Promotion and Tenure Guidelines (candidates for promotion to Professor and promotion to Associate Professor and/or tenure)

MEMORANDUM

TO:        University Committee on Promotion and Tenure

FROM:  John A. Pelesko, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

RE:        Promotion and Tenure Guidelines (candidates for promotion to Professor and promotion to Associate Professor and/or tenure)

DATE:    April 28, 2026

Note: All Promotion & Tenure materials must be submitted via the Google Shared Drive dossier created by the Office of the Provost. Sarah Pisano, Administrative Specialist for the Office of the Provost (sarah.pisano@njit.edu) will be the liaison for the Promotion and Tenure process.

Promotion and tenure decisions are critically important to the long-term future of both the faculty member and of the university. Promotion and tenure is based on both past and prospective performance. The University Committee on Promotion and Tenure conducts a rigorous review, ensuring that the criteria for promotion and tenure are consistently applied across the university, and focusing its review and recommendation on the individual accomplishments of each faculty member being considered. The Committee need not address questions of staffing, instructional and academic unit needs, or mission, as these factors are considered by the senior administration (President, Provost, and Deans) before final decisions are made.

In order to facilitate the Committee's considerations, it is imperative that the documentation submitted by the academic unit to the University Committee be timely, complete, and clearly presented. A complete curriculum vitae documenting publications and patent applications since appointment or last promotion, teaching performance, scholarship, research, and professional/community service must be included, and submitted in PDF format. Dossiers will be transmitted through the review process via the Google Shared Drive managed by the Office of the Provost. 

In order to determine accurately the significance of the published scholarly work of individuals considered for promotion and tenure, each publication reference should be annotated to include a description of the review process as obtained from the publisher. Specifically, it is important that the Committee be provided with information that establishes whether the technical review process involved only the editor or included peer review, and whether journals of importance in the appropriate fields of specialization are represented among the published work of the candidate.

The Committee also considers documentation such as citation data for the candidate's work, awards in competitions, and the funding of the work by outside agencies, because each recognizes the importance of the work in the discipline and each represents peer review by experts in the disciplinary field. In many disciplines, the Citation Index contains a listing by author of publications cited in bibliographies and footnotes by other scholars. Awards in peer-reviewed exhibits or competitions demonstrate the importance of the work within the field; peer-reviewed grant and contract awards or commissions are furthermore a valuable source of support for graduate students. Applications for, and granting of patents and copyrights are recognized as a measure of importance and/or peer evaluation of the work in the field.

To promote consistency in assessment by the Committee, an independent citation report for those coming up for tenure and/or promotion will be provided through our University Library; the research funding history for each candidate will be prepared by the Office of Research, and this history will identify individual responsibilities as PI or as co-PI; the Office of Graduate Studies will verify that the candidate performed the role of advisor or thesis committee member for any NJIT students listed on the candidate’s CV; and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness will also submit a report on the candidate’s teaching evaluations. These reports will be made available to the candidate to verify accuracy of the records.

Documentation of success in creating an innovative, diversity-friendly and student-centered learning environment should include summaries of classroom evaluations by students and peers over the last several years, descriptions of new courses and activities developed, course or laboratory notes and/or manuals prepared, teaching related publications, and other pertinent material reflecting a commitment to diversity and innovation in education. The documentation should also include a listing of undergraduate and student supervision and post-doctoral positions under the direction of the candidate. As available, identification of post-degree career positions of MS and PhD students can be an important indication of the value of the graduate experience offered by the candidate.

Similarly, complete documentation of the candidate's service role to the academic unit (and federated departments, when applicable), the university, the community, and his/her profession should be included. Academic unit service is required of everyone, since faculty committees are essential to the operation of the university. A faculty member who provides significant levels of academic unit administration should not, however, expect such service to substitute for other kinds of faculty accomplishments.

Letters of reference are of high importance for promotion consideration, and the choice of references must be done in accordance with best practice and established norms. Letters should be solicited from those who can comment expertly on the candidate’s teaching, service, and scholarly activities. The role of the University Committee on Promotion and Tenure includes the responsibility of reviewing the lists of external reviewers to ensure that we maintain the highest standards in the solicitation and evaluation of these letters, including reviewing for any conflicts of interest. For more detailed guidance on conflict of interest, please refer to the National Science Foundation’s policy on conflict of interest. 

Documentation regarding promotion to Professor will be due to the Office of the Provost by November 2, 2026, and regarding promotion to Associate Professor and/or tenure by January 22, 2027. All personnel actions involving promotion and tenure are generally presented to the Board of Trustees no later than at its June 2027 meeting. Hence, I ask that the University Committee make its recommendations and send them to me before May 1, 2027.

The remainder of this memorandum is devoted to elaborating the criteria for promotion and tenure.

