Departmental Guidelines for Tenure and Promotion

Department of Horticulture

Updated: September 2017

The guidelines in this document contain information related to Tenure and Promotion that are specific to the Department of Horticulture. Departmental guidelines supplement the policies and procedures for tenure and promotion issued by the University and the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences (CAHNRS). The following University and College documents should be consulted for general policies and procedures for tenure and promotion:

• WSU Faculty Manual: University-wide document describing general policies and procedures for tenure and contains general criteria for faculty review in terms of teaching, research, service, and extension. Outlines the general structure of the teaching portfolio and resume.
• Provost Guidelines for Faculty Third Year Review, Promotion and Tenure: University-wide guidelines containing deadlines for document preparation and submission, and containing instructions for preparation of tenure and promotion. Outlines detailed structure and contents of Tenure / Promotion materials, including resume, teaching portfolio, third-year reviews, and supporting materials. Also contains official ballots and forms.
• CAHNRS Recommendations for Faculty Promotion and Tenure: The College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences has more detailed instructions on the preparation of Promotion and Tenure. This document also contains specific policies and criteria for promotion and tenure in CAHNRS, such as when and how to establish a Career Guidance Committee, performance criteria for teaching, research, and extension, and on how to report accomplishments.

Departmental Procedures for Tenure and Promotion

Career Guidance Committee: For non-tenured Assistant Professors, or Associate Professors

• Upon appointment at Washington State University, each new faculty member will be directed to the Departmental Guidelines for Tenure and Promotion.
• Within six months of start date, a Career Guidance Committee (CGC) will be appointed by the Department Chair, in consultation with the tenure candidate, and with the respective Center Director and/or Program Leader, where appropriate.
• The CGC shall be composed of three tenured faculty members from the Department. Depending on the candidate’s field of expertise, one of the departmental faculty members can be substituted by a tenured faculty member outside of the department. One of the departmental members will be designated as Chair of the CGC.
• The CGC has an advisory and mentoring role and represents the candidate in faculty discussions regarding promotion and tenure.
• The CGC will advise the tenure candidate on his/her progress towards tenure and in preparation of the tenure and promotion package. The CGC will become familiar with the program, achievements, and limitations of the candidate. The CGC will use appropriate sources of information to evaluate the candidate’s progress and performance including, but not limited to:
  • The candidate’s curriculum vitae;
  • Student evaluations, where applicable;
  • Peer evaluations of teaching, where applicable;
  • Samples of materials created by the candidate, such as published articles, teaching materials, other scholarly materials, and/or extension materials;
  • Discussions with the candidate.
• At least once a year, the CGC will meet with the candidate to discuss progress toward meeting tenure requirements. It is the responsibility of the candidate to call this meeting. This meeting must occur prior to the Annual Departmental Tenure and Promotion Meeting, which is typically in May.  The Chair of the CGC, with input from all members of the CGC, will prepare a written report summarizing the discussions on progress toward tenure and recommendations for future efforts.  The report will be distributed to the Department Chair, the CGC, and the candidate.
• Prior to the third-year review, or the last progress-toward tenure review, the candidate will provide the CGC with a draft of the third-year or tenure review documentation as outlined in the Provost’s and College Guidelines.

Yearly Review by Faculty

• There will be an annual meeting of all departmental faculty (Annual Departmental Tenure and Promotion Meeting), called by the Department Chair, to review each candidate’s annual progress toward tenure, third year review, or tenure review and to make recommendations to the candidate and the Dean.
  • All tenured and tenure-track faculty are expected to attend unless there are significant conflicts that prevent attendance. Tenured faculty unable to attend the meeting may express their opinions in writing, and the CGC chair may present these opinions during the meeting.
  • Candidates will make a presentation at the Annual Departmental Tenure and Promotion Meeting summarizing their achievements to the entire faculty. Presentations will be about 15 minutes for annual progress toward tenure and 30 minutes for third year and tenure reviews. These presentations are a summary of all aspects of the candidate’s achievements as related to the job description. Faculty will ask relevant questions to enhance their understanding of each candidate’s achievements related to progress toward tenure.
  • The tenured faculty will discuss the progress of each candidate towards tenure. Pre-tenure faculty are excused from these discussions.
  • The chair of each CGC will summarize the report from committee meetings with the candidate and will serve as liaison between the tenured faculty members and the candidate during these discussions. The CGC does not advocate for the faculty member in meetings with the tenured faculty.
• For annual review of progress towards tenure, the Department Chair will prepare a written summary of the confidential discussion of a candidate’s progress towards tenure. It will include the consensus of the tenured faculty regarding the candidate’s progress toward tenure and recommendations for future efforts towards attaining tenure.
  • Views of individual faculty that differ significantly from other faculty must be presented in this summary, but the individual source of any comments will not be identified. The summary will be circulated to tenured faculty for input before being discussed with the candidate.
  • The Department Chair will discuss the written summary with the candidate, and both the Department Chair and the candidate will sign the summary.
• Candidates scheduled for third-year or tenure review:
  • Shall provide a final draft of the documentation package as outlined in the Provost’s and College Guidelines to the Department Chair, who will make the documentation available to the tenured faculty.
  • The Department Chair will distribute official recommendation forms to the tenured faculty for third-year review or tenure review (not progress-toward-tenure annual review), which are to be completed and returned to the Chair within one week.

