Processes and Criteria for Promotion of Academic Professionals

Revision: July 2018

Policies and procedures related to faculty appointments and promotions are updated periodically. You should review the following three documents that relate to non-tenure academic faculty appointments.

1. Relevant sections of the Faculty Handbook, section 3.2.2;
2. Guidance provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs;
3. College of Sciences “Processes and Criteria for Promotion of Academic Professionals” (this document).

Applications for promotion will be assessed based on performance over the entire set of activities listed in the position description. For Academic Professionals, teaching and research account for <50% time. Please review the USG table to convert teaching contact hours to FTE effort at: https://www.usg.edu/hr/manual/employee_categories (the table appears half-way down the page).

Deadlines

• The school sets a deadline for submission of the promotion package from the candidate (generally in the summer). This package is sent to those who will prepare letters of evaluation.
• The college sets a deadline for submission of the entire package from the schools (generally in mid-late fall) that accommodates a committee review and submission of the application to the Office of Faculty Affairs.

The Review Process

All applications require a minimum of two levels of review, one of which should be a committee review, before it is submitted to the Office of Faculty Affairs. In the College of Sciences, the committee review will be conducted at the college level. Thus, the sequence of reviews is:

1. The supervisor/chair
2. College committee
3. Dean
4. Institute committee
5. Provost

Below are requirements for applications for promotion in the Academic Professional faculty track submitted in the College of Sciences, effective for the 2018-19 academic year and future years.

Procedures

1. Initiation of the application for promotion

   School chairs should inform faculty members of their eligibility to apply for promotion based on time in rank. The Office of the Dean will provide school administrators with a list of faculty who are eligible to be considered for promotion based on time in rank.

   Faculty members are encouraged to meet with the supervisor to discuss their readiness for promotion and set a schedule to prepare the promotion package.

2. The candidate provides a list of potential reviewers

   For applications for promotion in the College of Sciences, letters should not be requested from individuals who have served as a supervisor (including, for example, doctoral and post-doctoral advisors, and previous employers), or from past and current collaborators. Letter writers external to Georgia Tech should not have had prior employment at Georgia Tech. The letters must address the accomplishments of the candidate in their current position at Georgia Tech.

   The supervisor selects individuals on this list from whom letters will be sought. Letters may also be solicited from individuals other than those on the candidate’s list. See section 4 (below) regarding solicitation of letters).

   Promotion to Senior Academic Professional

   The candidate should provide the supervisor with a list of potential reviewers that includes a minimum of four individuals external to the College, of which a minimum of two must be external to Georgia Tech.

   Promotion to Principal Academic Professional

   The candidate should provide the supervisor with a list of potential reviewers that includes a minimum of four individuals external to the College, of which a minimum of three must be external to Georgia Tech.

3. The candidate prepares components of the package

   A faculty member who wishes to be considered for promotion will provide the following items to the supervisor by the school’s deadline. Item numbers below refer to the order in which each document will appear in the final package when it is submitted to the Office of Faculty Affairs.

   Biosketch [item #2]

   150 words, 12-point serif font (e.g., Times New Roman)
   Brief background (including education), a description of the individual’s role and accomplishments in his/her current position.

   Position Description [item #10]

   Note: The College of Sciences requires a position description for all promotions.
   Maximum of two pages, one-inch margins, single-spaced, 12-point serif font. A position description must accompany all applications for promotion within the College of Sciences. This should be developed in discussion with the supervisor. It should provide a description of current professional responsibilities in a small set of broad areas (e.g., classroom instruction, instructional support, advising, supervision of GTAs, program management, etc.) with an indication of the percentage of time dedicated to each. If duties are to change after promotion, these changes should be outlined in a separate paragraph

   Candidate Personal Narrative [item #11]

   Maximum of five pages, one-inch margins, single-spaced, 12-point serif font.
   This statement is the candidate’s “voice” in the promotion process and should provide perspective on, and context for, the candidate’s scholarly accomplishments at Georgia Tech with regard to the five criteria for Academic Professionals (see Faculty Handbook, section 3.2.2).

