Tenure and Promotion

01. PURPOSE

This document outlines the expectations for the awarding of tenure and promotion in the Ingram School of Engineering. Its content complements the policies, procedures, and expectations relating to tenure and promotion contained in the latest editions or versions of

• The Texas State University System Rules and Regulations
• The Texas State University Faculty Handbook
• Academic Affairs Policies and Procedure Statement 04.02.20
• The College of Science Tenure and Promotion Guidelines

02. THE AWARDING OF TENURE AND PROMOTION TO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

In this document, the awarding of tenure and promotion to associate professor will be considered together since it is expected that an individual who meets the requirements for tenure will also meet the requirements for promotion to associate professor. An untenured faculty member whose rank is below associate professor must apply for promotion to associate professor at the same time he or she applies for tenure (PPS 04.02.20, para. 03.01e, eff. date 4/2018).

Applicants for tenure and promotion to associate professor should have (1) initiated and continued an independent, productive level of research and scholarship involving students, (2) demonstrated excellence in teaching, and (3) contributed to academic and professional service activities.

Evidence of an independent, productive level of research and scholarship1 involving students may typically include:

• Publication, or acceptance for publication, of peer-reviewed articles in reputable professional or technical journals2 at an average rate of 1 to 1.5 per year
  • published
  • in press
  • accepted
  • The rate of publication in reputable professional and technical journals can be supplemented with
    • Publication of research-related books and/or book chapters.
    • Publications in peer-reviewed conference proceedings for which the acceptance rate or other criteria of quality is documented.
  • Consideration may also be given for preparation of articles for peer reviewed publications
    • in revision
    • under review
    • submitted
    • in preparation
  • Involvement of graduate or undergraduate students in research activities as evidenced by student co-authorship of publications
  • Funding or other tangible support from external sources such as federal/state grants or subawards, commercial contracts, etc. related to establishment or continuation of research activities leading toward publications or further funding
  • Funding from internal sources such as university-level awards for research projects
  • Other research activities
    • patents awarded or pending in areas related to research specialization
    • public-domain technology:
      • significant, documentable contributions to open-source software or hardware
      • significant, documentable technical contributions that advance the state of the engineering art 

Evidence of excellence in teaching must include:

• Evaluations
  • student evaluations of teaching
  • peer evaluations and in-class observations conducted by the Ingram School personnel committee members

Evidence of excellence in teaching may also include:

• Communications from former classroom students attesting to excellence
• Awards
  • university-level teaching awards
  • teaching awards sponsored by student organizations
• Student Involvement
  • Publications and conference papers by students of the candidate based on class projects, etc.
  • Evidence of successful mentoring of students
• Other teaching activities
  • Obtaining funding for development or enhancement of courses and curricula
  • Production of educational materials such as textbooks, educational software, etc.
• Teaching materials (including examinations)

Although service activities expected of tenure-track faculty members should not be excessive, the candidate should present evidence of some involvement, such as:

• Committee Participation
  • internal committees at the school, college, or university level as assigned by the Chair, Director, or Dean
  • external committees and service to professional societies related to area of specialization
• Professional Participation
  • Serving on review and advisory panels
  • Organizing professional meetings
  • Holding an elective or appointed office within a professional society
• Other service activities as appropriate, such as
  • Attendance at university functions such as graduation, Bobcat Days, etc. 
  • Serving as faculty advisor to engineering-related student organizations 
  • Serving as a resource to K-12 schools or other appropriate entities

Note: In the case of collaborative work in teaching, research, or service in which the contribution of the applicant cannot be easily assessed independently, sufficient additional evidence should be presented to allow an assessment of the applicant's independent contributions.

03. THE AWARDING OF PROMOTION TO PROFESSOR

Applicants for promotion to professor should have (1) continued an independent, productive level of research and scholarship involving students, (2) demonstrated excellence in teaching and effective mentoring of graduate students, and (3) contributed to academic and professional service activities. The detailed criteria for these activities are the same as for promotion to Associate Professor above. In addition, candidates for professor are expected to have (4) established a national reputation within their discipline and (5) demonstrated leadership within the School, College, University, or a professional society, government agency, or comparable entity

Evidence for a national/international reputation in the candidate's discipline may include:

• Serving as editor or a member of the editorial board of national or international journals
• Delivering invited presentations at national or international conferences
• Membership on national or international review panels
• Editing or authoring books within the candidate's technical discipline
• Authorship of notable review articles or book chapters
• Extensive citations of candidate's technical articles in the professional literature
• National and international research awards received

Leadership may be demonstrated by:

• Chairing school, college, or university committees
• Formal administrative service within the University
• Holding an elective or appointed office within a professional society
• Holding an appointed position with a governmental or other entity while on leave from the University
• Planning national or international professional conferences

¹ _{In addition to the traditional forms of technical research and scholarship, the Ingram School also values research and scholarship related to Engineering Education. Such research and scholarship should be disseminated in articles published by reputable peer-reviewed journals and high-quality peer-reviewed conferences; articles that describe pedagogical innovation and include development, measurement of outcomes, and analysis.}

² _{The Ingram School Personnel Committee, working with the faculty in each program, will determine which journals in that program to deem “reputable.” The Personnel Committee recognizes that each program contains many specialties and recognizes that these specialties may have different peer groups and use different criteria to determine the quality of journals. Program faculty, working either individually or as a group, can choose to establish the reputability of a particular journal with the Personnel Committee in one of two ways:}

_{A) The faculty member(s) can provide the Ingram School Personnel Committee with documentation concerning the quality of the journal. Such documentation should include a list of the journal’s editorial board and could also include an assessment of the quality of the journal from a prominent individual in the same specialty as the journal, journal acceptance rates, citation rates, names of prominent individuals who publish in the journal, etc.}

_{B) The faculty member(s) can show that the journal is included in a suitable citation index or peerrecognized list of suitable journals for the specialty. (Note that such lists may not exist for all specialties and that faculty in those specialties will need to use method A.)}

_{A request to determine “reputability” of a particular journal can be made to the Ingram School Personnel Committee at any time (before submittal of a paper or after).}