Department of Agriculture Tenure and Promotion Criteria

The Department of Agriculture will evaluate tenure and tenure-track faculty members in the categories of (A) Teaching Responsibilities, (B) Scholarly Activities, and (C) Professional Service. For annual evaluations and consideration for tenure, a score of 1 (unsatisfactory) to 4 (exceeds criteria) will be assigned to each category. For evaluation of teaching responsibilities, faculty are expected to maintain assigned teaching responsibilities and receive favorable course evaluations. For Scholarly Activities and Professional Service, faculty can meet the requirements by meeting one or all of the subcategories listed in that particular category. Within the first year of employment, the faculty member and Tenure and Promotion Committee shall meet to establish an action plan addressing the individual areas of evaluation. This action plan shall serve as a guideline for future performance evaluations.

Non-tenure track faculty will be evaluated based on their position descriptions using the categories below. For example, heavy emphasis will be placed on Teaching Responsibilities for non-tenure track faculty with full-time teaching responsibilities. For non-tenure track faculty with a research appointment, emphasis will be placed on Scholarly Activities. In addition, they shall be evaluated on other contractual responsibilities as established in their job description. Before the peer evaluation, the department chair will document all additional responsibilities assigned to an individual during the evaluation period to be utilized by the Peer Review Committee.

Faculty on a nine-month, full-time teaching contract will be evaluated primarily on Teaching Responsibilities and Professional Service.

Failure to meet the expectations for Teaching Responsibilities, Scholarly Activities or Professional Service for two consecutive years could result in the recommendation for termination.

Teaching Responsibilities

1. Evaluations of teaching effectiveness (course evaluations)
2. Teaching load and instructional contributions

Scholarly Activities

1. Refereed publications, funded grant proposals and contracts
2. Professional presentations of knowledge or creative expressions
3. Honors for research or creative expressions

Professional Service

1. Service to the university
2. Professional service to the community, state, nation or world
3. Service to professional organizations
4. Honors for service
5. Academic and program development