Faculty Reviews
I. OVERVIEW
AADS’ Administrative Manager works directly with departmental faculty and with faculty committees to coordinate annual and periodic reviews of faculty. These reviews include the following.
- Promotion and Tenure
- Faculty Activity Report
- Comprehensive Periodic Review
- Formerly called "Post-tenure Review"
- Third-year Review
- Annual Review of Faculty
- Peer Teaching Observations
Information on and links to resources concerning each of these processes are outlined below. Feel free to contact the Administrative Manager with questions on faculty reviews.
II. PROMOTION AND TENURE (P&T)
P&T files include the following materials:
| Faculty Activity Reports | Candidate provides / Adm Mgr downloads from web |
| Updated CV | Candidate provides |
| Candidate’s research statement | Candidate provides |
| Candidate’s teaching statement | Candidate provides |
| Candidate’s publications while in rank | Candidate provides |
| Letters from outside reviewers | Candidate & Chair create list / Adm Mgr requests |
| List of outside reviewers who accepted/declined invitation | Adm Mgr creates |
| AADS Chair’s letter | Chair provides |
| CIS forms | Adm Mgr accesses via dept. / joint dept. records |
| OGS report on graduate advising | COLA provides |
| Peer teaching observations | Adm Mgr initiates process / Peer-observer provides |
| AADS EC report on teaching, scholarship, and service | EC appoints writers, who provide report |
| Statements on candidate’s service, advising, and honors | Chair provides |
| Evaluative letters by the chairs/directors of other departments/centers/institutes with which candidate is affiliated | Candidate requests & provides |
Assistant Professors typically undergo the tenure process during their sixth year in rank but may pursue tenure earlier if granted approval by the AADS Executive Committee. Approval from the AADS EC is also required for Associate Professors to pursue advancement to the rank of Full Professor.
Promotion cases of 50% FTE faculty are typically shepherded primarily by their home department, with assistance from their joint department; however, the joint department may serve as the lead in compiling these promotion dossiers, at the faculty member’s option.
The P&T process supersedes the Third-year Review (TYR) and the Comprehensive Periodic Review (CPR), so if a faculty member elects to “go up” for promotion the same year during which their TYR or CPR is due, they will forego the latter processes in order to focus on P&T.
Timeline
| Early October | Prospective P&T candidate meets with AADS Chair and AADS’ COLA P&T Representative |
| Required: An updated CV | |
| Mid-October | AADS EC votes on granting approval for each prospective P&T candidate to create a promotion dossier |
| Helpful, though not required: An updated research statement | |
| Late October | Candidate submits an updated research statement and copies of top 5 publications (within current rank) to Administrative Manager |
| Required: Copies of each publication—preferably electronic | |
| Late October | Candidate compiles list of prospective external referees, discusses list with Administrative Manager |
| Note: Please discuss prospective referees via telephone or face to face, rather than via email | |
| Early November | Administrative Manager requests review letters from prospective external referees |
| Note: The goal is to allow prospective reviewers enough time to compose reviews over the Thanksgiving and/or winter holidays, if they choose | |
| March-May | Candidate meets with Dean’s Office staff and Administrative Manager to review P&T guidelines and answer questions |
| Note: Administrative Manager will schedule this appointment | |
| March-May | Departmental committees compose reports on candidate’s research and teaching |
| Note: Committees are appointed by the AADS Chair under advisement by the AADS EC | |
| Summer | Administrative Manager compiles promotion dossiers, AADS Chair composes Chair’s Letters for inclusion |
| Note: Candidate can view his/her dossier at any point in the process by making an appointment with the Administrative Manager. Dossiers can be read only at the Administrative Manager’s desk; making copies of the file is not permitted | |
| Early September | AADS EC votes on granting approval for promotion dossier to be submitted to COLA for consideration |
| Mid-September | Administrative Manager submits approved promotion dossier to COLA |
| Mid-February | President notifies Dean of P&T decisions |
| Note: Dean will notify candidate and AADS soon afterward. | |
Further details on COLA’s P&T process can be found online:
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/human-resources/faculty-resources/Promotion-and-Tenure.php
III. FACULTY ACTIVITY REPORT (FAR)
FARs are due each year by AADS faculty at the beginning of October. These reports detail faculty members’ teaching, research, publication, presentation, and service activities for the entire preceding academic year. Though no longer required by the Provost’s Office, FARs are used by AADS as part of a number of faculty-related administrative processes, such as promotion and tenure, comprehensive period reviews, third-year reviews, and annual reviews of faculty—a process that determines, when funds are available, the amount of each faculty member’s annual merit raise.
