- General Directions. The dossier includes the information and documentation as listed and in the order as given below. Any dossiers which do not conform to this order or which contain inaccuracies will be returned to the department or college for correction. For a description of the required materials, please see section 3.11.5.1.A in this handbook.
- Order of Presentation of the Dossier Contents (Table of Contents): The letters below represent the sections. Number pages of each section consecutively (A-1, A-2, A-3, etc.), but begin each section with page 1 (e.g., B-1, C-1, etc.).
- Summary Sheet: Recommendations for Promotion and/or Tenure
Educational History and Employment History
Statement of Responsibilities
Department and College Criteria Statements
Certification of Competence to Communicate in English - Teaching Ability and Effectiveness
- Research, Scholarship, Creative Achievement
- Institutional, Disciplinary, and/or Professional Service
- Candidate Signature Statement
- External Letters of Assessment
Sample Letter to External Evaluators
Log of External Letters of Assessment
Method of Selection of External Evaluators
Qualifications of External Evaluators - Annual Retention Review Materials (for faculty seeking tenure)
Annual Performance and Planning Review Materials
Departmental Review Committee Recommendation to the Department Head (including minority reports, if any)
Department Head’s Recommendation
Dissenting Reports to Department Head’s Recommendation
Candidate’s Response to Departmental Recommendations
Collegiate / Intercollegiate Review Committee Recommendation to the Dean (including minority reports, if any)
Dean’s Recommendation
Candidate’s Response to Collegiate or Intercollegiate Recommendation
Chief Academic Officer’s Recommendation
Candidate’s Response to Chief Academic Officer’s Recommendation
Chancellor’s Recommendation
- Summary Sheet: Recommendations for Promotion and/or Tenure
- Number of copies required: It is recommended that four copies of the original be made. The original and two copies will be forwarded by the dean to the chief academic officer. One file copy must be retained in the department, and one should be retained in the college.
- Contents and Assembly of the Sections
- Required biographical information and criteria statements. The material in this section provides summary information for the review committees and administrative reviewers, arranged in the order given.
- Summary sheet. The summary sheet records the basic data of the candidate’s employment and eligibility for review. The summary sheet also documents the process of review by peer committees and administrators. Care should be taken to ensure that all entries on the form are correct and complete. The numerical vote of each committee is reported on the summary sheet.
- If tenure review comes earlier or later than that specified in the faculty member’s letter of appointment (or for promotion after fewer than the typical number of years in rank), approval for early review must have been granted by the department head, dean, and chief academic officer, as stipulated in section 3.11.5 of this handbook. A copy of the approval must be attached to the summary sheet.
- Educational and employment history. The candidate, in collaboration with the department head, prepares a list of her or his educational and academic employment history.
- Statement of responsibilities. The department head, in consultation with the faculty member, shall prepare a statement of the candidate’s responsibilities. It is recommended that the statement be composed within the first six months of employment and updated annually. The statement should describe the areas of responsibility assigned to the faculty member in regard to the criteria used in promotion and tenure reviews.
- Department and college statements of criteria and expectations. Each department and college must include a description of the criteria used to appoint and evaluate faculty in these respective units as outlined in the Faculty Handbook11.4.
- Certification of Competence to Communicate in English. The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees requires that certification of competence to communicate in English shall accompany the tenure and promotion dossier.
- Summary sheet. The summary sheet records the basic data of the candidate’s employment and eligibility for review. The summary sheet also documents the process of review by peer committees and administrators. Care should be taken to ensure that all entries on the form are correct and complete. The numerical vote of each committee is reported on the summary sheet.
- Teaching Ability and Effectiveness.. The material in this section documents the candidate’s teaching ability and effectiveness. This section contains the following statements and information arranged in the order given.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section B must contain the following items.
- Candidate’s Statement / Self-Assessment: The statement describes the candidate’s teaching philosophy and practices and reflects on teaching ability and effectiveness;
- Scheduled Classes Taught: A list of courses taught at UTK for each term or semester (including summer term). Include the following information:
- enrollment;
- percent effort for co-taught classes;
- identify honors courses;
- identify clinical assignments or other forms of direct student supervision, if appropriate; and
- list advising responsibilities.
- Quantitative end-of-course student surveys: A concise tabulation of results of end-of-course student surveys or documented evaluation of candidate’s programs, activities, and skills;
- Narrative end-of-course student survey materials: If a summary of student comments from end-of-course student surveys is included, the summary should be broadly representative of all the student comments received. These comments should be compiled by the department head from standard end-of-course student surveys.
