Working Group on Promotion and Tenure
Charge:
(1) To investigate the general efficacy and organization of the promotion and tenure process at Rice and (2) to thoroughly examine both Policy 201 and the guidelines for promotion and tenure and to prioritize suggestions for reform.
The Working Group may take its investigation in whatever direction it wants, but it does need to concentrate on the following, more specific questions for this semester:
In general:
- How is the existing Promotion and Tenure Committee organized? By whom?
- How does the existing committee reach its decision? How is its decision recorded?
In this overall context, this Working Group should address the following specific questions:
1) How does the committee currently reach a decision?
a) Who prepares individual cases for presentation to the committee?
b) How does discussion proceed? How are votes held?
c) Who writes up the final report to the President? Are there opportunities for review and comment on the final report to the President?
2) Would it make sense to formalize the rules for organizing the committee?
a) Would it make sense for the committee to elect its own Secretary or Speaker?
b) Would it make sense for the committee to set out its own procedures for reaching decisions each year (?) in conjunction with the Provost? Or would it make sense for the Faculty Senate to set the procedures in advance? Would some procedures or processes be best set in advance and others left to the committee and Provost each year (if so, which ones)?
Chair: Mahmoud El-Gamal
Members:
Betty Joseph
Ben Kamins
Elizabeth Long
Kathy Matthews
Vikas MittalKyriacos Zygourakis
Working group approved by the Executive Committee on September 19, 2012.