Promotion to Professor

• Associate professors are encouraged to seek guidance from the Department Chair regarding possible paths to promotion to professor. The Department Chair, in consultation with the candidate, may appoint a mentoring committee to assist the candidate toward promotion to professor.
• Each year (approximately January-February), the Department Chair will ask each associate professor who is eligible for promotion to professor if he or she wishes to be considered for promotion that year.
• Any departmental faculty member may make recommendations to the Chair on who should be considered for promotion.
• The candidate will provide a complete curriculum vitae following the Provost’s and College Guidelines. The Department Chair shall distribute the curriculum vitae to all professor-rank faculty and consult with them, individually or in a meeting, regarding the merits of the candidate to be considered for promotion.
• The Department Chair will provide an oral or written summary of the input from the professor rank faculty to the candidate reviewed. The candidate will decide whether to proceed.
• If the candidate proceeds for consideration of promotion to Professor, they will present accomplishments and vision to the faculty at the Annual Departmental Tenure and Promotion Meeting (approximately 30 minutes). This meeting typically occurs in May. Professor-rank faculty then deliberate the case in a closed session.
• Candidates scheduled for promotion to professor:
  • Shall provide a final draft of the documentation package as outlined in the Provost’s and College Guidelines to the Department Chair, who will make the documentation available to professor-rank faculty.
  • The Department Chair will distribute official recommendation forms to the professor-rank faculty, which are to be completed and returned to the Chair within one week.
  • The Department Chair will prepare a written summary of the confidential discussion and the recommendation forms for each It will include the consensus of the professor-rank faculty regarding the candidate’s promotion. Views of individual faculty that differ significantly from other faculty must be presented in this summary.

Tenure and/or Promotion Review Process

• Assistant professors are governed by a tenure and promotion date stated in their offer letter at the time of hire. This is the final date by which they must stand for tenure and promotion consideration.
• Associate professors can advance for promotion to professor as early as six (6) years after receiving tenure. Associate professors hired without tenure can be considered for tenure at a date negotiated at the time of hire and specified in the letter of offer. If a majority of the professor rank faculty agree that an associate rank candidate should be considered for promotion, the Department Chair shall encourage the candidate to submit a full promotion package to the department.
• It is the responsibility of the candidate to carefully review and follow guidelines provided by the Provost and College for preparation of promotion and tenure documentation. These guidelines are referenced earlier in this document and are updated frequently. The candidate’s CGC can assist in preparation and review of the documents, but it is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure guidelines are followed.
• The candidate will provide the Department Chair with a list of four potential peers to serve as outside evaluators of the candidate’s documents. People with whom the candidate has worked closely, such as PhD or postdoctoral advisors and active research collaborators, must be avoided.
• The Department Chair will obtain a minimum of four letters from outside WSU by soliciting input from at least two people on the candidate’s list and at least two people not on the candidate’s list.
• The Department Chair may seek information regarding the candidate’s qualifications from collaborators, non-tenured faculty, technicians, students, and people outside of WSU, such as industry representatives or professional  contacts. This supplementary information does not substitute for the external peer evaluation letters described above, but can be used in the overall evaluation of the candidate.

Departmental Criteria for Tenure and Promotion

The Faculty Manual, the Provost Guidelines for Faculty Promotion and Tenure, and the CAHNRS Recommendations for Faculty Promotion and Tenure list criteria for tenure and promotion. The following list provides additional, Department criteria.

General Expectations

Each faculty member and each appointment is unique, thus specific expectations for performance are also unique. The Department Chair and the CGC help new faculty understand how to interpret these criteria for their position.

• Faculty members will be evaluated primarily, but not exclusively, in the area(s) of their appointments with consideration of the availability of opportunities and funding within a particular discipline. Faculty members are expected to meet or exceed expectations in all areas of their appointment responsibility. Excelling in one area of responsibility will not compensate for deficient performance in another area of responsibility.
• All faculty members are expected to have peer-reviewed scholarly or creative achievements, regardless of appointment. The nature and extent of this activity will vary greatly among faculty, depending on their appointment and their area(s) of responsibility. Success in these activities is manifested by:
  • Advancement of knowledge, application, or creative expression; and
  • Demonstration that the work is acknowledged and respected by one’s professional and academic peers, both from within and outside the University.
• All faculty members are expected to contribute to the collegial functioning of the department and to service, as discussed in the Faculty Manual.
• All faculty members are expected to participate in the education and training of graduate students.
• Work performed before joining WSU will be considered in conjunction with work at WSU in the tenure and/or promotion review. Tenured faculty members are making a decision regarding a person’s lifetime contributions, and consideration will be given to accomplishments over the entire career.  However, pre-WSU accomplishments will not substitute for lack of sustained productivity and accomplishments at WSU. Without documentation of significant work at WSU, a candidate is unlikely to receive tenure regardless of previous accomplishments.

