Questions to ask at Personnel Meeting Ahead of Tenure

[Bookworm]

Hi Fora!

Next week, our Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure committee will be meeting with everyone who is undergoing review next year (both contract renewals and those of us who are up for tenure). My contract renewal was a breeze, and I'm feeling pretty confident about my tenure case too, but I don't want to waste this opportunity to get questions and clarifications on process at my institution. I'm putting together a list of questions for myself, some of which are pretty specific to my institution. But I'd love to hear your thoughts: What would you ask about the process if you were me (or alternatively, what do you wish you could have asked or had clarified before you started your own application process)?

[arcturus]

Make certain that you understand the various timelines. As an example, dossiers are due in September at my institution. However, to make that September deadline, names of reviewers are due in April and the "package" to be sent to the reviewers is due by June. So if someone assumes that they have until September to write their statement regarding research/teaching/service, they will be surprised by the June deadline for materials to be sent to outside reviewers.

As a general comment: if your institution uses an electronic dossier format, use sensible document names for your files. Documents titled "Document1.pdf" do not help people find the right files quickly. On the other hand, "LastName_CV_2022.pdf" is likely to contain the most recent CV. "LastName_research_impacts.pdf" is likely to contain a summary of your research impacts. etc. I find such organization even more important for electronic dossiers than for the old fashioned binders filled with paper.

[pgher]

Find out about all of the different sections and what kind of evidence might be expected. For example, for teaching, they may expect peer reviews or something that you can't get in September, but can get now.

Check about external references--who chooses them and how, what your role is supposed to be, who does the actual requests. That varies widely among universities. I've heard of some places where the candidate does the soliciting; here, the candidate should not be involved in any way.

[Ruralguy]

It might help to know, without being specific of course, what sort of school you are at and generally if you are science or non-science and that sort of thing.
Other than that, do you really have any questions? Is the process clear? I doubt you really need to ask any if you don't have any. I am on my school's tenure committee, and though we'd answer anyone's questions reasonably even if they were a bit naive (such as "How many papers do I need to write to guarantee tenure?" and that sort of thing), we don't really expect very many questions and don't get many unless there's a situation, such as COVID, that had groups of people asking the same sorts of questions. But then, we don't schedule specific sessions with candidates either.

[Harlow2]

Our questions are generally about process and deadlines. I echo Arcturus's point about having the materials ready in time to submit them to the external reviewers.  The final document structures vary a little from year to year and may not be available when the file is sent to the external reviewers, but the final package can be adapted as necessary afterward.

We also counsel folks on how to address any expectations raised at previous stages, how to format student responses/evaluations, and how to differentiate what goes in a main file and what in a supplementary file. So nuts and bolts stuff that is pretty easy but can be time-consuming.

Best wishes, Bookworm.

[Ruralguy]

I guess we're pretty liberal with how faculty choose to submit their dossier.  Evals are totally in our control, so they needn't do anything with those other than address "issues" or quote students who praise them and all of that sort of thing.  CV's are CV's, though I guess we could ask for more standard format so as to avoid padding and to make it easier to, say, find something such as that book you just published (some people, for weird reasons, like to bury the lead! Why???)

[Bookworm]

It might help to know, without being specific of course, what sort of school you are at and generally if you are science or non-science and that sort of thing.
Other than that, do you really have any questions? Is the process clear? I doubt you really need to ask any if you don't have any. I am on my school's tenure committee, and though we'd answer anyone's questions reasonably even if they were a bit naive (such as "How many papers do I need to write to guarantee tenure?" and that sort of thing), we don't really expect very many questions and don't get many unless there's a situation, such as COVID, that had groups of people asking the same sorts of questions. But then, we don't schedule specific sessions with candidates either.

Oh, sure! I'm at a SLAC, humanities. Typically in a book field though book wasn't required; combo of articles and chapters will also work (I have 9, with 2 more possible out before August when dossier is due; I've been advised to 'hold' the book for consideration for promotion to full, esp since it'll be out in November). According to our faculty handbook, I'll need to supply the names of 3 external reviewers, and my dept will also solicit.

