration can be better incorporated into these processes.

Group Members
Lisa Yamagata-Lynch CEHHS & Office of the Chancellor (Ombudsperson)
Libby Barker TCE
Mitsu Misawa CEHHS
Bonnie Ownley HCA
Amber Roessner CCI
Stephanie Bohon,
Group Co-Chair
CAS
Mike Galbreath HCB
Matthew Theriot CSW
Michael Higdon,
Group Co-Chair
LAW
Martin Griffin CAS
Steven Waller CEHHS
Andy Kramer CAS

Working Group: Periodic Post-tenure Performance Review

This working group will make recommendations about how the annual review process can be improved to address some of the concerns that led the UT Board of Trustees to create PPPR, including those related to the integrity and robustness of the annual review process. For example, the working group might consider strengthening or formalizing the contents of three-year narratives.

Group Members
Paul Frymier,
Group Chair
TCE
Lisa Muller HCA
Richard Pacelle CAS
Julie Andsager CCI
Jason Young CAD
Kathy Newnam CON