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Rank, Tenure & Promotion

Tenure

Elgibility

A faculty member will be reviewed for tenure when he or she has met the criteria stated in the Tenure Policy of Pepperdine University (see Appendix D). Faculty will normally apply to be reviewed for tenure during the sixth year of service in a probationary appointment. In the event of failure to apply for tenure or if tenure is not granted, the seventh year will be the terminal year. Tenure review, however, may be deferred to the seventh year if, prior to making recommendation with respect to the granting of tenure, the school tenure committee or the Dean recommends deferment and the faculty member and the Chief Academic Officer concur. In any event, the seventh year will be the terminal year if tenure is not granted, except under the circumstances described in section VIC of the Tenure Policy Statement.

Those who have attained eligibility are notified by the Dean. The notification will be included in the packet that contains the faculty member's annual contract. The Dean also notifies the Committee Chairperson of those faculty members who are eligible. In the event of exceptional circumstances, the faculty member may request to postpone the tenure review for one year if approved by the Provost, the Dean, and members of the RTP Committee.

Section VA of the Tenure Policy Statement states that "ordinarily there is no early tenure unless the faculty member has previous service elsewhere at a comparable professional level. In situations involving such prior service, the prospective faculty member and the University may agree in writing at the time of appointment on the length of the probationary period and the time of tenure review. Section VE states that a faculty member may request an early tenure review by setting forth the case for early review in writing to the Dean. If the Dean and the RTP committee recommend early review and the Chief Academic Officer concurs, early review will be granted. If the early tenure review does not result in granting of tenure, the following year will be the terminal year unless the Dean and RTP recommend an additional review, and the Chief Academic Officer concurs.

Application Procedures

The candidate for tenure must complete the Faculty Data Form (see Appendix D-1, page 61) and supply the necessary supporting documentation for all areas of evaluation.

Application Materials

Electronic copies of the Faculty Data Form should be sent to the Dean. When possible, supporting materials should be copied into pdf files and sent to the Dean. Just as is the case with applications for promotion in rank, two hardcopy sets of the application materials are required for the tenure process. The materials and method of presentation required for the tenure application are the same as those required for promotion (see Section V.C).

Areas of Evaluation

The candidate for tenure is evaluated in the same four areas that are considered for promotion in rank (see Section V.D.1-4).

In the area of scholarly activity, faculty who apply for tenure will be evaluated at the rank they have attained at the time of application (see Section V.D.2). For example, if a faculty member is an Associate Professor when he or she applies for tenure, he or she will be evaluated in terms of the scholarly activity criteria stated for Associate Professor. If the faculty member is a Professor, he or she will be evaluated in terms of the scholarly activity criteria stated for Professor. Furthermore, tenure applicants at the rank of Assistant Professor will be evaluated using the scholarly activity criteria stated for Associate Professor.

Evaluation Sources

  1. Peer, Student, Associate Dean, and RTP Committee Evaluations

    The evaluation forms provided to peers, the Associate Dean, and RTP Committee members are the same as those forms used in the evaluation for promotion in rank (see Section V.E). The procedures for peer evaluations, obtaining data from student evaluations, supervisor (Associate Dean) evaluation, and RTP Committee member evaluations that are delineated for promotion in rank are also followed for a candidate's tenure review (see Section V.E.1-4).

  2. Dean's Evaluation

    As is the case for promotion in rank, the Dean conducts his or her independent review of the candidate's application materials, evaluations from peers and the Associate Dean, and the summary letter submitted by the RTP Committee. The Dean then writes a letter with his or her recommendation that is forwarded to the University Tenure Committee along with the candidate's Faculty Data Form, the evaluation of the Associate Dean, and the summary letter of the RTP Committee. The Dean will meet with the candidate to provide him or her feedback from the GSEP review process as soon as it is feasible.

  3. Evaluation Process After Candidate's Application Leaves GSEP


    The candidate for tenure undergoes a review by the following University bodies if he or she was not denied tenure by the RTP Committee and Dean.
    1. University Tenure Committee.
    2. President and Provost.
    3. Board of Regents, which is composed of the following subcommittees:
      1. Academic Affairs.
      2. Religious Standards.
  4. Tenure can be denied at the internal level only if the RTP Committee and Dean recommend against tenure. If the outcome of the independent reviews by the RTP Committee and the Dean result in a split decision, the candidate's application materials are still forwarded to the University Tenure Committee for review. Please refer to the University Tenure Policy for what transpires once the candidate's application materials leave GSEP.

    See Appendix D-6 for the flowchart of the tenure process.

Candidate Notification

Each candidate for tenure will be notified of his or her status in writing prior to the issuance of the next succeeding year's faculty contract. Candidates who are successful in their application for tenure will be notified by the University administration. Candidates who are unsuccessful will be notified by the Dean of the School. The Dean will meet with a candidate who has not been recommended for tenure and counsel the individual. The individual will have one additional year prior to his or her University service being terminated. According to the University Tenure Policy (see Section V.D.) if Tenure is deferred, the seventh year will be the terminal year if Tenure is not granted.

Download RTP Manual