School of Nursing: Policy On Post-Tenure Review

This provides guidance on post-tenure review for School of Nursing associate professors, including those seeking promotion, professors, and division heads.

Unit Policy

Title

School of Nursing: Policy On Post-Tenure Review

Introduction

Purpose

To provide guidance on post-tenure review in the School of Nursing (“SON”).

Scope

This provides guidance on post-tenure review for associate professors (including those seeking promotion), professors, and division chairs.

Policy

Background

Each tenured faculty member is subject to post-tenure review no less often than every five years following the conferral of permanent tenure. Reviews must examine all aspects of a faculty member’s academic performance and must involve faculty peers. While annual performance reviews may inform the post-tenure review process, they are not a substitute for a comprehensive post-tenure review. A review may be delayed for compelling reasons approved by the provost (see Attachment B).

Goals & Purpose

The goals of post-tenure review are to promote the development of faculty members, ensure faculty members’ productivity, and provide accountability. Accordingly, the purpose of post-tenure review at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is to support and encourage excellence among tenured faculty members by:

1. providing an opportunity to review five-year goal(s) and/or plans that are aligned with annual performance evaluations and consistent with the needs of the SON,
2. recognizing and rewarding exemplary faculty performance,
3. providing for a plan and timetable for improvement of performance of faculty found deficient and,
4. for those whose performance remains deficient, providing for the imposition of serious sanctions, which may, in the most acute cases, include a recommendation for discharge.

The review will take into consideration the general expectations for the rank held by the reviewee and the faculty member’s assignments since promotion, tenure, or the most recent post-tenure review.

The goal of consistency across post-tenure reviews is paramount and should include the materials considered, the areas of focus in the review, and the nature and scope of recommendations made to the division chair.

The post-tenure review process shall conform to the policies and guidelines concerning post-tenure review adopted by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina and by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Schedule for Review

Professors and tenured associate professors will be reviewed no less often than every five years. The faculty member should be notified by the division chair (or designee) of the upcoming post-tenure review no more than 4 years and 6 months since the last review was completed. With input from division chairs, the dean may schedule a review for an individual faculty member sooner than five years from the faculty member's last review if the dean has concerns about the faculty member's performance or to evaluate progress on the faculty success plan previously created for the faculty member. The faculty success plan is prepared jointly by the faculty member and their division chair to address recommendations from the post-tenure review.

The division chair should ascertain no later than August 1^st the associate and full professors who will be due for post tenure review during the upcoming academic year to ensure that the obligation to review every five years is met and that required peer evaluations of teaching are obtained during the previous two years.

Post tenure reviews may be deferred for the following reasons.

• If a faculty member is reassigned to other duties (e.g., department chair or academic unit head) for .50 FTE or more or is occupying a leave-earning position (e.g., SAAO Tier I or Tier II), that faculty member shall not be required to undergo post-tenure review until having completed a five-year cycle following the reassignment.
• If an associate professor is being reviewed for promotion in the same year as the scheduled post tenure. However, if an associate professor subsequently defers the scheduled promotion review, the post-tenure review will be completed in the upcoming academic year.
• Extension – A faculty member may request to delay a scheduled post-tenure review for compelling reasons. The request for postponement must be in writing and approved by the provost.

The process for requesting a deferral of post tenure review is found in Attachment B.

Committee Membership

The Post-Tenure Review Committee (PTRC) will be composed of three (3) elected tenured faculty members, two (2) full professors and one (1) associate professor. The term for each committee member is three (3) years, with the possibility of serving two consecutive terms. When a full professor is being reviewed, at least one full professor committee member must be involved in the review.

All committee members will be knowledgeable about the SON and UNC Chapel Hill policies on post-tenure review. They will also complete the UNC System Office digital training modules on guidelines related to personnel and tenure, the essential elements of a useful and thoughtful review, how to prepare, conduct and manage a meaningful review process, and how to provide constructive criticism in a positive manner.

Review Process

Post-tenure review includes the following steps:

1. Prior to the academic year, the division chair will have identified all faculty members who will need to undergo post-tenure review during the upcoming academic year. Each associate professor subject to post-tenure review in the upcoming academic year will need to declare, no later than the start of the academic year, if they intend to seek promotion to professor during the upcoming academic year. If promotion is sought, no post-tenure review will be scheduled during the upcoming academic year.
2. Faculty members scheduled for review during the academic year will be notified by the division chair (or designee) at least six months in advance to provide them with sufficient time to complete the post-tenure review portfolio (see Attachment A) and update their curriculum vitae.
3. At the beginning of each academic year, the PTRC will review the post-tenure policy and communicate with the relevant division chair to determine the faculty members for review and any scheduling issues that need to be attended to for the year. The committee will arrange its own meeting schedule.
4. The PTRC will review each faculty member, following a structured review template (see Attachment C). Post-tenure review should involve an examination of qualitative and quantitative evidence of all relevant aspects of a faculty member’s professional performance over the previous five years in relation to the mission of the SON and institution, as well as the assigned responsibilities of the faculty member and their career stage.
5. The PTRC will meet to review the post-tenure review portfolio provided by the faculty member and any other provided materials and will prepare a written summary of its conclusions and recommendations, which will be provided to the faculty member undergoing review and to the appropriate division chair. The Committee’s report shall include a discussion of how the faculty member’s performance meets, exceeds or does not meet expectations within the expected performance areas (e.g., scholarship/research, teaching, service, and practice) relevant to their rank and considering the faculty member’s interests, assignments, and the stage of the faculty member’s career. The report should identify and recognize performance that exceeds expectations. The process may also identify specific areas in which faculty members can improve. It is important that there is transparency in the review and subsequent recommendations and that these recommendations are consistent across reviews.
   