- Peer review of teaching reports: Peer review of teaching reports and any other faculty input concerning teaching effectiveness, including any statements from colleagues who have visited the candidate’s classroom for the purpose of evaluating his/her teaching, or who are in good position to evaluate fairly and effectively clinical or field assignments or advising. Internal letters about teaching effectiveness should be included in this section.
- Optional indicators of quality. Section B may contain the following indicators of quality, as appropriate:
- statements from administrators that attest to the candidate’s teaching and advising effectiveness;
- other documentation of evidence of teaching and advising effectiveness (e.g., performance of students in subsequent courses, tangible results and benefits);
- honors and awards received for teaching;
- a list of supervised graduate dissertations (or equivalent) required for graduate degrees with types of degrees and years granted;
- membership on graduate degree candidates’ committees;
- a list of supervised undergraduate honor theses or research;
- evidence of international or intercultural instructional activities.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section B must contain the following items.
- Research/scholarship/creative activity. The material in this section documents the candidate’s achievements in research/scholarship/creative activity (according to the terms of the candidate’s appointment). This section contains the following statements and information arranged in the order given.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section C must contain the following items.
- Candidate’s statement. The statement describes the candidate’s research/scholarship/creative achievement approach and/or agenda.
- List of scholarly publications. Publications should be listed in standard bibliographic form, preferably with the earliest date first. Citations should include beginning and ending page numbers or total number of pages, where appropriate. For multiple-authored works, the contribution of the candidate should be clearly indicated (e.g., principal author, supervised person who authored the work, etc.). Publications should be grouped in the following categories and in the order given:
- Articles published in refereed journals;
- Books;
- Scholarly and/or creative activity published through a refereed electronic venue;
- Contributions to edited volumes;
- Papers published in refereed conference proceedings;
- Papers or extended abstracts published in conference proceedings (refereed on the basis of abstract);
- Articles published in popular press;
- Articles appearing in in-house organs;
- Research reports submitted to sponsors;
- Articles published in non-refereed journals;
- Manuscripts accepted for publication (include letters of acceptance at the end of this section C).
- Manuscripts submitted for publication (include where and when submitted).
- Creative activity. This section should document exhibitions, installations, productions, or publications of original works of architecture, dance, design, electronic media, film, journalism, landscape architecture, literature, music, theatre, and visual art. Performance of original dance, literary, musical visual arts, or theatrical works, or works from traditional and contemporary repertories of the performing arts should be chronicled with critiques.
- Projects, grants, commissions, and contracts (date, title, agency, amount). These should be grouped in the following categories and in the order given:
- Completed;
- Funded and in progress;
- Under review.
- Papers presented at technical and professional meetings (meeting and paper titles, listed chronologically in standard bibliographic form); indication of whether the candidate was the presenter, whether the paper was refereed, and whether the paper was invited.
- Record of participation in, and description of, seminars and workshops (short description of activity, with titles, dates, sponsor, etc.); indication of role in seminar or workshop, e.g., student, invited participant, etc.
- Record of invitations to conduct workshops, master classes, seminars, etc. at other institutions.
- Optional indicators of quality. Section C may contain the following indicators of quality, as appropriate:
- Other evidence of research or creative accomplishments (patents, new product development, international and intercultural expertise or experience, new art forms, new computer software programs developed, notable citations and / or reviews of creative work or scholarship, etc.);
- honors or awards for research/scholarship/creative achievement;
- Grants and contracts for instruction or for training programs, with an indication of the candidate’s role in preparing and administering the grants and contracts.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section C must contain the following items.
- Institutional, Disciplinary, and/or Professional Service. The material in this section documents the candidate’s achievement in institutional, disciplinary, and/or professional service. This section contains the following statements and information arranged in the order given.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section D must contain the following items.
- Candidate’s statement. The statement will describe the candidate’s achievement in institutional, disciplinary, and/or professional service.
- Service activities: The candidate provides a summary of his/her service record arranged according to the following categories.
- Institutional service
- Record of committee work at department, college, and university levels;
- Participation in university-wide governance bodies and related activities;
- Record of contributions to the University’s programs, at home and abroad, to enhance equal opportunity, cultural diversity, and international and intercultural awareness.
- Disciplinary service
- Record of membership and active participation in professional and learned societies related to his or her academic discipline (e.g., offices held, committee work, journal refereeing, and other responsibilities);
- Professional service
- Service to public and private organizations or institutions in which the candidate uses his/her professional expertise;
- Service to governmental agencies at the international, federal, state and local levels;
- Service to industry, e.g., training, workshops, consulting;
- Participation in community affairs as a representative of the University.
