The primary purpose of tenure is to safeguard academic freedom. Tenure protects the right of open inquiry and free expression by providing a form of professional security special to and important for academia.
Definition of Tenure
Tenure is the status attained by those members of the faculty with full-time, regular teaching appointments who have served an appropriate probationary period and who have undergone the relevant processes of review and have been approved for tenure.
A faculty member with a tenured appointment shall have a continuing obligation to maintain and improve professional performance at the College. This may involve the development of new administrative and teaching responsibilities to meet the needs of the academic program and of the College. A person with tenure may accept an assignment to an administrative position without interrupting or impairing tenure. Tenure, however, applies only to rank and service of the Faculty; administrative assignment is subject to change based upon the annual contract.
Dismissal from a tenured appointment shall occur only if the position itself is eliminated or if the health or behavior of the faculty member warrants it under the procedures described in the section on Termination and the section on Dismissal for Cause.
Criteria for Tenure
For tenure-track appointments, the criteria for attaining tenure are threefold: (1) completion of the probationary period, (2) performance that meets the standards of the College, and (3) the needs of the institution.
Faculty members having a Ph.D. degree. or its equivalent in training or tangible scholarly achievement are eligible to be tenured after six years of full-time teaching. A person may be given up to a maximum of two years of credit toward eligibility for tenure for prior full-time teaching at other colleges and universities; however, for tenure-track appointments, no fewer than four years must be served at Centre College. The Dean of the College and the search committee are charged with the responsibility of determining the nature of a Faculty member's service elsewhere. The initial letter of appointment shall indicate the number of years of credit the individual has been granted towards tenure. Unless hired at a higher rank achieving tenure normally includes promotion from the rank of assistant professor. A candidate for tenure shall meet the professional standards for associate professors set forth in Ranks and Professional Standards for Rank. Tenure is inherently selective since it involves a permanent commitment of the College to a particular academic field.
On rare occasions, the College may seek to hire candidates who already have tenure at another institution. Ideally, the advertisements for such job openings should state that the College is willing to hire at any rank.
If a search committee wishes to make an offer with tenure to a candidate, the chair of the search committee should send a written request for review of the candidate to the chair of the Committee on Tenure and Reappointment. The search committee and the Dean of the College must be in unanimous agreement that the candidate should be hired with tenure, and the candidate must have already received tenure at another institution to be considered for review.
When making the request, the chair of the search committee should include a reasonable file for review by the tenure committee, including evidence that the candidate has met the performance standards for tenure in the areas of teaching, scholarly or professional achievement, and service. Typically, the request will include a full academic CV of the candidate; a letter of support from the search committee chair or division chair that makes the case for the candidate’s teaching, scholarship, and service credentials; and documentation supporting the candidate’s teaching qualifications, such as contextualized teaching/student evaluations from the institution where the candidate received tenure.
Within two weeks of receiving the completed file, the chair shall submit the committee’s recommendation to the Dean. The Committee on Tenure and Reappointment will only consider such requests during the academic year, between the first day of fall term and April 22.
Procedures for Tenure
By April 15 of the fifth year of probation, the Dean of the College shall notify the faculty member electronically in writing of the upcoming tenure review and invite the candidate to submit appropriate materials to be placed in the candidate's open file. It should be noted that faculty members can always add materials to their open files, except during years of review for tenure or promotion, when their access to the Moodle open file closes on the third Thursday of fall term. The Dean shall also inform the candidate of the deadline for submitting those materials to their Moodle file.
During the fall term of the same year, the Dean of the College shall solicit confidential letters from current students and alumni of the College. Eight shall be solicited from a list of sixteen names submitted by the faculty member under review, and sixteen others shall be randomly selected from the faculty member’s current and past class rosters. These twenty-four students and alumni shall be asked to submit confidential letters in which the writers evaluate the candidate’s effectiveness as a teacher and advisor. In addition, the Dean shall request from the Associate Dean a letter that provides information about the candidate's teaching and contributions to the College.
These letters shall be placed in the candidate's closed file by the Tuesday after fall break, and shall be available to the members of the Committee on Tenure and Reappointment, the Dean, and the President.
The Division Chair shall evaluate the candidate and recommend for or against granting tenure. The evaluation shall be based on: (1) letters solicited by the Division Chair from tenured members of the program committee, and from other tenured faculty members as appropriate, (2) a survey by the Division Chair of other persons at the College who know the candidate's work, (3) student course evaluations, (4) the records of the annual and mid-probationary reviews, (5) the annual Faculty Activity Summaries, and (6) the material submitted by the candidate to the Dean of the College for the open file. All solicited letters received shall be placed in the candidate's closed file by the third Thursday of fall term, and the Division Chair's letter shall be placed in the candidate's closed file by the Tuesday after fall break.
The Committee on Tenure and Reappointment shall evaluate him or her in relation to the performance standards of effective teaching, scholarly and professional activity and achievement, and service to the College and community. In order to secure helpful information bearing on the candidate's performance, the committee may meet with the President of the College, the Dean of the College, or appropriate members of the College community, but it shall meet alone to carry out its deliberative responsibilities. In its review, the committee shall not consider factors relating to institutional need. Such judgments shall be the responsibility of the Dean, the President, and the Board of Trustees. By the Thursday after the end of fall term final exams, the chair of the committee shall send to the Dean a letter from the committee recommending for or against tenure (and promotion to associate professor, when applicable) and stating reasons for that decision. The Dean of the College shall review the letter of recommendation from the Committee on Tenure and Reappointment, then forward that letter along with his/her own letter of recommendation to the President by the Tuesday of the first full week of CentreTerm. In addition, the Dean shall inform the chair of the Committee on Tenure and Reappointment by the Tuesday of the first full week of CentreTerm if the Dean’s recommendation differs from that of the Committee. The President, upon reviewing the letters of recommendation from the Dean and the Committee on Tenure and Reappointment and upon consulting, as needed, with the Dean, appropriate Division Chair, and other appropriate members of the College community, normally shall make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees at its January meeting. Either the President or the Committee on Tenure and Reappointment may request a meeting with the other to discuss the committee's recommendation and the reasons for it.
Following action by the Board of Trustees, the President shall inform the candidate in writing of the Board's decision regarding tenure (and promotion, when applicable). The President shall inform the Committee on Tenure and Reappointment in writing of his or her recommendation and of the Board's decision.