Tenure Transfer Process
(Campus Policy Approved by Chancellor Bud Peterson, October 2, 2007)
In the tenure process, the first, essential decision is made at the level of the primary unit, where both expertise in the particular field and knowledge of the individual candidate is most intense. The system requires reviews of this initial decision at other levels including the dean and his/her personnel committee, the Provost and VCAC, the Chancellor, and, when necessary, the President and his/her committee. Thus, although tenure must be reviewed at every level and approved in the end by the Board of Regents, the initial decision with respect to whether to grant or deny tenure resides with the primary unit.
When a request has been made to move a faculty member's tenure from one unit to another, the primary unit to which the request for transfer is made ("receiving primary unit") should follow the same process it does in considering a faculty member to be hired with tenure, with the exception that outside letters are not necessary. As such, the receiving primary unit should form a Primary Unit Evaluation Committee ("PUEC") in accordance with its bylaws. The PUEC should report to the receiving primary unit its description of the findings with regard to the faculty member's teaching performance, scholarly and creative work, and university and professional service or outreach. The receiving primary unit should take a formal vote on a hire with tenure and that vote should be reviewed at the dean's and provost's levels in consultation with the appropriate committees. The Provost will make a recommendation to the Chancellor.
The tenure transfer process will conclude when the Chancellor makes a final decision with respect to the Provost's recommendation. If the Chancellor rejects a recommendation to move a faculty member's tenure home, that faculty member will remain a tenured member of his/her current unit. If the Chancellor accepts a recommendation to move a faculty member's tenure home, the process will be considered complete. The matter does not need to be submitted to the President or the Board of Regents for approval because the faculty member's tenure has previously been approved by the President and Board of Regents and the tenure transfer decision is nothing more than an appointment of the faculty member as an associate or full professor in a particular unit, a decision that rests with the Chancellor.