BERKELEY: OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR
November 11, 1993
Dear Colleagues:
RE: FINAL APPRAISALS AND TENURE REVIEWS
The following information provides campus guidelines for the differentiation of final appraisals and tenure reviews.
It has become increasingly important that Mid-Career and Final Appraisals not be delayed. The concern has two dimensions: first, the recognition that delay of an appraisal withholds from the candidate important feed-back on his or her progress toward tenure, and second, the growing realization that delayed appraisals jeopardize the University's ability to carry out its normal procedures for tenure review in a timely fashion.
Therefore, it is important to make the distinction between a Final Appraisal, which is called for in the 11th semester, and a decision on tenure. In the majority of cases, departments, in carrying out the Final Appraisal in the candidate's 11th semester of service, come to a definite decision about whether to recommend that person to tenure or not. Thus, a recommendation for a terminal appointment at the Assistant Professor level usually results from a negative tenure recommendation at the time of the Final Appraisal on the part of the department.
However, it may also be the case that consideration of the candidate in the 11th semester leads to the recognition by the department that, while they could not make a strong recommendation for tenure at that point, they might do so in the following year. In such a case, it is advantageous both to the candidate as well as to the University to provide some flexibility in the timing of the actual tenure decision. That flexibility should not be introduced by allowing the Final Appraisal to be postponed. Whether or not a departmental believes, in the 11th semester of the candidate's service, that the time is right to make a decision on tenure, it must address the issue of the candidate's prospects for tenure forthrightly. This obligation is important for the counsel that it provides the candidate and the protection it provides the University. Furthermore, we do not believe that the interests of either party are served by delaying the Appraisals in a weak case.
In adhering to the policy that the Final Appraisal be carried out in the 11th semester of service, it is important for department chairs (and their faculty) to address the question of "the prospects of [the candidate] for eventual promotion to tenure rank" (APM Section 220-83). Tenured faculty in a department shall be consulted and vote concerning this question. This is true for the mid-career appraisal, as well. We informed you of this campus requirement in our directive of March 18, 1991.
Both the department as well as the candidate must recognize that postponement of the tenure review beyond the sixth year does not alter the "terminal" nature of reappointment at the Assistant Professor rank for a seventh and eighth year of service.
In summary:
1) A department must perform a Final Appraisal of an Assistant Professor during the 11th semester of service; and this appraisal must include a departmental vote.
2) If this appraisal leads to a recommendation and a vote from the department in favor of tenure, then such a case comes forward in the expected fashion.
3) If the appraisal does not lead the department to recommend tenure, then the recommendation that comes forward must be for a terminal reappointment. The distinction can be made between a vote "not to recommend tenure" and a vote "to deny tenure." a) A department vote "to deny tenure" is a recommendation to terminate, which requires the normal campus level review, including review by a Campus ad hoc Review Committee if the candidate chooses. b) When a vote is "not to recommend tenure," the department and candidate may agree that the candidate's case will be reopened in the following year, and that the department will make a final recommendation on tenure at that time. Policy allows the possibility of a department performing a tenure review in the 7th year, even after a highly pessimistic assessment at the time of the Final Appraisal; however, a tenure decision put off in this manner does not alter the terminal nature of the 7th and 8th year of appointment.
Cases of mid-Career and Final Appraisal which do not directly address the question about the candidate's tenurability will be returned to the departments for a response to this question.
Sincerely,
cc: Vice Chancellor Heilbron
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