LSUHSC-S adheres to the basic policies for tenure established by the University System.
Early in the term of appointment, the faculty member should become familiar with the substantive and procedural standards generally employed by the University in decisions affecting tenure.
Specific standards adopted by the Department or School should be in writing and brought to the faculty member’s attention at an appropriate time.
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9.1 Tenure Policy
Faculty members and other members of the academic staff of comparable rank, including Librarians, may be appointed for a specific term (term appointments) or indefinite (tenured appointments) depending on rank and experience. Appointment or tenure on one campus of the LSU System carries no implication of appointment or tenure on another campus. Academic employees are tenured only with respect to their academic ranks and not with respect to administrative titles or assignments.
Tenure is not a guarantee of lifetime employment, particularly in the face of institutional change or financial exigency. It does assure that the employee will not be dismissed without adequate justification and without due process.
[Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. (10/2/08). Bylaws and Regulations (Chapter II, Section 2-7).http://www.lsusystem.edu/index.php/policies/bylaws-regulations/]
Leave of Absence Without Pay. For academic employees, the period of absence without pay may, upon appropriate administrative recommendation, be credited toward tenure.
[Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. (10/2/08). Bylaws and Regulations (Chapter III, Section 3-6). http://www.lsusystem.edu/index.php/policies/bylaws-regulations/]
In addition to the qualifications of the candidate for tenure, other considerations that enter into individual decisions to confer tenure include particular need within a Department, School, or LSUHSC-S.
A faculty member on the tenure track may switch to a non-tenure track or vice versa. This process requires the approval of the Department Head, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Dean of the respective School, and the Chancellor. In addition, in the case of a switch from non-tenure track to the tenure track, approval must also be given at the LSU System level and by the LSU Board of Supervisors.
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9.2 Tenure Policy as it Relates To Rank
Members of the academic staff may be appointed for specified terms (term appointments) or for indeterminate terms (tenured appointments). Term appointments are utilized at the lower academic ranks and ordinarily for initial appointments at all levels. Associate Professors and Professors and those holding equivalent ranks are tenured except as noted in System regulations. Under certain circumstances tenure may be awarded to those holding lower ranks.
The provisions of tenure apply to full-time faculty members with respect to their academic rank and not to administrative titles or assignments. Tenure only applies on the campus on which the tenure is earned.
The foregoing shall not be construed to exclude contracts between the Board and members of the academic staff on mutually acceptable terms other than those stated herein.
Any appointment, whether tenured or term, may be terminated for cause.
[Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. (10/2/08). Bylaws and Regulations (Article VIII, Section 4). http://www.lsusystem.edu/index.php/policies/bylaws-regulations/]
Professors and Associate Professors are tenured and are appointed for an indefinite period of time, except that the initial appointment and subsequent reappointments through not more than five years of total service to the LSU campus involved may be made for a stipulated term. Persons promoted to the rank of Professor or Associate Professor after less than five years of service on the campus may be continued to term appointment through no more than the fifth year. Persons holding a professorial rank (Professor, Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor) while being paid by a grant or contract do not acquire tenure through the passage of time, but may become tenured only by specific individual recommendation through appropriate channels and approval by the President.
Assistant Professors are appointed for terms no longer than three years. Upon reappointment after seven years of service in rank on a particular campus, Assistant Professors receive tenure. A thorough review will be made during the sixth year of service so that notice of termination may be given if necessary no later than the end of the sixth year of service. Individual campuses have the option of conducting the thorough review prior to the sixth year, provided that appropriate written notification is given to the faculty member. The University may, at its discretion, count prior service on the same campus toward the seven-year evaluation period for an Assistant Professor to achieve indeterminate tenure. The ultimate decision shall be left with the President, to be applied in each individual case for which the respective campus recommends granting indeterminate tenure counting prior service favorably.
Those who rank as Associate or Instructor shall be appointed for a specified term and shall not be considered for indeterminate tenure; however, Associates and Instructors hired for an initial term greater than two years may be terminated at the end of the first year if given notice during the first nine months of that year. Otherwise, the provisions of Section 2-7(1)-(4) of the Bylaws shall apply.
At those campuses employing full-time faculty members in the professions (e.g. Education) whose primary responsibility is in teaching or service programs associated with coordinating fieldwork and supervising students in the field, the ranks of Assistant Professor-Professional Practice, Associate Professor-Professional Practice, or Professor-Professional Practice may be designated. Individuals with these academic ranks shall not be eligible for tenure and may be enfranchised to the degree deemed appropriate by the faculty unit (system, campus, college, division, or department).
[Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. (10/2/08). Bylaws and Regulations (Chapter II, Section 2-7). http://www.lsusystem.edu/index.php/policies/bylaws-regulations/]
9.3 Initiation of Tenure Process
While the formal request for tenure of a faculty member is normally initiated by the Department Head, the faculty member or the departmental promotions committee may also begin the process. Each Department must have a defined process for evaluating faculty members proposed for tenure. This process must involve the appropriate senior faculty of the Department. If a faculty member has an appointment in more than one Department or School, the formal request for tenure is initiated by the Department Head in which the primary appointment is held. Tenure requests for Department Heads are initiated by the Dean of that School. In certain cases, requests for tenure accompany requests for promotion (i.e., promotion of Assistant Professor on tenure track to Associate Professor with tenure). Requests for tenure-granting can be withdrawn at any point in the Health Sciences Center process with the mutual consent of the candidate and the respective Department Head.
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9.4 Tenure Review File
Each School of the Health Sciences Center, except for the School of Graduate Studies, has a faculty committee composed of senior tenured faculty members who are responsible for making recommendations to the Dean concerning the tenure of its faculty. The recommendation of the committee relative to tenure will be based on documentation contained in the tenure review file.
This file shall contain a completed Biographical Data Form containing evidence of accomplishments in scholarly and other professional activities and community service and a completed Educator’s Portfolio containing verification of instructional effectiveness. The file must include letters of recommendation and other evidence that the candidate has met the various criteria necessary for tenure as required by individual Schools.
The committee also has the right to consult experts, either from within or outside the University, for information that might aid them in their evaluation of the candidate for tenure. The candidate for tenure may provide the names of potential sources of such outside recommendations.
The material in the tenure review file will only be available to the faculty member, appropriate committees and councils, and those administrators whose approval is officially necessary for implementation of the committee’s recommendation. The faculty candidate must participate in the preparation of the biographical and supporting documentation that accompanies the Promotion/Tenure Form and sign a statement indicating that he has reviewed the file and that it is accurate and complete. The file is then delivered to the departmental committee, Department Head and School committee for review and letters of recommendation are added to the file at this time.
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9.5 Endorsements For Tenure
Applications for tenure must be accompanied by a recommendation from the departmental promotions committee and Department Head(s). The vote of the departmental promotions committee must be indicated on the Promotion/Tenure Form. These recommendations should specifically address the degree to which the candidate meets the appropriate criteria as listed in Sections 3.0 and 7.0 of the Faculty Handbook. Candidates who receive negative recommendations by the departmental promotions committee and the Department Head can request review by the school promotions committee if they choose.
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9.6 Action on Tenure
Decisions regarding tenure represent a succession of judgments of whether the candidate meets the criteria set forth in Handbook Sections 3.0 and 7.0 . Tenure requests are submitted by the Department Head to the Dean of the School on the Promotion/Tenure Form. As noted in Section 9.4, the submitted documentation must include the Standardized Biographical Data attachment, the Educator’s Portfolio, and Letters of Recommendation.
The requests are preliminarily reviewed by the office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for completeness and accuracy and then forwarded to the faculty promotions committee of the School. This committee returns a recommendation to the Dean. Positive committee recommendations are submitted to other appropriate committees and/or Administrative Councils for their recommendations to the Dean. Negative recommendations of the faculty promotions committee, with which the Dean concurs, are returned to the Department Head, who may appeal the decision based on school policy. The Dean of the School may agree or disagree with recommendations. The above decisions are indicated on the Promotion/Tenure Form and appropriate signatures are affixed.
When the above process has been completed within the School, even if the Dean’s recommendation is negative, the recommendation is then forwarded for consideration by the Chancellor, the Vice President for Academic Affairs of the LSU System, and the President of the LSU System. Positive recommendations are forwarded for final action to the LSU Board of Supervisors.
If a faculty member has an appointment in more than one Department or School, each Department or School involved must participate in the tenure process (i.e. review by the appropriate faculty committees and Administrative Councils of all Schools/Departments involved).
Unless extraordinary circumstances prevail, when a recommendation for tenure is approved by the Board of Supervisors, tenure takes effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year.
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9.7 Multiple-Campus Appointments - Tenure
Recommendation for promotion and/or tenure of faculty with multiple-campus appointments: a split recommendation for tenure will result in the approving campus acquiring full financial responsibility for the individual; a split recommendation for promotion of a tenured individual will result in the approving campus assuming the responsibility for the additional percentage.
[LSU System. Permanent Memorandum 23. (2/9/2009). Ranks, Provisions, and Policies Governing Appointments and Promotions of the Academic Staff. http://www.lsusystem.edu/index.php/policies/permanent-memoranda/] |