A Guide to the Promotion and Tenure Process

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A Guide to the Promotion and Tenure Process
By Alan Cross, Professor of Medicine, based on
an original presentations by Jim Kaper, Ph.D. and
Brad Alger, Ph.D
.
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Where to find the BASIC INFORMATION
http//medschool.umaryland.edu/ PoliciesProcedures
.asp
http//medschool.umaryland.edu/AcademicAdmin/defau
lt.asp
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Academic Titles

• Academic titles are conferred only in
  departments, not centers, programs or institutes
• Titles
• Instructor/Research Associate
• Assistant Professor (TT, NTT)
• Associate Professor (TT, NTT, tenured)
• Professor (TT, NTT, tenured)
• Also part-time, volunteer, visiting, emeritus

TT tenure track, NTT non-tenured track
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Normal Steps in the Process

• Initial appointments at Professor or Associate
  Professor
• Chair ? SOM APT Com. ? SOM Executive Com. ?
  SOM Council ? Dean
• Initial appointments at Assistant Professor
• Chair ? SOM council ? Dean
• For Promotions in rank and/or tenure
• Dept. APT Com. ? Chair ? SOM APT Com. ? SOM
  Executive Com. ? SOM Council ? Dean
• Decisions on faculty members who are primarily in
  centers or institutes are made jointly between
  Dept. Chair and center/institute director

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MISSION OF THE SOM APT COMMITTEE (APTC)

• APTC IS ADVISORY TO THE DEAN
• CONSIDERS RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY DEPTARTMENT
  CHAIRS
• ONLY CONSIDERS APPOINTMENTS OR PROMOTIONS FOR
  ASSOCIATE AND FULL PROFESSOR AND ALL TENURE
  DECISIONS

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PRESENT (FY09) APTC MEMBERSHIP (Member 3-year
term Chair 1-2 year)

• Alan Cross, M.D. (Medicine) Chair
• Maureen Black, Ph.D. (Pediatrics)
• Christopher Harman, M.D. (OB-Gyn)
• Achsah Keegan, Ph.D. (Micro/Immuno)
• Jay Magaziner, Ph.D. (Epidem Prevent Med)
• Richard Pierson III (Surgery)
• William Regine, M.D. (Radiation Oncology)
• Martin Schneider, Ph.D. (Biochem Molec Biol)
• Jill Whitall, Ph.D. (Phys. Therapy)
• Debra Hudson (Coordinator)
• - designates departmental Chair

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APTC PROCESS
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APTC REVIEW
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Process Chart
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There is Promotion and there is Tenure(at UMSOM
they are disconnected)
One can be appointed or promoted without tenure,
even on the tenure-track.
One can be evaluated and receive tenure
without being promoted.
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What is Tenure ?

• One of the highest honors that an academic
  institution can confer on a faculty member
• Unlike many institutions where tenure is not
  precisely defined, tenure at UMSOM is a long-term
  financial commitment by the institution to
  provide specified minimum levels of salary
  support to tenured faculty who do not generate
  income sufficient to pay the full professional
  activities component of the salary
• Specific salary support information can be found
  at http//medschool.umaryland.edu/Newsletters/ss
  tffin.pdf

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Tenure Time Clock

• Assist. Professor on tenure track
• Review decision on tenure can occur at any time
  but must occur before the end of the 9th year
  after initial appointment
• Assoc. or full Professor
• Decision must occur before the end of the 4th
  year
• If tenure is denied before the end of the 9th
  year, faculty member is transferred to NTT
• Someone initially appointed on the NTT can be
  reviewed and granted tenure even without being on
  the TT

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Criteria for Promotion

• Research/scholarly contributions
• Teaching
• Institutional/non-institutional service
• Clinical service (if applicable)

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Promotion to Associate Professor

• Demonstrates sustained accomplishments in
  teaching, contributions to knowledge, clinical
  activities (if applicable) and/or service well
  beyond those required for an Assistant Professor.
• Evidence of regional prominence (e.g.,
  membership/leadership in regional professional
  activities, invitations to speak at regional
  conferences/grand rounds, regional referral base
  for clinicians.
• Convincing evidence of ability to maintain
  excellent performance.

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Promotion to Professor

• The highest levels of scholarly achievement and
  service to SOM and UMB.
• Nothing less than excellence is acceptable.
• Clearly established NATIONAL REPUTATION.
• First rate teacher.
• Sustained high level of productivity and
  excellence in contributions to knowledge.

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TENURE

• The paramount criterion for granting of tenure
  shall be evidence that the faculty member has
  made substantial original contributions to
  knowledge as demonstrated by the publication of a
  series of peer-reviewed articles based upon the
  faculty members independent academic activities.

