According to the guidelines for non-tenure-line faculty promotion review,
“Only faculty of higher rank than the candidate should make recommendations about promotions. However, should there be an insufficient number of higher-ranked non-tenure-line faculty to serve on the Non-tenure-line Promotion Review Committee, exceptions to this provision may be requested from the Executive Vice President and Provost. The Altoona Senate Faculty Affairs Committee shall be responsible for making recommendations on how to deal with exceptions for a cycle of three years.”
At times, especially when the new ranks are first introduced, the Review Committee will have difficulty finding an adequate number of non-tenure-line faculty of the appropriate rank to staff the committee. In these cases, the Faculty Affairs Committee recommends the following procedure. If approved by the Division, these recommendations will be forwarded to the Division Head for further action.
Eligibility and Composition
In cases of a candidate being considered for promotion to Associate Teaching Professor or to Teaching Professor (for faculty with terminal degree) when there is not a sufficient number of higher-ranked non-tenure-line faculty to constitute the full five-member committee, a three-member review subcommittee is acceptable. In such a case, the rank of each committee member shall fit one of the following categories:
- Category I: Teaching Professor or tenured Professor
- Category II: Associate Teaching Professor with at least five years in the second rank
- Category III: Assistant Teaching Professor with at least five years in the second rank
- Category IV: Tenured Associate Professor
This three-member review committee should be composed as follows:
- For candidates holding the rank of Associate Teaching Professor, the committee should have at least one member from category I (preferably from the candidate’s group), and if needed, the remaining members should fall into categories II and/or IV with preference to category II.
- For candidates holding the rank of Assistant Teaching Professor, the committee should have at least one member from categories I or II (preferably from the candidate’s group), and if needed, the remaining members from categories III and/or IV with preference to category III.
The three-member review committee should include members from each of the three Division groups. The Division Head will solicit nominations from all full-time non-tenure-line faculty in the Division of all the non-tenure-line faculty in the Division who are eligible to serve on the committee, preferably with at least one nominee from each Group. The Division Head will then conduct a secret ballot. All full-time non-tenure-line faculty in the Group except for the Division Head are eligible to vote. The nominees will be divided by Group on the ballot. Each faculty member who is eligible to vote may vote for as few or as many nominees as they want. The nominees with the most votes from each group will be the Group’s representative on the promotion review committee. The Division Head will resolve ties, typically by a tie-break election. If a tie-break election results in a second tie, then the Division Head will cast the deciding vote.
In the event that the Committee does not have a member of the appropriate rank for a particular candidate, a special election should be held to replace a member of the committee with one of the appropriate rank. Preferably that will be a member of the candidate’s group. The above process should be used for this replacement, but only candidates of the appropriate rank will be considered in the election.
The selection process should follow the non-tenure-line Promotion Review Committee Guidelines; adapted to select the number of seats needed to fill the desired three-member review committee. As for the regular process, only full-time non-tenure-line faculty members are eligible to vote in this special election.