Timeline of Events for Promotion And Tenure Evaluation

Mid-March
The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs meets with the following academic year's candidates for promotion and tenure, along with their division chairs/center directors and the appropriate administrative assistants, to discuss the file-building and evaluation process in detail.

Mid-April
Candidates submit to their respective chairs/directors the following lists:

• names and addresses of at least 3 former students appropriate to evaluate the candidate
• names and addresses of 6 outside evaluators appropriate to evaluate the candidate (see details in "Guidelines" document)
• suggestions for representative materials to be sent to outside evaluators along with the curriculum vitae and personal statement (see details in "Guidelines" document)

Third Week of April
Chairs/directors meet with the Associate Dean to confirm:

• list of 20 current and former students to receive evaluation requests from chair/director
• list of at least 10 outside evaluators
• materials to be sent to outside evaluators

Last Week of April
Chairs/directors contact (preferably by telephone) potential outside evaluators to determine whether they agree to do evaluations. Be sure to let them know that the deadline for evaluations will be August 15. If some decline, more must be solicited, to bring the total accepting to ten.

Candidates deliver to chairs/directors the following:

• curriculum vitae (see details in "Guidelines" document and models on file in the Dean's office)
• personal statement (see details in "Guidelines" document and models on file in the Dean's office)
• one copy of materials for outside evaluators (see details in "Guidelines" document). These materials are selected from, but do not include all of, the supporting documents for the candidate's file
• a list, arranged by semester, of all courses taught while at SMU, or for the last five years (whichever is shorter), including course number, course title, and enrollment.

First Week of May
Chairs/directors deliver to the Associate Dean:

• packets - one for each evaluator, containing curriculum vitae, personal statement and evaluation materials
• a list - of the materials included in each packet (not all packets will necessarily be the same)

Associate Dean mails packets and a letter of instructions to all outside evaluators and questionnaires to 100 randomly-selected students and alumni who were enrolled in the candidate's courses across the preceding five years.

May through August
Candidates compile complete supporting documents and refine curriculum vitae and personal statement (if needed) in consultation with the Chair/director.

Second Week in May
Chairs/directors deliver to the Associate Dean candidates' course evaluations for the past five years, including raw data sheets and all summary printouts.

First Week in June
Chairs/directors send letters to 20 current and former students (at their permanent address) soliciting evaluations of the candidates. Deadline for return is August 15. Non-respondents should be followed up by telephone to be sure they received your letter. More than one follow-up is not appropriate.

June through Mid-August
Dean's office prepares course evaluation summaries and past student survey summaries, and collects returned outside evaluations.

Late August
Associate Dean sends acknowledgement letters to outside evaluators, delivers received outside evaluations to chairs/directors. After this point responsibility for outside evaluation follow-up and acknowledgement is with chairs/directors.

Associate Dean delivers course evaluation and past student survey summaries to chairs/directors.

Chairs/directors establish division/center Promotion and Tenure committees according to division/center guidelines. Committee members are instructed to arrange visits to candidates' classes to view their teaching.

Chairs/directors solicit teaching evaluation letters from appropriate faculty colleagues of the candidate. The number will vary according to the candidate's activities. Not all are necessarily in the candidate's division. Letters should be from those who have direct knowledge of the candidate's teaching.

Associate Dean establishes the Meadows Promotion and Tenure Review Committee.

First Week of September
Candidates deliver to chairs/directors complete supporting documents, plus a list of all documents included.

Associate Dean meets with division/center Promotion and Tenure committees to discuss guidelines.

Second Week of September
FILES ARE CLOSED TO FURTHER ALTERATION BY CANDIDATES UNLESS REQUESTED BY THE CHAIR OR ASSOCIATE DEAN.

Chairs/directors deliver ONE COPY of file to the Associate Dean. Additional copies are constructed only after the original copy has been reviewed and discussed with the chair/director.

Last Week of September
Chairs/directors deliver files to Promotion and Tenure Committee members.

Last Week of October
Division/center committees submit recommendations and files to chairs/directors.

Second Week of November
Chairs/directors submit files, including their own recommendations, to the Associate Dean. They notify candidates, in writing, of their recommendations.

Associate Dean distributes files to the Meadows Promotion and Tenure Review Committee and has an initial meeting.

Second Week of December
Associate Dean submits files, including Meadows Promotion and Tenure Review Committee recommendations, to the Dean.

Last Week of January
Dean delivers decisions and files to the Provost's office and notifies candidates of the decisions.