Department of Childhood Studies
Rutgers University, Camden
Tenure and Promotion Guidelines
4/20/13
The present guidelines are intended to provide an interpretation of the “University Policy with Respect to Academic Appointments, Reappointments, and Promotions” contained in Appendix D of the Appointment/Reappointment and Promotion Instructions. This policy is excerpted at the end of these guidelines, and nothing in these departmental guidelines is meant to differ from the stated policy of the university.
Given that childhood studies continues to be an emergent, multidisciplinary, cutting-edge field—both within North America and internationally—the composition of scholarly peers for the work of childhood studies scholars will likely be dispersed among different fields and among different audiences. The relevant circle of peers could range from variations within the humanities or social sciences, or could cross boundaries between these broader disciplines. It is important for appointment and review committee members to recognize the often interstitial nature of a candidate’s research and dossier and to avoid pre-determined notions of what might constitute a candidate’s circle of peers. A candidate from childhood studies may develop an audience of peers around problems or questions that arise from mutual research that are themselves not “fields” or “disciplines” in the usual sense of the terms—as in, for instance, the history of childhood, economically underserved children, popular culture and childhood, among others. Recognition of a candidate’s field and peers should extend to the kinds of journals and publications a candidate presents, the venues for presentations of research and the kinds of professional activities and organizations in which a candidate participates which give indication of the candidate’s success at building a scholarly reputation. Thus, in order to facilitate successful outcomes in the tenure and promotion process for candidates within Childhood Studies, dialogue about the development of the candidate’s research program, disciplinary affiliations and crossings, must be broached early and consistently between the candidate and his/her mentor, chair, and senior members of department.
Promotion Criteria for Assistant to Associate Professor
Faculty members considered for promotion are evaluated with respect to 3 major areas:
- The contribution of the individual to scholarship in the candidate’s field, and the candidate’s recognition in and impact upon the field
2. The contribution of the individual to teaching
3. The contribution of the individual to service.
For promotion to Associate the most important area is scholarship and intellectual importance in the candidate’s field.
1. Scholarship
Excellence in scholarship is judged on the basis of scholarly books and research publications, success in obtaining funding for research or receiving competitive fellowships, presentations at professional meetings, creation of information resources and other materials of scholarly benefit to the candidate’s field of study (an example of the latter may be contributing to materials on Childhood for Oxford Bibliographies Online).
Among these categories of scholarly activity, the first two are of primary importance. Thus, activities that promote research publication (including scholarly books) and funding success, whether through grants or competitive fellowships, should be given priority by the candidate. The goal of these activities is for the candidate to demonstrate that he or she has an active program of research that leads to scholarly articles and funding. How this goal is achieved will depend on the candidate; no meaningful magic numbers exist, either in terms of numbers of publications nor in terms of amount of funding, that define the threshold for when a candidate has achieved “excellence”, not least because both the publication rate and the availability of research funding differ substantially among different areas of childhood studies research.
Other notable forms of scholarship include serving as an editor of a major journal as this work provides not only a contribution to the scholarly community (and consequently a noteworthy service contribution), but also an indication of scholarly reputation. This is because journals normally seek the most visible scholars in a field to serve as editors. Highly respected scholar-editors elevate a journal’s reputation and consequently help to attract manuscripts from the best scholars in the area.
2. Teaching
Evidence for excellence in teaching must necessarily come from a variety of sources, because every specific source has limitations. Standardized assessments, like the Student Instructional Rating scales, provide one indicator, reports from peer visitations provide another indicator, numbers of students mentored in independent study, honors projects, or graduate research provide another indicator, and documentation of innovative course development and curriculum revisions provide yet another. These quantitative indicators carry greater weight when they are accompanied by evidence of the effectiveness and impact of the instruction. Testimonials from students about the ways their intellectual development was enriched by the instructor, demonstrations of students’ accomplishments in competitions, and publication or utilization by others of a candidate’s teaching innovations all serve to document aspects of teaching excellence.
Candidates should assemble, in an ongoing basis, their own portfolio of such evidence to present as part of their promotion. Statements of teaching philosophy can be useful, especially if they are accompanied by complementary input from students or peers that provide evidence of the effectiveness of specific aspects of the teaching philosophy. For example, if a candidate seeks to impart particular skills to students, evidence that the instructor has imparted such skills makes the claim more compelling, or evidence that the candidate has modified his or her teaching methods and has data on the impact of the modification.
3. Service
Service includes service to the department, the college, the campus, the local and regional community, and the greater academic community in which the candidate works.
Service to the greater academic community is usually of most importance for promotion, because it reflects on the scholarly standing and engagement of the candidate. For example, serving in an editorial capacity for a professional journal indicates that one is held in high regard by (at least some of) one’s academic peers. More generally, participation in professional activities like reviewing grants or papers provides important service that can also complement indicators of excellence in scholarship, because we assume that editors and grant program managers only ask people they consider knowledgeable in the area to undertake such tasks.
