Section 7 covers information about how faculty are promoted and achieve rank.
As CWI continues to develop, new initiatives to improve student success and instruction will emerge. It is assumed that evaluation materials will contain evidence of faculty supporting these initiatives, updated annually, and shared with faculty via their direct supervisors.
The faculty at CWI are eligible for the following ranks:
Refer to Appendix C for detailed descriptions of each rank’s role.
Faculty advancement in rank is conferred through a process including faculty peer review and instructional administration review. The goal of the College is to provide the best possible education for its students. Fundamental to this responsibility is the retention of excellent faculty members. This is accomplished, in part, by providing professional advancement for excellence in teaching, professional development, and institutional engagement. A universally accepted recognition of performance in the academic world is promotion to a higher rank, with the honor, prestige and financial benefits that accompany the promotion. Promotion to a higher rank is neither an unqualified right nor an automatic consequence of having completed a certain period of employment. The College grants advancement, after the appropriate number of years in rank, strictly on the basis of merit. Promotion or continuation of a faculty member is never to be presumed. The faculty member being evaluated must demonstrate clearly, with strong supporting evidence, the ways in which they have attained the level of excellence at the current rank they hold. Advancement in rank is a sign of the College’s confidence in the individual faculty member’s capability for greater achievement and for assuming greater responsibilities.
Teaching excellence, institutional engagement, and professional development are essential for rank advancement. Each advancing rank anticipates cumulative knowledge, skills, and responsibilities from the previous rank. Evidence of criteria fulfillment may be demonstrated in student evaluations, peer observations, self-evaluations, supervisory evaluations, and portfolio for promotion. Performance expectations and fulfillment of criteria should be assessed annually as part of an open, ongoing dialog between faculty and supervisors.
a. Promotion Through Portfolio Review
Only faculty in good standing at each step of the process (Letter of Intent, last Friday in September; Submission of application, First Friday in February; and Confirmation with the Provost in April) are considered eligible for rank. To be in good standing, a faculty member must:
Faculty must teach for three years as full-time faculty at CWI as an instructor before applying for assistant professor, four years full time as assistant professor before applying for associate, and five years full time as associate before applying for full professor. Time taken for non-protected leave may not be calculated in time of service. Contracted faculty employed with less than 1.0 full time employment will be eligible for rank application after completing the full-time equivalent semesters of experience required. Released or reduced teaching responsibilities of full-time faculty that is approved by the Provost will not interrupt the normal timeline for promotion.
Candidates being denied promotion must wait at least one full promotion cycle before being eligible to apply for rank promotion.
Faculty must also have passed the FT Faculty Evaluation and Promotion Quiz with a 90% minimum.
b. Rank Placement at Time of Hire
See Appendix C or the Faculty Evaluation Repository Blackboard shell for application details.
This process supports incoming faculty in starting their career at CWI at a rank that both reflects their past experience in academia and the scope of work they want to engage in as they enter our college.
Faculty must submit a professional portfolio documenting the relevant achievements to the Faculty Promotion Committee (FPC). The FPC is a subcommittee of the Faculty Senate. It is the responsibility of the individual faculty member to apply for changes in rank classification. If he or she fails to do so according to the schedule indicated below, change of rank cannot be made until the following year.
The criteria by which faculty are assessed for promotion are aligned with job and rank descriptions and evaluations. The criteria are as follows:
For a detailed promotion preparation timeline, refer to the Faculty Evaluation Repository Blackboard shell and see Appendix B.
For detailed instructions on how to prepare for promotion, please refer to the Blackboard Faculty Evaluation Repository Blackboard shell and complete the required training course on the Center for Teaching and Learning site.
A. Elements of the promotion portfolio
The portfolio has five tabs: 1—Cover Letter, 2—Curriculum Vitae, 3—Faculty Evaluations, 4— Student Evaluations, 5—Faculty Activity and Reporting Form.
For more detailed information about each element of the portfolio, see Appendix D and refer to the Faculty Evaluation Repository Blackboard shell.
B. Portfolio format
The cover of the promotion portfolio must include the faculty member’s name, program, the rank for which they are applying, and the year. Images are acceptable and optional.
The portfolio must include a table of contents and tabs (5):
Failure to include required material will result in not being recommended for promotion.
C. Hard copy format
Portfolios must be spiral bound. Each of the five tabs should have some physical marker of the section.
