2.2.02 Faculty Appointment, Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Standards
A. Introduction
Law school appointment, reappointment, promotion, and tenure considerations are primarily a matter for determination by members of the law school faculty. Except in rare cases for compelling reasons, faculty appointments, reappointments, promotion, and tenure actions will not be made over the opposition of a majority of those law school faculty members entitled to vote under Section 2.2.04(F)(3).
The reappointment, promotion, and tenure standards and procedures are a part of the development of a law school faculty and are not dependent on numerical limits on how many persons can hold a particular rank or tenure. Reappointment, promotion, and the granting of tenure are independent decisions.
Reappointment, promotion, and tenure decisions are based on the following: (1) teaching effectiveness; (2) scholarship; and (3) university, professional, and community service. Although no absolute quantitative values can be assigned to these three categories, teaching effectiveness and scholarship weigh more heavily than do university, professional, and community service.
B. Definitions and Explanation
1. Teaching effectiveness. Teaching effectiveness means teaching that is thoughtful, provocative, and effective.
Teaching effectiveness will be evaluated (based primarily on peer review) by considering the following factors: knowledge and understanding of the course material; level of preparation for each class; selection and organization of course materials; effectiveness of communication; ability to stimulate critical thinking among students; enthusiasm for teaching; relationship with students; and professional classroom demeanor. For candidates who are engaged in clinical teaching, teaching effectiveness will be evaluated (based primarily on peer review) by considering the following factors: depth of understanding of the subject, legal issues, evidentiary issues, and local practice; ability to stimulate interest and thinking among students; ability to identify and develop pertinent ethical and policy issues; provision of sufficient feedback to students; relationship with students; and professional demeanor.
2. Scholarship. Scholarship means high quality contributions of legal writing and research that evidence insights into the nature of legal problems.
In any reappointment, promotion, or tenure decision, the following factors should be considered in evaluating whether the candidate’s legal writing and research is of high quality: clarity of expression; thoroughness of analysis; scope and depth of subjects covered; difficulty and complexity of the subject matter; originality of the study; and actual or likely impact of the work. Although no particular form of scholarship must be adhered to in order to satisfy the scholarship component of the criteria for reappointment, promotion, or the awarding of tenure, ordinarily the candidate will demonstrate scholarship in the form of scholarly law review articles or comparable scholarly products.
When a candidate offers a scholarly product as comparable to a law review article or articles, it must:
1) reflect the same degree of originality, creativity, intellectual inquiry, and effort as a law review article; and
2) advance knowledge and understanding of legal matters.
3) Projects, such as empirical research, a book, or a chapter in a book may satisfy the criteria. Identifiable contributions to co-authored publications will also be considered.
4) University, Professional, and Community Service. University, professional, and community service means contributions to the university, the profession, or the community (local or national).
C. Criteria for Reappointment
Subject to the constraints on reappointment otherwise applicable to probationary employees contained in University regulations, a candidate shall be reappointed if he or she is making sufficient progress toward the achievement of tenure.
D. Criteria for Promotions
1. A non-tenured faculty member hired at the assistant professor level may seek promotion to associate professor after having completed two full years as an assistant professor. Such a candidate shall be promoted to associate professor when he or she has made sufficient progress to make likely the achievement of tenure. Publication or acceptance for publication of a completed scholarly article (or completed comparable scholarly product) by the candidate that meets the standards defined in Section 2.2.02(B)(2) will raise a presumption that the candidate has met the scholarship component of the criteria for promotion to associate professor.
2. An associate professor may seek promotion to full professor after having completed two full years as an associate professor. Such a candidate shall be promoted to full professor when his or her teaching effectiveness, scholarship, and university, professional, and community service have earned him or her a reputation for excellence and it is likely that the candidate will continue to be an effective teacher, productive scholar, and contributor to the university, the profession, and the community. Publication or acceptance for publication of three completed scholarly articles (or completed comparable scholarly products) by the candidate that meet the standards defined in Section 2.2.02(B)(2) will raise a presumption that the candidate has met the scholarship component of the criteria for promotion to full professor.
E. Criteria for Tenure
Unless otherwise agreed to in writing at the time of initial appointment, a faculty member may first be considered for tenure during his or her fourth year of full-time law teaching, provided that two years have been completed at Capital University Law School. Unless otherwise agreed to in writing at the time of initial appointment, the contract tendered to a non-tenured tenure-track faculty member for his or her seventh year of active employment as a tenure-track faculty member at Capital University Law School must be either an appointment with tenure or a terminal one-year contract.
A candidate shall be granted tenure when his or her overall record demonstrates teaching effectiveness, scholarship, and university, professional, and community service as defined in Section 2.2.02(B) and it appears likely that the candidate will continue to be a vital, productive faculty member throughout his or her career.
The quality, as opposed to the quantity, of a candidate’s work is the most important single factor in evaluating scholarship in connection with the tenure decision. Nonetheless, publication or acceptance for publication of two completed scholarly articles (or completed comparable scholarly products) by the candidate that meet the standards defined in Section 2.2.02(B)(2) will raise a presumption that the candidate has met the scholarship component of the criteria for tenure. Normally, this presumption will not arise unless the scholarly articles (or comparable scholarly products) were written within six years of the candidate's application for tenure.