Ladder Faculty
FASTAP2016 Pre-tenure timeline
FASTAP2016 AP Reappointment
Review for Reappointment as Assistant Professor
Timing: This review is conducted in the penultimate year of the initial appointment; that is, in year four of the initial appointment as assistant professor.
Criteria: “Reappointment as assistant professor (advanced) requires that the candidate demonstrate measurable progress towards the criteria for tenure in research, teaching and service.”
FASTAP2016 Appointment or Promotion to Tenure
Review for Initial Appointment or Promotion to Associate Professor without term (tenured) or Full Professor.
For promotions, this review will ordinarily be for the rank of (tenured) associate professor; in rare cases, the promotion review may be for the rank of full professor. For external appointments, the rank is determined in consultation between the department chair and the Dean's Office.
Timing: This review must be conducted no later than the penultimate year of the candidate’s appointment to the non-tenured ranks; that is, no later than year seven. Note: contract and tenure clock extensions may result in a review in a subsequent year.
Criteria:
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“Tenure at Yale is awarded to scholars who stand among the foremost leaders in the world in a broad field of knowledge. It is reserved for candidates whose published work significantly extends the horizons of their discipline(s). A tenure appointment is a permanent, forward-looking commitment, and therefore requires evidence of an ongoing and ambitious research agenda.”
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“An assessment of candidates’ leadership is based on the impact, at the very highest levels, of their research and peer-reviewed scholarship. Excellent teaching and engaged University and professional citizenship within and beyond a department or program are also expected. Tenure at Yale may be awarded at the associate or full professor rank.”
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“Associate professors are expected to build upon the accomplishments that earned them their permanent appointments, so that within a reasonable period of time their body of work will merit their consideration for full professor. The title of full professor is earned by those individuals who have a body of distinguished achievements in their record of research, with a commensurate national and international reputation, and who (continue to) display the excellence in teaching and service that is expected of all tenured professors at Yale.”
FASTAP2016 Promotion to Professor
Review for Promotion to Professor
Timing: This review is generally conducted within five years of receiving tenure.
Criteria: Review for promotion from associate professor with tenure to full professor “will include professional appraisal of the candidate’s scholarship from arms’ length reviewers outside of Yale who work in the candidate’s area of research. Cases receiving a positive departmental vote will be reviewed by the relevant Tenure and Promotions committee.”
FASTAP2007 Promotion to Professor
Review for Promotion to Professor
Timing: This review typically occurs 3-5 years post tenure
Criteria: “A candidate for appointment or promotion to a tenure position, whether at the rank of professor or associate professor, must have attained scholarly or creative distinction of high quality as demonstrated by both research and teaching. Consideration for tenure emphasizes the impact and continuing promise, at the very highest levels, of the candidate’s research and scholarship, as well as excellent teaching and engaged University citizenship within and beyond a department or program…Tenured faculty at Yale are expected to stand among the foremost leaders in their fields in the world.”
Ladder Faculty Appointment & Promotion Process
The appointments and promotions review process may begin in July or January, following the Timelines for Ladder Faculty Reappointment and Promotion Reviews.
Junior faculty who are eligible for a reappointment or promotion review due to a clock extension or January start date will receive an email from the Dean's Office with instructions for electing to undergo a review. Faculty who are due for a mandatory review will receive notification from their department chair.
Tenured faculty who are eligible for promotion will receive an email from the Dean's Office with instructions for electing to undergo a review.
The department chair may meet with the faculty member to explain the process for the upcoming review and will send the faculty member the Materials Request Letter advising of the review and requesting the necessary materials.
*Note: In cases involving fully joint appointments, a single unit takes primary administrative responsibility for the reappointment process. Please refer to the Memorandum of Understanding governing the candidate’s case. In these cases, that unit should consult with the SEAS Dean’s Office regarding the selection of templates and preparation of case materials.
About a month after receiving the materials request letter, the faculty member provides the department chair with preliminary materials, which consist of a detailed academic CV, names of up to three individuals who might serve as “arms-length” referees (persons, to the best of the department’s knowledge, who were or are not teachers/mentors/advisors or others who have a close personal relationship with the candidate), names of up to three individuals whom the candidate believes would not offer a fair assessment of their work, and a brief statement of research interests to help guide the department in its selection of additional referees.
The department/program chair selects a departmental faculty review committee, typically composed of three faculty members drawn from the pool of faculty members eligible to vote on the case.
The SEAS Dean’s Office and chair of the Tenure and Appointments Committee (TAC) work with the chair(s) of the appointing department(s) and departmental review committee(s) to choose experts in the candidate’s field to serve as external referees.
The department works with the faculty member to collect the candidate’s dossier, which includes their CV, service/teaching/research statements, and scholarship. Please refer to the materials submission deadline in the Materials Request Letter. The faculty member should submit all materials to the chair’s assistant for uploading.
After the dossier is complete and has been approved by the SEAS Dean’s Office, the chair’s assistant sends the request to referees who have agreed to write.
The department faculty review the file and vote on the reappointment. An affirmative vote by the department is required for the case to move forward in the review process.
Note: In a fully joint case, an affirmative vote is required by both departments to proceed. Departments must meet to vote separately.
If the department vote is positive, the chair presents the case to the relevant Tenure and Appointments Committee (TAC), which also reviews that written work and outside letters. The committee consists of the Deans of SEAS and the FAS, six to ten faculty members from the candidate’s academic area, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and one faculty representative from one of the other academic areas.
If the TAC approves the case, the reappointment moves on to votes by the Joint Board of Permanent Officers of SEAS and FAS (all SEAS and FAS full professors) and the Fellows of the Yale Corporation.
The Assistant Professor reappointment review will conclude with detailed formal written feedback for the faculty member outlining strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth.