Appendix D. Procedures for the Third Year Review of Assistant Professors

             The Third Year Review is the first comprehensive review of a non-tenured officer of instruction in the rank of Assistant Professor. It provides the College and the department with an opportunity to review and comment on the individual's record as a teacher, scholar, and citizen of the academic community, and to develop a general set of expectations for the balance of the individual's appointment period in a non-tenured rank. If a tenure line was not assigned when the search was initiated, the Third Year Review also requires the College and the department to study the individual in the context of a current staffing profile recommended by the Faculty Budget and Planning Committee (FBPC).

The faculty member should assemble material for the tenured faculty to review.  Generally included are:  a complete c.v.; a personal statement reflecting on experience in teaching, scholarship and service; all syllabi; representative additional course material; all published work and work-in-progress; grant applications; other information as deemed useful by the individual or the Chair.  Faculty should refer to appendices E (on methods to evaluate teaching), G (on the preferred format of the curriculum vitae) and S (on the timeline) in the Chair’s Manual for guidance in preparing these materials for the departmental review.

In addition, the faculty member should prepare an application for a Special Assistant Professor Leave to the Grants Committee for consideration in its spring review session (check Faculty Newsletter for deadline date).

             The Third Year Review is a responsibility of all tenured members of a department, not the Chair alone. (In departments with fewer than two tenured members, the Advisory Committee on Appointments, Tenure and Promotion (ATP), or a special subcommittee of it, joins the Chair in the review process.)  Departments are encouraged to solicit three to five outside letters as part of this review.

The Chair assembles material associated with the review of teaching, i.e. student course evaluations, report of peer review of classroom visitation in the third year (see Appendix E), and other appropriate and available evidence.  

             The Third Year Review includes a formal interview between the individual and the tenured members of the department. This interview should encompass the following:

             1) a detailed analysis of the individual's professional record in all its aspects: teaching, scholarship and service; and

             2) a discussion of the individual's plans for the development of his or her professional career during any succeeding years of a non-tenured appointment. If tenure consideration is possible (i.e. a tenure line has been assigned or is being requested), the discussion should include a general outline of scholarly work which is planned for completion before tenure consideration.

If a tenure line was not assigned when the search was initiated, the Third Year Review interview must also cover a thorough review of the current status and projection of the department's profile, and the individual's place within it, including a review of any communications between the department and the individual at the time of the first appointment.

             The outcomes of the formal interview should be restated in one or two written communications from the Chair to the individual, with copies to the Provost and to all other tenured members of the department.

             The first communication constitutes the “Third Year Review.”   It provides a summary and evaluation of past professional development and achievements, and focuses on specific advice and counsel on future efforts the individual should make in the areas of scholarship, teaching, and service.  It should contain information as to how the department has been evaluating, and will continue to evaluate, the individual's teaching.[1] This communication will be shared with the ATP.  Approval by the ATP and the President affirms eligibility for a Special Assistant Professor Leave.

The second communication is needed only if a tenure line has not been assigned previously to the search or to individual involved, and the department’s tenured faculty have voted to request assignment of a tenure line to the candidate under review. It is treated separately because this communication will be shared with members of the FBPC. Eligibility for a Special Assistant Professor Leave is contingent upon assignment of a tenure line by the FBPC and the President.  This request for assignment of a tenure line should discuss the department's staffing profile and the individual's place in it with respect to field coverage.  (The individual’s merits are the subject of review by the ATP.)

The Third Year Review is deemed complete and the Special Assistant Professor Leave is approved when:

a)                         the ATP and the President have approved the Third Year Review document evaluating the individual’s merits with respect to teaching, scholarship and service ;

b)                         the FPBC and the President have approved assignment of a tenure line based on continuing need for specific field coverage; and

c)                         the Grants Committee has approved the plans outlined in the application for a grant for the Special Assistant Professor Leave.

Early in the semester when the individual returns from leave, a meeting should be arranged with the Chair.  At the meeting, the individual should document the progress on the work for which the leave was granted, and the Chair should provide an evaluation in light of expectations set forth before the leave.

In all subsequent years of the individual's reappointment to a non-tenured position, the Chair should briefly review and update the Third Year Review memorandum after discussing with the individual his or her professional progress and any changes in the department's situation. This update need not be elaborate and need not involve persons other than the Chair, unless particular problems call for special consideration.

             Copies of the written summaries of the Third Year Review become part of the individual's personnel file in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty; all will be made available to the ATP when the tenure case is presented.

Revised 1/04/05