Tenure and Promotion Handbook
Item C: Vote of Tenured Members of the Department
See Faculty Manual §4.XI.4.(c).
1. Individuals who have access to this item:
- All those granted access to the dossier:
- The initiator
- The Associate Dean
- Members of the Tenure and Promotion Committee
- The Dean of the College
- The President
2. Participants in preparing this item, and role of each participant:
- Initiator – Prepares and distributes ballot and establishes a method for identifying who has and has not voted (see below)
- Tenured members of the department – Return votes as requested by initiator
3. Guidelines and suggestions:
- Every tenured faculty member of the department, including those on sabbatical or other leave, is expected to vote, except in cases of conflict of interest (see Item D). If a faculty member has resigned tenure as part of a phased-in retirement agreement, that faculty member should notify the initiator that he or she is not eligible to vote (although he or she may participate in other ways in the review process – see Items D and M).
- Paper ballots (rather than email or oral vote) are recommended for accuracy.
- Individual ballots should be separate from, but consistent with, the content of the letter prepared by the tenured faculty member. Faculty members should be urged to prepare their letters accordingly.
- Ballots may be identified (i.e., signed by the faculty member) or anonymous, at the discretion of the initiator and/or the department. If an anonymous ballot is used, the initiator must devise a method to be able to identify any individuals who have not returned a ballot for purposes of follow-up. For example, the initiator may ask the tenured members to hand-deliver their sealed ballots to the department Academic Administrative Assistant, who will collect signatures from those who have returned their ballots and then deliver the unopened ballots to the initiator for tabulation.
- The ballots themselves are not included in the dossier; only the numeric results are included. Results should be reported with no identifiers (i.e., # supporting tenure/promotion, #opposing tenure/promotion, # abstaining due to conflict of interest).
- Ballots should be shredded after the completed dossier has been submitted.
4. Additional resources:
- Sample Ballot for tenured members of the department (Appendix 2)
5. Contact for questions or concerns:
- Assistant Provost (x3004)