Key criterion is sustained record of funding
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CRITERIA

• RESEARCH
• Seminal contributions
• Quality of journals
• Number of senior/primary authorships
• Citation scores (total, individual papers,
  h-index)
• Grants (source, magnitude, dates, role,
  renewal, prior history, etc)
• Patents (issued)
• Invited presentations

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Citation Analysis and Journal Impact Factor (IF)

• Citation analysis is performed on each candidate
  considered by the APTC
• Quality of journal is important but journal IFs
  are not calculated for each candidate
• In some biomedical fields, the most prestigious
  journals have low IF because the field is smaller
• Major, not minor differences in IF would make an
  impression

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Examples of Journal Impact Factors in
Microbiology/Immunology
IF

• Science 30.0
• Nature 26.7
• Nature Immunology 27.0
• J Immunology 6.3
• J Biol Chem 5.8
• Mol Micro 5.6
• Infect Immun 4.0
• Chem Immunol 0.27

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CRITERIA

• SERVICE
• Current past institutional (Department and SOM
  major committees, leadership roles important)
• e.g., IACUC, IRB, qualifying exam committtee,
  medical school applicant interviews, etc.
• Significant administrative positions
• National/international societies/service
• (major committees, leadership)
• Reviewing (editorial boards, grant review
  panels)
• Community service

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CRITERIA

• TEACHING
• Documentation!
• Courses taught and/or developed (classes,
  number of hours, number of students)
• Medical student graduate student teaching
• Non-course teaching (student, resident)
• Mentoring (committees, advisees)
• - where have advisees ended up?
• Evaluations (quantitative if possible)
• Teaching awards (Non-trivial)

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CRITERIA

• LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
• 5 7 external letters, 3 5 internal
• Support for rank and tenure status should be
  explicit
• New information not in dossier (evaluative
  comments helpful)
• Significant (biasing) relationships with
  candidate should be noted
• Comments regarding suitability for position at
  reviewers institution

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CRITERIA
THE OUTSIDE EXPERTS OPINION

• During the APTC meeting to consider any tenure
  decision (and only for tenure decisions), a
  conference call is conducted in which the advice
  of an expert in the candidates field (outside of
  UM) is sought
• The expert is chosen impartially by the APTC
  coordinator
• The expert is sent the entire dossier except for
  letters of recommendation
• The expert is interviewed by the entire APTC

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Is there a Formula???
No. (Unfortunately. The APTCs job would be
MUCH easier if there were.)
The APTC looks at the whole package. Major
accomplishments in one area may to some extent
balance off a minor deficiency in another. But
johnny one-notes do not usually do well.
No fixed quantity of anything guarantees
promotion or tenure.
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What about ROUGH guidelines??(i.e., historical
precedents)

• Have at least one national grant. (NIH is still
  the gold standard, but NSF, DOD, the VA are also
  good).
• Recent successful Associate Professor candidates
  for Tenure have had 30-50 peer-reviewed papers,
  and are 1st or senior author on 60-100.
  Citation scores gt500
• Successful Tenured full Professors have gt50
  peer-reviewed papers, cited gt1000 times
• Everyone does a lot of local and national
  service (editorial boards, Study Section, role
  in professional societies), and has
  national/international profile (major talks at
  big meetings, etc.)

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DIFFICULT AREAS
TENURE TRACK VS NON-TENURE TRACK (BASIC AND
CLINICAL SCIENCES) Independence (how to
judge?) (When to go on tenure-track? Can only
switch tracks once.)
MEMBERS OF LARGE TEAMS e.g., statisticians
role in team projects should be defined
CLINICIAN/EDUCATOR Substantial published
contributions to knowledge Exceptionally
large teaching load/LOTS of documentation of
excellence.
THE APTC HAS NO OBJECTIVE WAY OF EVALUATING
CLINICAL EXCELLENCE. Referral base or RVUs can
help
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Non-traditional Candidates

• Medical Physicists/Engineers/Veterinarians
• Biostatisticians/Research Specialists
• Pharm.D. and Ph.D. Nurses
• Request candidate and Department Chair help APTC
  by
• -Define academic discipline,
• -Define excellence in field,
• -Chairs letter might document how candidate
  improves performance of department

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MAIN POINTS

• Tenure and promotion are separate decisions
• Tenure decisions always require conference call
  with outside expert during APTC meeting
• Standards are described in SOM APT Guidelines
• National/International Reputation
• (leadership in societies, statements of peers,
  invited talks off campus, organization of
  symposia, etc.)
• EXCELLENCE is primary standard
• Generally required in 2 of 3 categories

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AND THATS ALL THERE IS TO IT!

• GOOD LUCK!

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Summary of Actions by APT Committee during FY08
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Promotion to Associate Professor(Data from FY
2007)
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Promotion to Professor(Data from FY 2007)