The University Review Committee receives departmental recommendations
concerning retention, tenure, and promotion of individual faculty
members. Subsequently the Committee formulates recommendations of its
own based on the quality of the individual faculty member's teaching,
scholarship, and service.
The objectives of the review conducted by the Committee are:
- to assure that each departmental recommendation has been reached
through careful, equitable, and considered means;
- to assure that each departmental recommendation is consistent
with the evidence that has accompanied it;
- to assure that each departmental recommendation is
consistent with the University's expectation that members of its
Faculty, in all departments, be teachers and scholars of the highest
quality;
- to assure that the department's procedures and judgments
are consistent with the procedures and judgments of other departments
of the University in like cases.
Since departmental reviews vary greatly, the Committee may, after
consultation with the candidate, seek evidence concerning the quality
of teaching and scholarship in addition to that presented by a
department in support of its recommendation. Such additional evidence
might include (but is not necessarily limited to) further
documentation of teaching quality (through contact with current
students, alumni, and colleagues, course syllabi, etc.) and opinions
from noted authorities in the field on the quality of the candidate's
scholarship or professional activity. The Committee's obligations to
the Faculty, students, and the Board of Trustees require adequate
documentation of its recommendations; thus, the Committee will seek
additional evidence if it believes this to be necessary.
Prior to the forwarding of the Committee's recommendations to the
Board of Trustees for final action, the President meets with the
Committee in order to be fully apprised of the documentation and
deliberations which enter into the Committee's recommendations. In
individual instances, the President may request the Committee to
extend its review and/or reconsider its judgment. The President does
not initiate or conduct any separate reviews. The recommendation of
the Committee as submitted is forwarded by the President to the
Educational Policy Committee of the Board of Trustees. The final
authority to grant appointments, promotions, and tenure rests with the
Board. The President, as agent of the Board, is not required to concur
with, nor is the Board required to accept, a recommendation of the
department or of the University Review Committee.
Review procedures for tenure and retention are outlined in III.K.2.
The Committee shall review recommendations for promotion during the
Spring semester. (See III.K.) Recommendations for promotion in
conjunction with the conferral of tenure shall be reviewed before
December 15 of each year.
This page maintained by
Marty Ligare
mligare@bucknell.edu