Some Qs I've already identified: What counts as 'arm's length' for reviewers at my institution? (I've heard this even varies wildly by Dean at my college). Will our APT committee get copies of our previous annual reviews (esp important in my case since I have in writing that 4-5 peer reviewed articles can count in lieu of book), or should I make reference to them in my own statements? Our APT committee also emails former students for their assessments of our teaching, and since they graduate and lose their institutional email addresses, I want to know whether I should supply their personal ones if I have them on file. For my research profile, should I make available all of my articles/chapters, or just those since beginning at my institution? I'm also curious about what components or support docs/appendices are generally useful, especially documentation of advising and mentorship.

[Bookworm]

Make certain that you understand the various timelines. As an example, dossiers are due in September at my institution. However, to make that September deadline, names of reviewers are due in April and the "package" to be sent to the reviewers is due by June. So if someone assumes that they have until September to write their statement regarding research/teaching/service, they will be surprised by the June deadline for materials to be sent to outside reviewers.

As a general comment: if your institution uses an electronic dossier format, use sensible document names for your files. Documents titled "Document1.pdf" do not help people find the right files quickly. On the other hand, "LastName_CV_2022.pdf" is likely to contain the most recent CV. "LastName_research_impacts.pdf" is likely to contain a summary of your research impacts. etc. I find such organization even more important for electronic dossiers than for the old fashioned binders filled with paper.

Great points! I'll make sure to find out especially about whether statements need to be ready for reviewers early. I assume that will be part of our 'info' session, but just in case... thanks so much!

[Ruralguy]

Those are good questions, Bookworm.

Of course, your school might have its own view on such things, but "arms length" would exclude collaborators, dissertation committees, probably former instructors. Former colleagues or fellow students from grad school are a squishy category if there is no documentable closer interaction. Oh, and obviously have to exclude a colleague who is also a close relative (spouse, child, parent, sibling, etc.).

[Bookworm]

Those are good questions, Bookworm.

Of course, your school might have its own view on such things, but "arms length" would exclude collaborators, dissertation committees, probably former instructors. Former colleagues or fellow students from grad school are a squishy category if there is no documentable closer interaction. Oh, and obviously have to exclude a colleague who is also a close relative (spouse, child, parent, sibling, etc.).

I have in mind one person who put together an edited collection that I published in, following a conference he organized on the topic that my diss/book is on; I'll be curious to hear if that meets the threshold of 'collaborator' or not (I'd assume that would be a co-author?). To be honest, I'm somewhat looking forward to the process-- I'm proud of what I've done, and eager to put all of it in writing!

[fizzycist]

"I've been advised to 'hold' the book for consideration for promotion to full, esp since it'll be out in November)".

I'm not in a book field and probably there is more context, but this sounds like terrible advice. Tenure is far far more consequential than promotion to Full, so holding anything back seems bad. Also, I don't see a reason why a book that comes out around your tenure time shouldn't help you for getting promotion to Full. Most ppl evaluating you later will note you have a book and that is good, whereas only a rare nitpicker would question when exactly the book came out and whether it should be "counted" towards one promotion or another.

Otherwise I agree with ruralguy, if you don't have anything to ask don't bother, just get this done with quickly and get your book out (congrats!)

[Ruralguy]

Do not, under any circumstances, try to game the system. Just get stuff out when it comes out and keep going. You never know when stuff might get delayed more than you think, so delaying on purpose seems like it could be set up to a disaster. So, I agree with Fizzy--bad advice.

[Dismal]

It sounds like the book is coming out in Nov so not quite sure what "holding the book" means. Having a book forthcoming is something to include in your promotion file, for sure. Definitely don't delay publication. Perhaps what is meant is not sending out proofs of the book to the external reviewers.

[Vkw10]

"Holding the book" may simply mean to de-emphasize it now, with plan to emphasize next time. At FormerU, a book published during the year you went up for tenure was a bit discounted, because there wasn't much evidence of their influence. No reviews, number of holding libraries, sales, citations. Faculty in book fields who relied on a book and had no articles, could be in trouble if the book was published late in their tenure year. FormerU was also fairly strict about only considering publications since the date tenure was awarded for promotion to full, with the exception of books published during the tenure year.

You might ask if there are suggestions for making your file easier to review.