Service beyond the academic communities listed above that is extraordinary in terms of scope or consistency is also important to note, especially for promotions after tenure. Thus, serving in an administrative role, whether as department chair, program director, or dean, are examples of service that is out the ordinary. Developing or directing outreach activities is also an example of service beyond the ordinary expectations, but such activities are more likely to be considered in regard to tenure and promotion if they reflect the candidate’s scholarly and research interests.
Documentation of the specific type and amount of service provided by a candidate is needed for all forms of service presented in support of tenure and promotion.
Promotion Criteria from Associate to Full Professor
The criteria for promotion from Associate to Full Professor are similar to those for promotion from Assistant to Associate. Thus, demonstrated excellence in all three areas, those of scholarship, teaching and service, is expected of the candidate, and excellence in scholarship remains the most important of the 3 domains in most cases. There is more emphasis on the candidate’s having international as well as national recognition, and there is more emphasis on the candidate’s having a body of work that is recognized and appreciated, whether in the form of an additional book (beyond what was counted for promotion to associate professor), a collection of published articles and chapters, or the receipt of a major grant. There is also more emphasis on demonstrations of fulfilling a substantive service role, either in a scholarly capacity (journal editing, creating an edited volume, organizing a conference) or an administrative capacity (serving as a dean, a chair or a graduate director, for instance).
In either promotion from Assistant to Associate or Associate to Full Professor
Once again, the multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary nature of Childhood Studies requires extra care when considering and evaluating candidates for promotion to Associate Professor (with tenure) as well as to Full Professor. Care must be given to acknowledge those successful efforts undertaken by the candidate to build a reputation from the position of existing in a nascent, sometimes unacknowledged, field. Measures of a candidate’s reputation for promotion to associate professor with tenure may include, among other things: papers presented beyond campus and regional groups; some form of participation in professional associations (e.g., serving as member of a committee of organizing a panel); participation with the publications in one’s “field” ( i.e., journal article reviewer, book manuscript and/or proposal evaluator).
Promotion to Professor II
Following the University policy, promotion to Professor II requires the candidate to have achieved “national and international” eminence in their discipline and fields of inquiry. National and international stature is primarily signaled by the visibility of a scholar’s publications (as indicated by book awards, book reviews, and citation analyses) and by a record of major grants. Other indications may include important keynote addresses at national and international conferences and central roles in national and international research initiatives.
Although scholarship is central in promotion to PII, University regulations also require that a successful candidate have a consistent “high standard of achievement in all professorial roles.”
APPENDIX D
UNIVERSITY POLICY WITH RESPECT TO ACADEMIC
APPOINTMENTS, REAPPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS#
I. Introduction
Section 60.5.14 of Rutgers Policy states:
Appointments, reappointments and promotions may be made in recognition of accomplishments: in teaching, scholarship, and service for general teaching/research faculty and for extension specialists in Cook College and/or the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station; in teaching, extension scholarship and service for all other extension specialists; in teaching, clinical practice, and service for clinical faculty; in teaching, extension practice, and service for county agents; in teaching, scholarship and/or the arts, and service for faculty with appointments in the creative or performing arts; in librarianship, scholarship, and service for library faculty. The application of these criteria shall be in accordance with the University’s published Policy with Respect to Academic Appointments and Promotions, as may be amended by the Board of Governors from time to time.
II. Criteria
Teaching
Effective teaching should be a fundamental endeavor of all members of the faculty. As teachers, members of the faculty are responsible for effective instruction, whether at the undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, clinical, extension or continuing education level. Teaching includes classroom, field, and non-credit instruction; supervision of research, student internships, professional practice, clinical practice, theses, and doctoral dissertations; academic advising and acting as a mentor; the training of extension volunteers and paraprofessionals; the improvement and enrichment of course offerings and other instructional activities within the faculty member’s discipline or profession; participation in interdisciplinary courses, honors courses and other special courses offered through the undergraduate colleges and other units of the University; and, the writing of textbooks and the development of other instructional materials to enhance education in the faculty member’s discipline or profession. Effective teachers must demonstrate depth and breadth of knowledge in their discipline, must communicate this knowledge to others, and must give evidence of a continuing development of their knowledge so as to insure their continued effective teaching over the duration of their appointment. They stay informed of advances and current thinking in their subject and relate them to their teaching in a meaningful and balanced way. Effective teachers communicate enthusiasm for their subject and have a responsibility to create a positive environment for learning and one that stimulates imaginative thinking. They maintain a critical attitude toward their teaching and strive continuously to improve it.
Scholarship
Active scholarship should be a fundamental endeavor of all members of the faculty. Scholarship, including basic and applied research, means in-depth study and learning in a specific field and inquiry and experimentation designed to make direct contributions to knowledge in that field. Scholarship, as measured by peer recognition of its originality, impact on, and importance to the development of the field, is demonstrated most typically by refereed publications, such as journal articles and books of high quality. Scholarship and research accomplishments are also demonstrated by the design and execution of applied research in the laboratory or in the field; through the presentation of papers at organized scholarly meetings, usually at the national or international level; through the attraction of external support or competitive fellowships and awards appropriate to the faculty member’s field of study; through such activities as editing, translation, the acquisition of significant patents, the compilation of information, and the development of materials that make information more accessible to researchers, other scholars, and practitioners; and through publication in other academic or professional journals and lecturing in professional and other public forums. As the State University, Rutgers encourages appropriate applications in the discipline or profession to the issues and problems of the State and region. Such scholarship will be measured by equally rigorous standards as are applicable to all scholarship.
