Tenure is governed by Board Policy 3356-10-30 rather than by the collective bargaining agreement. Article 10 states that tenure is not a bargainable subject and that Board policy prevails. At YSU, tenure and promotion to associate professor are a single application, and a terminal degree is required before you apply.
Promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor is a bargainable subject; the guidelines are in Article 10 of the Agreement.
Promotion from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer is a bargainable subject; the guidelines are in Article 10 of the Agreement.
Promotion from Senior Lecturer to Assistant Professor Non-Tenure Track is in Policy 3356-10-32.
The policy preserves your right to grieve a procedural violation. In two places — the tenure appeal and the terminal year — it states that a faculty member who believes the procedures in the policy were not followed may file a grievance under the collective bargaining agreement. The Board’s own policy creates that route. It is narrower than what the contract used to provide, but it is real, and it is worth knowing before you assume nothing can be done.
The clock
You apply during your sixth probationary year, no later than September 1. Applications arriving after 11:59 p.m. are not accepted, and no addenda are received once you have submitted. If you have not applied by September 1 of the sixth year, you are considered to be in your terminal year.
You get one review. An application cannot be withdrawn without the provost’s approval, and tenure is never granted or assumed without a review.
Which years count
- One year of service is two semesters of full-time employment in an academic year. Summer assignments do not count.
- The year you file does not count as a year in rank.
- Paid leave counts — sabbaticals, faculty improvement leaves, maternity and parental leave. Sick leave and leave without pay of a semester or more do not, and fractional years cannot be combined into a full one.
- Approved family medical leave of six to fifteen weeks in a semester lets you elect to exclude one year from the probationary period, by electronic notice to your chair with copies to the dean and provost. The probationary period is normally capped at seven years, extendable by the provost in extraordinary cases.
- You can negotiate up to two years of prior full-time faculty service from another university at the time of appointment. Once set, the timeline is fixed and will not be changed — so negotiate it when you are hired, not later.
Pre-tenure review, third year
Probationary faculty undergo a formal pre-tenure review in the fall of the third probationary year. On an accelerated track, the year is identified in your initial appointment letter.
- September 1 — application and supporting evidence submitted through the faculty success platform
- October 15 — you present to the tenured faculty of the department and answer questions; they provide written formative comments, which may be anonymous
- October 31 — the chair forwards the faculty comments and their own separate comments to the dean
- November 15 — the dean adds comments
- December 15 — you may add a statement of response
Add the response. It is optional, it costs you an afternoon, and it is the only place in the pre-tenure record that is written in your own voice.
The tenure year
- September 1 — application due, 11:59 p.m. hard cutoff
- September 15 — the department review committee convenes and elects its chair. The Department Review Committee (DRC) is three or more tenured associate or full professors; administrators and current candidates may not serve.
- October 5 — you present to the DRC and answer questions, then they vote by secret ballot. Your department chair may observe but not participate, and withdraws before recommendations are formed.
- October 15 — the chair informs you, the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), and the dean of the vote count. If you are not recommended you may meet the DRC chair or department chair to discuss why — within fifteen days, and no later than 5 p.m. on October 30.
- November 1 — the college review committee is named. The College Review Committee (CRC) is four to seven tenured associate or full professors with at least a full year at rank, elected under the dean’s management.
- November 30 — the CRC recommendation goes to you, the dean, your chair, the DRC chairs, the CHRO, and the Association president. If not recommended you may meet the CRC chair within fifteen days.
- December 10 — the dean submits a recommendation to the provost and notifies you and the Association president.
- January 10 — the provost decides, after consulting the Board of Trustees at its December meeting.
You have the right to speak to the CRC on your own behalf. Take it. And note that the Association president is copied at three separate stages — the chapter knows when a case is going badly, which is another reason to talk to the chapter early rather than after the decision.
If you are denied
An individual denied tenure after being recommended at any level may file a written appeal with the provost, no later than January 25.
- A five-member committee is formed by February 20: two appointed by the provost, two appointed by the President of the Association, and a fifth chosen by those appointees as chair. No member may come from your department.
- You may submit a written rebuttal of the recommendations at any level. The committee meets with you, with Association representatives, and with anyone else it deems appropriate.
- The recommendation goes to the university president by March 10. If the panel misses that deadline, the provost’s decision stands.
- The president notifies you by March 20, and that decision is final and binding — but a procedural violation of the policy may be grieved under the agreement.
The terminal year
A candidate denied tenure may request up to one academic year at the same salary, provided the tenured faculty of the department vote to approve it. The recommendation runs from the tenured faculty through the chair to the dean and then the provost, who decides. Procedural violations here are also grievable.
What you are judged against
Departmental governance documents, your college’s guidelines or rubric as approved by the dean, and the provost’s criteria. The Deans Advisory Council reviews college guidelines each spring and the dean then notifies faculty that they are available.
NOTE: These are MULTIPLE DOCUMENTS. Ask your Chair to provide the documents to you. Ask the Institute for Teaching and Learning to help you procure documents or to double-check that you have everything you need — they have copies or can get access to whatever you are missing.
Read your college guidelines in your first year, not your fifth. Use them for your annual evaluations. They can change during your probationary period, and knowing the current version is your responsibility. State law also allows commercialization as one pathway to tenure.
The faculty success platform (Watermark) is the sole repository for application materials. Maintain it continuously — reviewers are prohibited from voting if they have not reviewed your materials, which means an incomplete file costs you votes.
Reach out to the Institute for Teaching and Learning for assistance, if needed, and attend their tenure & promotion workshops.