Criteria for Teaching

• Promotion to Rank of Associate Professor with Tenure
  • Demonstrated a sustained, high-quality undergraduate and/or graduate instructional program.
  • Maintains an active graduate student mentoring program and engages in graduate student education. Shows evidence of excellence in graduate student advising.
  • Serves as undergraduate or graduate student advisor.
• Promotion to Rank of Professor
  • Meets all requirements for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.
  • Demonstrated leadership in instruction and curriculum development and/or in educational service to the academic and/or clientele communities at department, college, university, state, regional, and/or national levels.
  • Shows evidence of continued excellence in teaching.
  • Demonstrated efforts to obtain competitive intramural or extramural funding in support of teaching and advising.

Criteria for Research

• Promotion to Rank of Associate Professor with Tenure
  • Demonstrated sustained effectiveness in planning, conducting, and funding a successful research program. Actively pursues and is successful in obtaining extramural research funding.
  • Evidence of scholarly productivity through publication of quality work in refereed journals or other publications appropriate to the discipline. The quality, quantity and attribution of published work will be assessed by numerous methods including: journal impact factors, citation indices, corresponding author articles, journal cover articles, outstanding paper awards, etc.
  • Evidence of a strong graduate training program at the MS or PhD level, indicated by continuity of mentoring, publication of thesis/dissertation work, and placement of students into areas relating to their career interests post-graduation.
  • Established national reputation of excellence in theory, experimentation, and/or application of the specific research field.
  • Invitations from peers to give research presentations at other research institutions, keynote talks at national and international meetings, or appointments to serve on national or international panels, boards, or committees.
• Promotion to Rank of Professor
  • Meets all requirements for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.
  • Established international reputation of excellence in theory, experimentation, and/or application of the specific research field.
  • Service to professional societies demonstrating scientific leadership, such as associate editorship of a technical journal, scientific or service awards.
  • Evidence of sustained scholarly productivity through publication of quality work in refereed journals or other publications appropriate to the discipline. The quality, quantity and attribution of published work will be assessed by numerous methods including: journal impact factors, citation indices, corresponding author articles, journal cover articles, outstanding paper awards, etc.  These metrics must show a clear increasing trend since promotion to associate professor.
  • Evidence of a strong graduate training program with emphasis on advising at the PhD level.

Criteria for Extension

• Promotion to Rank of Associate Professor and Tenure
  • Demonstrated a sustained, high-quality program in continuing education. Shows evidence of a strong effort in program planning, development, management, and coordination. Examples of evidence are:
    • Application/adaptation of scholarly activity.
    • Delivery methods and use of novel media in information transfer to clientele.
    • Intra- and extramural applied research and/or extension funding.
    • Documented improvements in practices of growers, consumers and/or government clientele.
  • Engages and demonstrates leadership in applied or adapted scholarly activity directed toward solving current problems and issues created by new ideas.
  • Evidence of a strong ability to interact with colleagues and transfer information from research programs to clientele groups.
  • Makes major contributions to public service for growers, industry, commodity organizations, consumers, and county extension programs.
  • Documents outputs, impacts, and outcomes through surveys or other data collection tools that specifically include behavioral changes leading to a change in condition for the target population or environment.
• Promotion to Rank of Professor
  • Meets all requirements for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.
  • Evidence of a strong graduate training program.
  • Established a national reputation of excellence and expertise in his/her extension program.

Criteria for Service

• Promotion to Rank of Associate Professor and Tenure
  • Engaged participation on Departmental, R&E Center, Program, or CAHNRS committees.
  • Leadership in managing facilities and/or programs essential to the extension, research, and/or teaching activities of the department, college, or university.
  • Active participation in discipline-related endeavors, including, but not limited to:
    • Serving on committees within a discipline-aligned regional or national society.
    • Serving as an ad-hoc reviewer for peer-reviewed publications.
    • Demonstrated a sustained, high-quality program in continuing education. Shows evidence of a strong effort in program planning, development, management, and coordination.
• Promotion to Rank of Professor
  • Meets all requirements for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.
  • Demonstrated leadership in service to academic and professional communities at the department, college, university, state, regional, and national levels, and to the clientele community. Activities that demonstrate this leadership may include:
    • Associate or senior editors to scientific peer-reviewed publications.
    • Holding elected-positions in scientific societies, and/or serving as a committee leader (chair, co-chair).
    • Service on internal and external grant-review boards.
    • Hosting or co-hosting national and international meetings.