Service
Service includes the contributions a faculty member makes to the academic profession, to the University, and to society at large. Contributions to the advancement of the academic profession are most typically demonstrated by active participation in professional and scholarly associations; by service on editorial boards and as a reviewer of scholarly works and proposals; by participation on expert committees, such as NIH (National Institutes of Health) research study sections, NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) grant selection panels, research committees of the National Academy of Science, or practice committees of professional associations or institutions, and by fostering collaborative relationships with clinical agencies providing sites for clinical practice. Contributions to the effective operation of the University at all levels are most typically demonstrated by significant academic and professional service to the department, the discipline, the faculty, the undergraduate colleges, the graduate programs, the campus, or the University as a whole, through such activities as recruitment of scholars to the University, evaluation of peers, contributions as a fellow, contributions to important committees and other activities in support of the academic development of the University and the enhancement of student academic development and student life programs. Contributions to society at large are most typically demonstrated through the application of the faculty member’s academic expertise and particular professional skills to the solution of international, national, state, county and local problems and by service for the public good on governmental and other special committees, boards, agencies, civic groups and commissions.
III.
IV. Promotion to Associate Professor or Equivalent Ranks (Rutgers Policy, Section 60.5.16)
A. General Principles. The most critical step in the promotion process is the step from assistant professor (or equivalent rank) to associate professor (or equivalent rank), since this appointment normally involves academic tenure and means, in effect, that the University has abandoned its freedom of action with respect to the retention of a particular individual. After one has attained a tenured associate professorship, he or she still has freedom to resign, but the University no longer has freedom to dismiss, except as provided in university regulations governing dismissal of faculty.
For this reason the greatest care is exercised in promoting faculty members to the rank of associate professor or equivalent ranks. To attain this rank, a person must be adjudged to be someone who can be counted on to participate with colleagues in the determination or formulation of University policy and development with respect to his or her field of scholarship. There is something rather different in kind as well as in quality to be sought in an associate professor as distinct from an assistant professor.
B. At Rutgers, as at other distinguished universities, the following considerations shall apply for tenure considerations and for promotion to associate professor, or equivalent ranks, which usually accompany tenure:
(1) General Teaching/Research Faculty and Extension Specialists in
Cook College and/or the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station
For general teaching/research faculty, scholarship, including research accomplishment, is the primary criterion. Excellence in scholarship, as defined in the criterion under Section 60.5.14, is necessary to the achievement of tenure; effective teaching, as defined in the criterion under Section 60.5.14, is also normally a condition for the achievement of tenure. Only in rare instances where an individual’s scholarship has enabled his/her teaching to achieve national recognition, that is, to make an impressive and recognized impact on teaching in the discipline as a whole, not limited to this University, may teaching become a principal basis for tenure. Significant accomplishments in the activities specified under the criterion of service will strengthen a candidacy for tenure. Such accomplishments are expected in a member of the profession, but cannot replace scholarship and research or teaching effectiveness as a justification for tenure.
V. Promotion to Professor or Equivalent Ranks (Rutgers Policy, Section 60.5.17)
A. Professor is the highest academic rank. An individual promoted to this rank should have made substantial progress and demonstrated further distinction beyond that required at the associate professor level.
B. Rigorous standards are applied for the assessment of scholarship, artistic accomplishment, librarianship, extension practice, extension scholarship and clinical practice in consideration for promotion to professor or equivalent ranks. However, over a number of years, tenured faculty take on a variety of roles in a University community and in their professions, and, over time, the types of contributions faculty make may appropriately change. The vitality of the University community depends on the commitment of many of its senior faculty to teaching and to its internal affairs, as well as to the expansion of knowledge. In the instance of associate professors who have remained in that rank for ten years after the grant of tenure, the balance among the criteria applicable to their appointment alters to provide increased consideration to excellent and significant contributions to teaching and to service.
C. Within the rank of professor, the designation of professor II is reserved for those faculty in the University (usually already in the rank of professor) who have achieved scholarly eminence in their discipline and fields of inquiry. The standard for promotion to Professor II is significantly higher than that applied in promotion to professor.
The most significant area of consideration in determining promotion to professor II for general teaching/research faculty is scholarship; for faculty with appointments in the creative and performing arts is scholarship and/or artistic accomplishment; for library faculty is scholarship and/or librarianship; for county agents is extension practice; for clinical faculty is clinical practice and for extension specialists is extension scholarship. Only those faculty who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in those areas by earning significant recognition inside and outside the University are eligible for promotion to professor II. Typically, such recognition is reflected in national and international reputation in one’s discipline. Teaching and service also apply to the general evaluation of a candidate for promotion to professor II. A candidate for promotion to professor II should be an exemplary member of the University faculty who consistently has demonstrated a high standard of achievement in all professorial roles.