Promotion and Tenure Criteria
The Division adopts the Altoona College criteria as its own.
Divisional Promotion and Tenure Committee
All members of the committee must be tenured and at the associate rank or higher. Only members of a higher rank than a candidate for promotion may vote on the promotion of a candidate. The committee should have an odd number of voting members with a minimum of three. The committee must include at least one voting member from each of the disciplines in the pool of candidates being considered for tenure or promotion to associate professor or professor. Two candidates from the same discipline may be represented by one committee member, and one committee member may represent more than one discipline among the candidates. (The disciplines of non-tenure line candidates being considered for promotion need not be represented on the committee.) Additional members from the division’s disciplines at-large will serve, if necessary to achieve a membership of three or an odd number equal to or one greater than the number of required represented disciplines.
Given the need to constitute the committee in relation to the pool of candidates for the academic year, the term of office for the committee members shall be one year. As far as possible, the divisional promotion and tenure committee shall be elected by the tenured or tenure eligible faculty of the division. However, the Division Head shall appoint appropriate members, as necessary, from this or other Penn State campuses to fill vacancies after the election process is completed or, in advance of the election, when committee members are required of a certain rank or discipline and no appropriate faculty exist in the division. Appointments from outside the division are subject to the approval of the Chancellor and the Provost.
Prior to September 8 of each fall semester, the Division Head will conduct an election to form the committee for the academic year. On the ballot, for each discipline that must be represented and for which there are eligible faculty members from the division willing to serve, the Division Head will make a separate alphabetical list of candidates. If a need for at-large members exists, the Division Head will list separately those faculty members again and any others from the division who agree to stand for election.
The electors may vote for only one candidate in each list. Or they may choose not to vote for any candidate in a list. For election, a candidate must receive at least five votes. The highest vote getter with five votes or more in each list among the required disciplines will be elected. The faculty members elected as disciplinary representatives will become ineligible for election as an at-large member. The highest vote getter(s), exclusive of them and having at least five votes, will win as at large representatives.
In the case of ties among candidates with five votes or more, a run-off election will be held and again five votes will be a minimum for election. In the case that no one receives five votes in a given category in which at least ten votes have been cast, a run-off election among the two highest vote getters, and any other candidates with the same number of votes as they, will be held. In the run-off elections, if a tie does not result and the highest vote getter receives at least five votes, that candidate will be elected. If a tie results among candidates with five votes or more, the Division Head shall select a winner from among them. (This is to avoid the delay of additional run-off elections in the face of our College requirement to report the divisional committee membership to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs by September 8.) If no candidate receives five votes, a vacancy results, and the Division Head may make an appropriate appointment.