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Tenure

When am I coming up for tenure?

To find out, check your letter of appointment. It will state whether you were appointed in 'Pre-Candidacy' 1, 2, or 3, or in 'Candidacy' 1 or 2. Probationary academic employees typically move through this sequence of stages. Each stage usually takes a year.

Advancement from Pre-Candidacy to Candidacy is initiated by your department or unit. Check with your Chair / Director / Dean / University Librarian to find out the procedures, which at a minimum include consideration of your cv, course evaluations, and your statement (should you provide one). Click here for more information.

You can choose to come up for tenure during Candidacy 1, but you must come up in Candidacy 2. Candidacy 3 is used only if your file's been delayed in Candidacy 2.

 

How should I choose when to come up?

Regardless of what stage you choose, the same criteria (discussed below) apply. You should choose to come up when you believe you'll meet them.

If you choose to come up during Candidacy 1 or 2, you will receive a ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘delay’ decision. If you've been delayed until Candidacy 3, you must receive a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.

 

Can I stop the tenure clock?

Yes, under certain circumstances. For example, if you take a pregnancy leave or primary caregiver leave, you may use the form to request a related extension from your Dean / Principal / University Librarian. Normally, you'd have to have qualified for pregnancy / primary care giver leave and have requested the extension before your Adjudicating Committee votes on your Candidacy 3 application.

If you take another type of extended leave, you should arrange in writing whether to stop or continue the clock.

 

What if a campus strike affected my tenure case?

In January 2009, the Employer agreed to deal with effects on tenure files case-by-case after the CUPE 3903 strike.

Following YUFA's 1998 and CUPE 3903's 2000-2001 strikes, YUFA negotiated optional one-year stop-outs for members at certain stages of the tenure process.

 

What are the primary criteria to be used in the decision?

Professorial candidates are assessed on the quality of their:

  • teaching,
  • professional contribution and standing (research, scholarly or creative activity), and
  • service to the University.

In each of the three areas, you'll be rated ‘excellent’, ‘highly competent’, ‘competent’, or as not having demonstrated competence. You'll receive a positive recommendation for tenure for any of the following sets of ratings:

  1. highly competent (or better) in all three areas; 
  2. excellent in teaching and at least competent in professional contribution & standing; 
  3. excellent in professional contribution & standing and at least competent in teaching; 
  4. excellent in service, and at least competent in teaching and professional contribution & standing.

For candidates in the Alternate Stream, the areas assessed are teaching and service to the University. You'll receive a positive recommendation for tenure if you're judged to be excellent in teaching and at least competent in service.

Librarians are assessed in the areas of:

  • professional performance and knowledge,
  • professional development, and
  • service to the University

and are evaluated in each area on the following scale: ‘excellent’, ‘highly competent’, ‘competent’, or ‘not satisfactory’. You'll receive a positive recommendation for tenure if you're judged to be highly competent or better in professional performance and knowledge, and at least highly competent in one of the other areas.

 

If I'm a librarian, where do I find more information?

Click here for the 'Criteria and Procedures for Promotion and 
Continuing Appointments of Professional Librarians', last updated in September 2009.

Please skip over the following seven questions and answers, which apply only to professors.

 

How do I find out the definition of 'excellence', for example, in research (professional contribution and standing)?

Excellence in research, for example, is defined qualitatively as 'demonstrated superiority' in a field as judged by recognised scholars in that field.

In accordance with the University-wide standards, your home unit should have explicit written standards, which can be revised from time to time. You should have received these when you were appointed and then again with your advancement to Candidacy letter.

 

What should the letter about advancement to Candidacy contain?

Your Chair or Dean / Principal must provide a written assessment of your career to date, providing clear guidance on meeting the standards for tenure & promotion. Heads up! When you're coming up for tenure, Adjudicating Committees will have this letter and will be looking for you to have addressed any issues it raised.

Again, the explicit written standards of your home unit must be included with this letter.

 

Who is supposed to do what?

Your file may be initiated by:

  • In FES, Education, and Schulich, i.e., the Faculties without departments: Dean, candidate, or 'interested party';
  • In Fine Arts, Glendon, Health, LA&PS, and Science & Engineering: Chair of initiating or home unit, candidate, or 'interested party'.

The process involves several committees responsible for preparing, adjudicating, and reviewing your file. The two main ones are the File Preparation Committee (FPC) and the Adjudicating Committee.

 

Who's on the File Preparation Committee and what do they do?

The FPC has three members: one (from the initiating unit or elsewhere) named by the candidate and two named by the Adjudicating Committee. All members must be probationary / tenured. The FPC:

  • ensures that the file represents as fully as possible the candidate's case for tenure & promotion, assembling a file that is complete and that fairly and accurately represents the candidate’s career at York and / or elsewhere, including representing diverse career paths fairly and effectively,
  • provides no commentary other than factual information necessary to contextualise the evidence in the file, e.g., referees’ bios and remarks on the nature of conflicts in the discipline.

 

What should be in a candidate's file?

1. Professional Contribution and Standing

  • Referees’ letters: The FPC draws up a list of potential referees and the candidate may add names up to 25% of the list. At least three and rarely more than six reference letters are sought from external assessors at 'arm’s length', chosen by the Committee. These referees are sent materials chosen by the Committee, to which the candidate can add.
  • Reviews of published scholarship or creative productions are included, if available.