Further details on Faculty Activity Reports can be found online:
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/human-resources/faculty-resources/Faculty-Annual-Reports.php
IV. COMPREHENSIVE PERIODIC REVIEW (CPR)
CPR files include the following materials:
| Faculty Activity Reports | Faculty member provides / Adm Mgr downloads from web |
| Updated CV | Faculty member provides |
| CIS forms | Adm Mgr accesses via dept. & joint dept. records |
| OGS report on graduate advising | COLA provides |
| Peer teaching observations | Adm Mgr initiates process / Peer-observer provides |
| AADS EC report on teaching, scholarship, and service | EC appoints writers, who provide report |
CPRs are evaluations of tenured faculty conducted in the spring, once every six years they are in rank. In cases where faculty members are promoted to a new rank, however, or are newly recruited to the university with tenure, the first year in rank is counted in addition to the six-year timeline. For example, if a tenured faculty member was promoted or recruited during the 2016-17 academic year, his/her/their next CPR would be conducted during AY 2022-23:
In rank
2016-17 Promoted / Hired
2017-18 Year 1
2018-19 Year 2
2019-20 Year 3
2020-21 Year 4
2021-22 Year 5
2022-23 Year 6 – CPR conducted in spring
If, however, a tenured faculty member underwent his/her/their last comprehensive periodic review during the 2016-17 academic year, the next CPR would be conducted during AY 2021-22:
In rank
2016-17 Underwent CPR / Year 1
2017-18 Year 2
2018-19 Year 3
2019-20 Year 4
2020-21 Year 5
2021-22 Year 6 – CPR conducted in spring
Timeline
| Early October | Faculty member submits Faculty Activity Report for previous academic year |
| Early November | Faculty member sends updated CV to Administrative Manager |
| November-February | AADS EC reviews and composes report on faculty member’s teaching, scholarship, and service during review period |
| Early February | Administrative Manager submits CPR file to COLA |
| Late May | COLA notifies department of CPR results |
Further details on COLA’s CPR process can be found online:
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/human-resources/faculty-resources/Post-Tenure-Review.php
V. THIRD-YEAR REVIEW (TYR)
TYR files include the following materials:
| Faculty Activity Reports | Faculty member provides / Adm Mgr downloads from web |
| Updated CV | Faculty member provides |
| Research statement | Faculty member provides |
| CIS Summary Report | COLA provides |
| OGS report on graduate advising | COLA provides |
| Peer teaching observations | Adm Mgr initiates process / Peer-observer provides |
| Candidate’s publications / works in progress | Faculty member provides |
| AADS EC report on teaching, scholarship, and service | Faculty member’s faculty mentor / co-author provide |
TYRs are evaluations of non-tenured tenure-track faculty (Assistant Professors) conducted in the spring of the junior faculty member’s third year in rank. For example, if a faculty member was hired to the department as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2017, his/her TYR would be conducted during the spring of AY 2019-20:
In rank
2017-18 Year 1
2018-19 Year 2
2019-20 Year 3 – TYR conducted in the spring
The purpose of the TYR is to assess junior faculty members’ progress toward tenure. The timeline for this review is as follows.
Timeline
| Early October | Faculty member submits Faculty Activity Report for previous academic year |
| Early February | Faculty member sends updated CV to Administrative Manager |
| February-April | Assistant Professor’s faculty mentor and a second tenured faculty member co-author summary report on junior faculty member’s teaching and scholarship during review period |
| Mid-April | Administrative Manager submits TYR file to COLA |
Further details on COLA’s TYR process can be found online:
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/human-resources/faculty-resources/Third-Year-Review.php
VI. ANNUAL REVIEW OF FACULTY
Annual Review files include the following materials:
| Faculty Activity Reports | Faculty member provides / Adm Mgr downloads from web |
| Updated CV | Faculty member provides |
As required by the State of Texas, UT faculty must receive an annual review each year, which is conducted in AADS by the Executive Committee. Each faculty member is rated on a 4-point Likert scale:
3 – Exceeds expectations
2 – Meets expectations
1 – Does not meet expectations
0 – Unsatisfactory
In years where merit raises are available to faculty, annual review ratings are used by the department to calculate individual faculty members’ merit allotments. Evaluation criteria are aligned with AADS’s Faculty Merit Recommendations, which serve as both (a) the department’s general guidelines for faculty to gauge whether their progress toward promotion is satisfactory and (b) the criteria by which faculty ratings are determined during the Annual Review of Faculty. The latest version of AADS’s Faculty Merit Recommendation is available by request from the Administrative Manager.
Timeline
| Early October | Faculty member submits Faculty Activity Report for previous academic year |
| Late March | Faculty member sends updated CV to Administrative Manager |
| April | EC reviews faculty CVs and Faculty Activity Reports, determines ratings |
| Early May | Administrative Manager submits Annual Review ratings to COLA |
| Early May | Chair notifies faculty of their annual ratings |
Further details on COLA’s Annual Review of Faculty process can be found online:
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/human-resources/faculty-resources/annual-review-of-faculty.php
VII. PEER TEACHING OBSERVATIONS
Departmental policy states that all AADS faculty are to have at least one peer teaching observation conducted for one of their courses each academic year. Having any type of course (AFR, UGS, etc.) observed is acceptable; “peer” observers can be any tenure-track faculty member from any UT department.
AADS faculty will have an opportunity to pair with a peer at the beginning of each academic year with/from whom they will arrange to conduct and receive a peer observation. If faculty members are not paired with peer observers by the beginning of October, the department will assign AADS faculty members to conduct observations for each other.
Peer observers should arrange to visit their selected or designated faculty partner’s course at an agreed upon time and, ideally, should receive a copy of the course syllabus ahead of time. Observations should be followed (either immediately or on a subsequent date) by a discussion between the instructor and the observer about the observed class period.
Descriptive and evaluative teaching observation letters are to be submitted to the Administrative Manager each year by peer observers. These letters should be addressed to the Department Chair and, per COLA’s guidelines, include each of the following elements.
- Date of the observation letter was submitted
- Date of the class visit
- Date on which the observation was discussed with the instructor
- Course name and number
- A handwritten signature
Timeline
| Early October | Faculty members report their peer observation pairing to Administrative Manager |
| Mid-October | Administrative Manager assigns each unpaired faculty member a peer observation partner |
| October-May | Peer observation partners arrange to visit each other’s classes and to discuss the observation after the class visit |
| Mid-May | Faculty members submit peer observation letters to Administrative Manager |
Further details on UT’s Peer Observation process can be found online: