Department of English
University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri

Personnel Committee
May 10, 1994 [revised May 31, 2002]

The Department of English has a long tradition of careful evaluation of junior faculty for promotion and tenure. The process begins early in recruitment, as we look to interview candidates with good prospects for advancement and to apprise them clearly of our expectations. To ensure wide initial support, a vote of two-thirds of the department is required for offer of an appointment. On the arrival of new members in the department, a committee of senior faculty is appointed to monitor their progress in research, teaching, and service. The department Personnel Committee, comprised of all tenured members, meets annually for further review, which is made the basis for a formal letter of review from the Department Chair to the junior member. This ongoing review looks toward a rigorous formal third-year review from which measured encouragement or warning may issue as appropriate.

Normally, this process runs for the five years prior to the sixth-year consideration for promotion and tenure. In this sixth year, outside peer reviews are gathered along with publications, work-in-progress, and departmental reviews of teaching and service. All members of the Personnel Committee are expected to study this material, but the primary responsibility for a recommendation lies with the mentoring committee that has had oversight for five years. The decision-making process normally involves two stages: one meeting at which a formal presentation of evidence is made and discussed, and a second meeting, usually a week later, at which, after more discussion, a secret vote is taken. Again, a two-thirds majority is required to recommend promotion and tenure. In keeping with college rules, Personnel Committee members not present are permitted to vote in absentia.

The department's criteria for promotion and tenure are the traditional ones of research, teaching, and service. Of these, the first two are paramount. A collegial acceptance of routine responsibilities for departmental business is expected, although we normally do not expect major service obligations from junior faculty. But nothing less than consistently good teaching will do. In regard to publication, the College of Arts and Science guidelines specify that “Promotion to associate professor (and the awarding of tenure) reflects a demonstrated potential for developing a national reputation in the discipline.” That potential will be demonstrated through the publication of a book or its equivalent, through positive response to one’s published work from established scholars in the discipline, and through evidence of an active, ongoing research program.