2. Teaching

  • Collegial evaluation: Three referees, usually internal – two chosen by the Committee and one by the candidate – attend classes and are provided with course outlines, assignments, handouts, etc. Candidates may provide referees with a ‘teaching dossier’, which does not become part of the file.
  • The Committee may also solicit letters from TAs and other faculty with whom the candidate has taught.
  • Student evaluation: Statistical summaries and analysis of quantitative teaching evaluations are provided, as are any available signed comments from evaluations. Letters are solicited from a random sample of students from most recently-taught classes and from previously-supervised graduate students. Candidates may add names up to 1/3 of the total.

3. Service

  • Referees’ letters: The Committee compiles a list of referees familiar with the candidate’s service to the University. Candidates may add names up to ¼ of the total. The Committee chooses up to three referees.
  • New in the 2009-2012 Collective Agreement, service to the external community - e.g., service to aboriginal communities - that's demonstrably relevant to the University's academic priorities explicitly counts as service.

4. Candidate information

  • curriculum vitae,
  • candidate’s personal statement, normally, of up to 2000 words assessing career progress and explaining any anomalies (e.g., career interruptions),
  • any information about cross-appointments that the candidate deems appropriate.

5. Other documents

  • the unit's T&P standards,
  • a list of referees indicating which were nominated by the Committee and which by the candidate,
  • the letter advising the candidate of advancement to Candidacy, which was to include clear guidance on how to meet the standards for tenure & promotion.

6. Other factual information provided by the Committee as required to put the materials in context, e.g., background information on external referees and remarks on the nature of conflicts in the discipline.

 

Who's on the Adjudicating Committee and what do they do?

The file is judged by an Adjudicating Committee of the initiating unit, specifically:

  • In FES, Education, and Schulich: a committee constituted at the Faculty level;
  • In Fine Arts, Glendon, Health, LA&PS, and Science & Engineering: a committee constituted by the department / division / school;
  • If the initiating unit is too small, the Dean / Chair, in consultation with the candidate, will strike an ad hoc Adjudicating Committee, unless, in a small Faculty with several small departments / divisions / schools (e.g., Glendon), the Faculty chooses to constitute the Adjudicating Committee at the Faculty level.

The Committee consists of six to eight probationary / tenured faculty, the majority with tenure, and two or three students.

This Committee:

  • reviews the file and votes on each of the three areas of evaluation according to the standards established by the initiating unit and reviewed by Senate;
  • decides whether to recommend the candidate for tenure & promotion, tenure without promotion (only in exceptional circumstances), promotion (where already tenured), delay (if the file is substantially short of the required standard), or denial;
  • writes a report, setting forth their votes, recommendation, and clear and detailed reasons for the recommendation. This is added to the file and mailed to the candidate by 1 November.

For more details on what the Dean / Principal, Review Committee, and others do, see York University T&P Toolkit FAQ.

 

What are my rights in the process?

You have a significant role in all aspects of the process. It's important for you to know your rights. In addition to those covered elsewhere in the Collective Agreement (e.g., non-discrimination), candidates have explicit rights to:

  • access the entire file (names and other information that could reveal identities of letter writers are removed from the letters themselves but are available to candidates on the lists of referees);
  • be informed in writing of the standards in your unit and the specific expectations you must meet;
  • name a member of the File Preparation Committee;
  • contribute to file preparation by naming potential referees and student evaluators and helping to determine what materials they receive;
  • add material to the file, including updates to your cv, such as newly-accepted articles;
  • challenge the participation of members of the Adjudicating or Senate Review Committees on grounds of a reasonable apprehension of bias;
  • be informed in writing about the progress of your case at the end of each stage;
  • request reconsideration of the adjudication at any level, within 15 days of notification;
  • appear in person, with or without a representative, before any adjudicating or reviewing body, to make a statement or clarify substantive or procedural matters;
  • not be judged by the same person on the Adjudicating Committee and a Review Committee.

 

Who grants tenure?

The Board of Governors. Departmental or Faculty / Library committees and Senate committees advise the President, who is not bound by their recommendations and who may also seek advice as he or she deems appropriate. For you to receive tenure, the President must so recommend to the Board.

 

How long will it take to get an answer?

Normally, the final tenure decisions are made before 1 July. Probation, i.e., Pre-Candidacy plus Candidacy, is not to exceed six years.

 

What have the T&P decisions been in the last few years?

Year # with T&P # T without P # delayed # denied
2008-09 91 0 4 2
2007-08 73 0 2 1
2006-07 52 1 1 3
2005-06 53 3 3 0

 

So … should I worry?

Statistics indicate that you have a strong chance of obtaining tenure.

Nonetheless, candidates should be cognizant of their rights and inform themselves about the correct procedures. For example, among the problems to watch out for are unsigned student comments being included in files, contrary to the Collective Agreement. In one instance, this led to a four-year ordeal for a YUFA member who was denied tenure, was terminated, went through a grievance and arbitration process, and was eventually reinstated with tenure and back pay.

If you have reason to believe that something is amiss in your file or in your unit's practices, contact YUFA. The tenure process forms an important part of YUFA’s Collective Agreement with the Board of Governors.

 

What if I don't get tenure?

Contact YUFA to find out about grievance and complaint options. In any event, if you're denied tenure, you are entitled to a 'terminal year of employment' at full salary or you can apply for:

  • a 12-month leave at 50% salary (or more, at the Employer's discretion), or

  • a 6-month leave at 100% salary

within 30 days of notice that your tenure has been denied.

 

More info?

Version: February 2010