   Curriculum Vitae [Item #12]

   Institute Standard Format for Academic Professionals

   Portfolio [for external, school and college level review only; to be appended to end of package]

   Note: The College of Sciences requires a portfolio for both Academic Professional and Lecturer promotions.
   For Academic Professionals, the portfolio is a compilation of work that represents the candidate’s administrative, instructional and/or scholarly accomplishments. These may include, for example, curricula and co-curricula materials, software, patents, published papers, reports to sponsoring agencies, and other relevant items that reflect superior performance and which will be recognized as such by the candidate’s peers. Any student information in these items must be redacted for compliance with FERPA. Provide a coversheet for this section that includes a brief description of each item. For example:

   1. “Paper title”, Journal Title, year, volume, page numbers.
   2. Final report to NSF for “Award title” (NSF Award #)
   3. “Chapter title”, Chapter contributed to “Book Title”, year.
   4. Compilation of abstracts of presentations made at conferences [list conference title with each abstract].
   5. Materials developed for “Title of outreach activity”, dates of activity.

   Signed Statement of Completeness [item #15]

   Document will be provided by the School for the candidate to sign. An electronic signature is acceptable

   Signed Waiver [item 16]

   Form will be provided by the School for the candidate to sign. An electronic signature is acceptable.

4. The unit solicits and collects letters of evaluation

   The supervisor is responsible for soliciting letters of evaluation from some of the individuals on the candidate’s list of suggested evaluators. Letters may also be solicited from individuals other than those on the candidate’s list.

   Promotion to Senior Academic Professional

   requires a minimum of three letters from individuals who are outside of the College and at least one of these must be external to Georgia Tech.

   Promotion to Principal Academic Professional 

   requires a minimum of three letters from individuals who are outside of the College and at least two of these must be external to Georgia Tech.

   Please see section 2 of this document for further details

5. The unit adds components to the package

   The candidate’s unit will insert the following items to the package. The package (items 1-2, 5-16) plus the portfolio, should be submitted to the college as a single PDF file by the college deadline. To the extent possible, the PDF file should be generated from computer files, rather than by scanning a hardcopy (scanned pages can be inserted into the document as necessary).

   Coversheet [item #1]

   Provided by the Office of the Dean, to be reviewed by unit administrator. Add the School Chair’s vote (yes/no) and signature.

   Supervisor’s letter [item #5]

   The supervisor will provide a letter of evaluation addressed to the dean. This letter should provide an analysis of the candidate’s experience and performance using the relevant criteria (see the Faculty Handbook), a summary of the external letters (referring to the assigned numbers, not using reviewer names), and a recommendation for or against promotion. Additional professional responsibilities to be undertaken upon promotion should also be described.

   Sample request letter to external reviewers [item #6]

   Template provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs

   External letter selection table [item #7]

   Template provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs

   External reviewer biosketches [item #8]

   100-150 words maximum per biosketch

   External Letters, in order by assigned number [item #9]

    

   Teaching Scores in Table form with Normative Information [item #13]

   Template provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs

6. The college adds components to the package

   The College of Sciences will add the following items to the package and forward it to the Office of Faculty Affairs.

   Letter from the dean [item #3]

   The dean will write a letter to the provost summarizing the main strengths and/or weaknesses of the case and whether he/she recommends promotion or not.

   College-level committee letter [item #4]

   The dean will convene a committee of three or more faculty members to review the promotion package. For promotion to the rank of Senior Academic Professional (SAP), the committee will consist of SAPs and/or tenured Associate or Full Professors. For promotion to the rank of Principal Academic Professional (PAP), the committee will consist of PAPs and/or tenured Full Professors. The committee will vote on the promotion and write a letter to the dean describing the rationale of their recommendation.

Criteria

Besides the requirement of a terminal degree and time in rank, promotion to the rank of Senior Academic Professional “requires evidence of superior performance in the chosen field, recognition by peers (whether national, regional, or local), and successful and measurable related experience.”

Promotion to the rank of Principal Academic Professional requires, in addition, “successful and measurable related experience including but not limited to supervision of others’ work, significant responsibility and authority within program area, and demonstrated impact.”

The following are examples of activities that have been recognized as valuable contributions by recent review committees. This is not a check list of requirements. The specific ways in which individuals demonstrated some of these characteristics varies widely, which is understandable given the broad scope of duties of non-tenure-track academic faculty.