- Institutional service
- Optional indicators of quality. Section D may contain the following indicators of quality, as appropriate:
- Honors or awards for service activity within the institution, discipline, and/or profession.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section D must contain the following items.
- Candidate Signature Statement. See 3.11.5.1.A2)e. This section provides a statement, signed by the candidate, attesting that the candidate has reviewed sections A through D for accuracy and completeness.
- External Letters of Assessment. See 3.11.5.1.A2)f. This section contains letters from external evaluators and arranged in the order given.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section E must contain the following items.
- External letters of assessment. The dossier will typically include no fewer than five letters from external evaluators. In the event that a dossier has fewer than five letters from external evaluators, the department head must discuss the reasons with the dean and/or chief academic officer. The dean or the chief academic officer may ask the department head to solicit additional letters in order to meet the typical required minimum number of external assessments.
- Sample of letter sent to external evaluators. The head provides a sample of the letter that was sent to the external evaluators soliciting their assessments of the candidate’s achievements in research/scholarship/creative activity.
- Log of external letters of assessment. The log documents the dates on which each external letter was requested, received, and entered into the dossier. The log also indicates whether the evaluator was recommended by the candidate or the department. All requests should be entered in the log regardless of whether a response was obtained.
- Method of selection of external evaluators. The head attaches a description of the procedure used for selecting external evaluators.
- Brief biography of evaluators. The head attaches a brief biographical statement identifying those who have written the assessments, including evidence demonstrating the evaluator’s qualifications and standing in his/her discipline.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section E must contain the following items.
- Evaluative Recommendations, Reports, and Statements. [See 3.11.5.1.A.2)g] This section includes the APPRs, retention reviews (as appropriate), and all evaluative statements by peer committees and administrators.
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section G must contain the following items, in the following order:
- Annual Performance and Retention Review Materials
- For Tenure and/or Tenure and Promotion: All Retention Review materials and Annual Performance and Planning Review (APPR) materials completed during the probationary period, including, but not limited to, the following documents:
- Retention Review Report Form;
- Faculty narrative from retention review;
- Retention narrative from any and all administrative levels;
- Candidate’s responses to any and all retention review narratives;
- Dissenting statements from faculty.
- APPR form;
- APPR narratives from any and all administrative levels;
- Candidate’s responses to any APPR narratives.
- For Promotion Only: All materials from Annual Performance and Planning Reviews (APPR) completed since the last promotion, including, but not limited to, the following documents:
- APPR Form;
- APPR narratives from any and all administrative levels;
- Candidate’s responses to any APPR narrative.
- For Tenure and/or Tenure and Promotion: All Retention Review materials and Annual Performance and Planning Review (APPR) materials completed during the probationary period, including, but not limited to, the following documents:
- Departmental Review Committee report
- Departmental review committee narrative;
- Any minority report from the departmental review committee;
- Any candidate response to the departmental review committee’s and/or minority report.
- Department Head’s recommendation
- Department head’s recommendation;
- Any dissenting statement from members of the departmental review committee;
- Any candidate response to the department head’s recommendation, or any dissenting statement from members of the departmental review committee.
- College or Intercollegiate Promotion and Tenure Committee recommendation
- College or Intercollegiate Promotion and Tenure committee narrative;
- Any minority report from the College or Intercollegiate Promotion and Tenure committee;
- Any candidate response to the College or Intercollegiate Promotion and Tenure committee report.
- Dean’s Recommendation
- Dean’s recommendation;
- Any candidate response to the dean’s recommendation.
- Chief Academic Officer’s Recommendation
- Chief Academic Officer’s recommendation;
- Any candidate response to the chief academic officer’s recommendation.
- Chancellor’s Recommendation
- Annual Performance and Retention Review Materials
- Required statements, information, and reports. Section G must contain the following items, in the following order:
- Required biographical information and criteria statements. The material in this section provides summary information for the review committees and administrative reviewers, arranged in the order given.
- Materials not to be included in the dossier. The dossier should not contain the following items unless unusual circumstances prevail and the materials are necessary for making an assessment and recommendation. (This judgment shall be made by the dean.):
- Evaluative statements written by the candidate, other than the required statements at the head of each factual section of the dossier;
- Statements about a candidate’s personal life unless they are germane to the quality of the candidate’s work;
- Letters of appreciation or thanks except when they include an explanation of the contribution made to teaching, research/scholarship/creative activity, or service;
- Course syllabi, outlines, and other course materials; course evaluation forms.