Tenure and Promotion
The recruitment and retention of an excellent faculty is a top priority for the University of New Mexico. The tenure and promotion process is an important component of this effort and must be done carefully. Guidelines for preparing dossiers for mid-probationary, tenure and promotion, and promotion follow.
Promotion and Tenure
Dossier Building
PT: UNM's Online Dossier Review System
Retention, Promotion and Tenure reviews for Main and Branch campus faculty must use UNM’s online system for dossier-building and review management system, RPT. The RPT application, developed by UNM’s Institute of Design and Innovation, was successfully piloted by the College of Engineering during AY2015/16, and went into full production effective AY2016/17 to support all Main and Branch campus faculty retention, promotion and tenure reviews.
The system can be accessed at: rpt.unm.edu. Authentication is controlled by UNM’s Central Authentication Service via NetID and password.
Within the application, at each level of review, department, college and Provost Office system administrators control access. The content is organized in tiers which system administrators use to control viewing and the ability to load review materials. Each candidate is assigned a confidential section in which to assemble their dossier. Dossiers are assembled by uploading, or dragging and dropping files into the system, which then automatically generates an indexed PDF of the entire dossier. Supplemental materials such as large manuscripts or videos can also be loaded onto the server for access by reviewers via a URL.
Prior to gaining access to the RPT system, internal reviewers must affirm that they will protect candidates’ right to content confidentiality. Reviewer opinions are kept confidential from the candidate, by both policy and system architecture. RPT data are stored in a secure, cloud-based platform under license which ensures the vendor will comply with FERPA and other confidentiality requirements for personnel records.
Continued enhancements to the software occur following each review cycle. You may send suggestions for future refinement of the system to rpthelp@unm.edu.
Teaching Summary Table
Teaching Summary Table Eval Kit [pdf]
Summary of Student Evaluations Table [Word doc]
Summary of Student Evaluations (IDEA and EvaluationKit)
The following summary of Student Evaluations (table) is a required component of the teaching section of a candidate’s dossier:
Summary of Student Evaluations [pdf]
External Reviewers
Six external reviewers are required for tenure and promotion and promotion candidates. The majority of external reviewers must be affiliated with an R1 institution. The list of external reviewers (below) is a required component of tenure and promotion and promotion dossiers, including a brief rationale for the external reviewers. Also list below is a template invitation for external reviewers. You are encouraged to use the template as it reminds reviewers of the pandemic-related disruptions and asks for an evaluation of the significance, independence, impact and promise of the candidate’s scholarship/creative works, as well as the candidate/s national/international scholarly/creative reputation.
External Reviewer Template [pdf] – check this link
List of External Reviewers [pdf]
Guidelines
The purpose of the Provost’s Tenure and Promotion Guidelines document is to describe the procedures, preparation of materials, and management of dossiers for mid-probationary, tenure and promotion, and promotion for University of New Mexico faculty. If after reviewing the Guidelines questions remain, please reach out to the Senior Vice Provost at svp@unm.edu.
Provost’s Promotion & Tenure Guidelines
AY2024-2025
AY2023-2024
Guidelines for Managing Shortened Tenure Clocks
AY2022-2023
- Provost P&T Submittal Deadlines 21/22
- 2021/2022 Promotion and Tenure Timeline
- RPT Instructions for Candidates
- RPT Instructions for Department Administrator
- RPT Instructions for Reviewers
- RPT Instructions on Bookmarking Depending on Browsers
- List of External Reviewers
- External Reviewer Invitation
- Summary of Student Evaluations
- Teaching Summary Table
Memos
AF&T Memos
Role of Department Chair (associate prof) promotion review for full professor [pdf]
Inclusion of Annual Review Information in Dossier [pdf]
Process
Rebuttals & Appeals
Rebuttal and Appeal of Negative Recommendations for Retention, Promotion and Tenure on Main and Branch Campuses
Atypical Tenure Clocks
Appointment Presumptions
Assistant Professor is an appropriate rank for someone at the beginning of their career and at the beginning of probationary service to UNM. Typically, an Assistant Professor is hired on the assumption of a six-year probationary period with a mid-probationary review in the third year.
Individuals who have acquired significant experience beyond earning their terminal degree may be considered for shorter probationary periods and/or higher rank and/or tenured status at the time of their initial appointment to UNM, e.g., Associate Professor or full Professor. Hiring officials may also choose to offer a candidate tenured status. If initial appointments are made at the rank of Associate Professor, the maximum probationary period possible before a final tenure review is four years; for an initial rank of Professor, the maximum probationary period is two years.
Candidates should not determine the length of their probationary period and incoming rank, and status. Setting an appropriate probationary period and determining an appropriate rank and status at the time of hire are assessments made in consultation with the senior faculty of the department, at a minimum, and will ideally include a faculty vote on the question(s) and provostial approval. These determinations are incorporated into the written appointment letter and become part of the initial employment contract.
The Provost’s Office does not encourage shortened probationary periods. The decisions to set a probationary period of less than six years must be justified concurrently with submitting the candidate’s hiring justification in UNMJobs, in a separate memo detailing the candidate’s record review process and the circumstances which led the faculty to approve a shortened probationary period.
Appointment Exceptions
Occasionally, probationary faculty members request to have their probationary period either extended or shortened. A minimum period of one-semester’s worth of extended sick leave, parental leave or leave without pay will extend a probationary period by one year. An FTE reduction, e.g., switching to a 0.5 FTE part-time appointment, will also extend a probationary period.
A probationary period may be shorted upon request of the probationary faculty member, but only if the chair, dean, and provost approve. Granting such a request has the effect of amending the terms of the employment contract.
A template for amending an employment contract in this manner is available on the OAP web page in the Appointment Letter collection. It requires the faculty member to explicitly acknowledge:
- that they understand a probationary faculty member shall be reviewed for tenure only once;
- that they have requested the modification;
- in granting the request, neither the chair, dean or provost indicate that an early review is certain to have a successful outcome;
- that the outcome will be determined by the standard review processes and criteria currently in place for the department, college and provost; and
that if the result of early review is negative, the candidate will receive notice of contract discontinuation and be offered a one-year terminal contract.
Review of Candidates with Atypical Probationary Appointments
Regardless of whether a candidate’s probationary period has been shortened or extended, some general principles apply when reviewing the candidate at mid-probation or at the final tenure review.
Only the body of work amassed while at UNM should be considered during the review. The rationale for this is the fact that the faculty member’s work completed prior to their UNM faculty appointment will have already been assessed prior to their initial appointment at UNM and contribute to the determination the probationary period’s length. Therefore, the dossier should include only work produced while at UNM (the CV, of course, will reflect accomplishments throughout the candidate’s entire academic career).
Candidates whose probationary period was extended through an approved leave should be assessed as if the dossier was produced during a probationary period of typical length, i.e., the body of work produced during a seven-year probationary period should be assessed as if it was produced during a typical six-year probationary period.
Internal and external reviewers should be given clear instructions about which works to consider. For example, if a probationary period is only four years, reviewers should know that the candidate has only three years’ worth of material in the dossier by the fall semester of their final review year, as opposed to the five years’ worth of material seen in the dossier for a standard probationary period of six years. Their assessment should account for the time differential, noting that the record prior to the time of appointment was already reviewed in setting the initial rank and probationary period.
5/31/17