D. Digital copy format
The digital version of the portfolio must be contained in a single .pdf file.
Applicants will submit both a hard and a digital copy of their rank portfolio no later than 5:00 p.m. of the first Friday in February. The FPC Chair will send to each applicant a notice of receipt of their portfolio within 7 business days of the first Friday of February. If an applicant does not receive a notice of receipt of their portfolio, it is their responsibility to contact the Chair of the FPC within 10 business days of the first Friday of February.
The Print version of the portfolio will be submitted to the Chair of FPC.
The digital portfolio will be submitted in the myCWI Faculty Promotions site as a single .pdf file. The faculty member will receive an email from the Chair of FPC when their individual submission area on the teamsite has been created. Because the pdf file is typically large, the faculty member may need to submit the digital portfolio from a campus computer.
The Provost’s office is responsible for returning Promotion Portfolios to faculty after the final recommendations have been made.
Only complete portfolios are reviewed. Members of the Faculty Promotion Committee will review the portfolios. All information from the evaluation process will be kept completely confidential. The FPC will conduct their review using only materials assembled in the applicant portfolio. Additional information or clarification may be requested of the applicant under review. It is not within the purview of the FPC, nor is it appropriate for the FPC, to request information or clarification because of an incomplete portfolio. Recommendations for promotion will be based on a majority vote of the committee members.
Committee members may not discuss a portfolio with the applicant or any other party. The FPC Chair may discuss decisions with the Provost. See Promotion rubrics in Appendix C.
A. Decisions
FPC will send its written recommendations to the Provost no later than the last Friday in March.
After receiving and reviewing the Committee’s recommendations, the Provost will in turn approve the recommendations or return them to the Committee for re-evaluation.
B. Notifications
All applicants will be notified of the decision regarding their promotion by the last day of April by the office of the Provost.
In the case that an applicant is not approved for promotion, the applicant must be notified in writing at least 5 business days before the public announcement of the promotion of any other candidates by the College.
C. Appeals
Candidates who were denied promotion have the right to appeal.
I. WRITTEN APPEAL
The candidate must submit a written letter of appeal to the Faculty Promotion Committee Chair within five (5) business days of notification. The FPC Chair will notify the provost, and appropriate supervisor/dean.
The written appeal should contain a response to the FPC assessment rubric emailed to the faculty member by the Provost upon denial of promotion. The letter should indicate how the promotion portfolio successfully meets the criteria of the rubric. Specific evidence from the portfolio should be referenced.
The candidate may not add any documentation to or revise their promotion portfolio in any way when making an appeal application, and the appeal process is not to be used as a mechanism for improving a poorly prepared packet or a packet that does not follow the relevant policies and guidelines.
II. APPEALS COMMITTEE
Once the Faculty Promotion Committee Chair has received the written appeal, they will form an Appeals Committee of five (5) former FPC members from a variety of departments.
Committee members should not be current or former supervisors of the candidate.
III. DUTIES OF THE APPEALS COMMITTEE
The Appeals Committee members should meet within five (5) business days of receipt of appeal.
The Appeals Committee shall elect a chairperson who will report in writing the findings of the committee to Faculty Promotion Committee Chair.
Committee members shall review the written appeal and the promotion portfolio in accordance with Faculty Promotion Committee portfolio review protocols.
The Appeals Committee shall reach one of the following decisions by a majority vote:
IV. FINDINGS
The chair of the appeal committee will report the findings to the Faculty Promotion Committee Chair, who will notify the candidate, supervisor, dean, and provost.
Decisions made by the appeals committee are final.
D. Withdrawal from promotion process
Candidates may withdraw from the promotion process at any time. A candidate may withdraw by notifying the FPC Chair. Withdrawals may not be reversed. The candidate may participate in the next cycle. Should the candidate submit a portfolio and then withdraw, the candidate will receive no feedback on the portfolio from FPC.
E. Exceptions
Exceptions to any aspect of the promotion application process must be requested in writing within 7 calendar days after a due date and must specify the extenuating circumstances related to the request, such as illness, accident, or serious family problems. Exceptions will be sent to the chair of FPC. FPC will consider the exception and make a recommendation to the Provost. The Provost will make the final decision and notify the FPC and faculty making the request.
Please refer to HR 340 – Full-Time Faculty Compensation.