   The faculty member will have the opportunity to review and respond to the PTRC report within 14 days of receipt. The division chair will prepare a written evaluative review that takes into account the PTRC report and the faculty member’s response. The division chair will maintain, as a part of the faculty member’s confidential personnel file within the SON, a record of the report and any response to it. The faculty member’s materials including the division chair’s review, the post-tenure review committee report, and any written response from the faculty member shall be provided to the dean/administrative officer to whom the division chair reports. The dean shall also conduct a written evaluative review of the information received.
6. Coincident with the start of each post-tenure review cycle, the faculty member will develop, in consultation with their department chair, a long-term work plan (hereafter referred to as the post-tenure work plan or PTR work plan) that covers the five years of the post-tenure review cycle. These plans should be consistent with the expectations of the department/school. The PTR work plan can be modified annually by the faculty member in consultation with their department chair. The finalized PTR work plan must be approved by the division chair and, if needed, the dean.
7. Faculty members whose overall performance is seen as exceeding post-tenure review expectations shall have completed the post-tenure review process and will be recognized by the institution for their performance. A faculty member whose PTR results in an overall rating of meets expectations shall have completed the post-tenure review process. The division chair will discuss the PTRC’s report with the faculty member, with no further action being needed.
8. For faculty members whose overall performance is seen as not meeting expectations, the report of the PTRC shall include a statement of the faculty member’s primary responsibilities, directional goals established, and specific descriptions of shortcomings as they relate to the assigned duties of the faculty member. For a faculty member whose overall performance reflects substantial deficiencies, a faculty success plan that addresses recommendations from the post-tenure review should be prepared jointly by the faculty member and the division chair.
9. Each faculty success plan will be individualized, flexible, and take into consideration the intellectual interests, abilities, and career stage of the specific faculty member. It will also respect the needs of the division, SON, and institution. The faculty success plan will include clear goals, steps to achieve those goals, indicators of goal attainment, a clear and reasonable period for the completion of goals, resources available for implementation of the plan, and an explicit statement of the consequences of failure to attain the goals. Annual reviews will be used to assess the progress made toward the goals that were spelled out in the faculty success plan. The division chair will acknowledge in writing a faculty member’s clear improvement along with the successful completion of a faculty success plan.
10. A faculty member whose overall performance has been found to show substantial deficiencies and for whom a faculty success plan has been recommended has the right to appeal the findings of the PTRC and the recommendation for a faculty success plan. The initial appeal is to be submitted, in writing, to the dean. Before the decision on an appeal, the dean will meet individually with the faculty member, the division chair, and, if deemed necessary, one or more members of the PTRC. The dean will prepare a written summary of the appeal; the decision reached by the dean will be final.
11. In the case of a faculty member who fails to successfully complete their faculty success plan and whose performance continues to be deficient, the division chair will notify the dean. The dean will then consider whether grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal exist under the Trustee Policies and Regulations Governing Academic Tenure.
12. The faculty member will have the opportunity to grieve the outcome of the post tenure review in accordance with Section 607 of the UNC Code and Policy Manual.

Records

The SON will maintain a list of the faculty members reviewed each year, a record of completed reviews and responses to the reviews, and the names of all faculty members for whom a faculty success plan was recommended and a copy of the plan. The APT committee chair will send to the dean the number of faculty members reviewed during the previous year, the number of faculty members for whom a faculty success plan was recommended and established, and the number of faculty members who are subject to review, but for whom a delay was approved by the Provost along with the compelling reason(s) for the delay.

Periodic Review of Post-Tenure Review Process

The APT Committee will evaluate and, if deemed necessary, revise the post-tenure review process every five years.

Exceptions

N/A

Definitions

N/A

Related Requirements

N/A

Contact Information

Policy Contact

Brent Small, APT committee chair

Other Contacts

N/A

Important Dates

• Effective Date and title of Approver: 10/19/2009, APT Committee
• Revised: 04/2015; 12/2019; 2/2020; 4/2021, 4/2025

Approved by:

Brent Small

APT committee chair