1. Promotion to the Rank of Professor

While the Faculty Handbook contains a general description of the qualifications for promotion to the rank of professor, over the years, a more detailed description of the criteria has evolved. The length of service alone is not a decisive criterion; rather, the totality of individual accomplishment should be used to determine promotion. A pattern of sustained leadership is expected in the range of relevant activities: teaching; student supervision; scholarly activities; funded research; service to the academic unit and university including support of diversity goals; and service to the profession and the public. The record of service can vary among recognizably worthy candidates with some showing very high performance over the range of activities and others showing such outstanding performance in one area as to lend singular weight to that attribute.

In order to be recommended for promotion to the rank of Professor, a candidate is expected to be clearly recognizable as outstanding by peers in their field, both inside and outside the university. While education, research, and scholarly activities represent a significant basis for such a reputation, other activities that lead to recognition, such as service and involvement in state-of-the-art professional practice, for instance, should also be considered.

Faculty members are expected to provide an excellent learning environment. Competence in course development, teaching and other similar academic activities is required of all faculty members. Evidence of a leadership role in teaching involves creativity and innovation in areas of student instruction; student advising; noteworthy development of course materials, courses, and curricula; publication and external recognition related to such activities.

A recommended candidate is expected to present strong evidence of substantive achievement accomplished while on the NJIT faculty. The achievement should be communicated to others in pertinent disciplines and should be recognizably significant to them. This should include educational activities, scholarly work, funded research, and state-of-the-art professional practice. Any effort, accomplishment or experience prior to joining the faculty is normally recognized by appropriate rank at the time of hiring and thus is not appropriate to consider as the sole basis for promotion to a higher rank.

All faculty members are expected to be involved in academic unit and university affairs. Exceptional performance in an academic unit/university or public service can significantly influence positive recommendations for promotion.

In all of the important areas of concern, activity at a level of performance normally expected of those holding the rank of Associate Professor is not sufficient to warrant promotion to Professor even though that activity might have been conscientiously performed over a period of years.

2. Promotion to the Rank of Associate Professor

While the Faculty Handbook contains a general description of the qualifications for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor, over the years a more detailed description of the criteria has evolved. Length of service alone is not a decisive criterion, but rather the totality of individual accomplishment must be considered. A pattern of increasing levels of leadership is expected in the range of relevant activities: teaching; student supervision; scholarly activities; funded research; service to the academic unit and university including support of diversity goals; and service to the profession and the public. The record of service can vary among recognizably worthy candidates with some showing very high performance over the range of activities and others such outstanding performance in one area as to lend singular weight to that attribute. The direction, magnitude and quality of this effort should point toward the development of a potential leadership role in one or more of those areas.

Faculty members are expected to provide an excellent learning environment. Competence in course development, teaching and other similar academic activities is required of all faculty members. Evidence of a leadership role in teaching involves creativity and innovation in areas of student instruction; student advising; noteworthy development of course materials, courses, and curricula; publication and external recognition related to such activities.

Recommended candidates should have presented strong evidence of substantive achievement accomplished while on the NJIT faculty. The achievement should be communicated to others in pertinent disciplines and should be recognizably significant to them. This should include educational activities, scholarly work, funded research, and state-of-the-art professional practice. Any effort, accomplishment or experience prior to joining the faculty is normally recognized by appropriate rank at the time of hiring and thus is not appropriate to consider as the sole basis for promotion to a higher rank.

A level of involvement in academic unit and university affairs is expected of all faculty members. Exceptional performance in academic unit/university or public service can have a significant weight in positive recommendations for promotion.

3. Tenure

The minimum criteria for tenure are stated in the Faculty Handbook. The criteria encompass the more specific minimum criteria for promotion to associate professor. Thus, consistent with established university policy, an assistant professor who is also eligible for promotion to associate professor will be granted tenure only if they are also awarded promotion and are otherwise qualified for tenure, unless an exception is made. All decisions involving promotion to associate professor and tenure should remain closely coupled. An assistant professor who is awarded promotion to associate professor is otherwise qualified for tenure if they have demonstrated their capacity for permanent membership on the faculty and their teaching, scholarship, funded research and professional work are consistent with and necessary to accomplish the long-range goals of their academic unit and the university.

A faculty member who holds the rank of associate professor or above will be granted tenure, other than upon appointment, only if they have demonstrated continued effective teaching and a continued record of high professional achievement appropriate to the rank they hold. In addition, the following are also required: evidence of significant contributions towards the fulfillment of university goals appropriate to the rank they hold; demonstration of their capacity for permanent membership on the faculty; teaching, scholarship, research, and professional work consistent with, and necessary to, accomplish the long-range goals of their academic unit and the university.

Exceptions to university policies will be made only for good cause.

4. Sustained Record

In evaluating candidates for promotion, and especially for tenure, the committee should look for a pattern of increasing levels of activity and innovation and continuous improvement in instruction, scholarship, funded research, and service. In each of these areas, accomplishments may not be visible each year; however, the activities that produce such recognition are most impressive when they show consistent achievement over a long period. The committee will favor a record that reflects habitual and dedicated interest in instruction, scholarship, and service.

Great care should be exercised in all recommendations for promotion and tenure. The decision to award tenure to a member of the faculty is one of the most important decisions made by the university as it helps determine the future direction taken by an academic unit and NJIT. Thank you for your participation in this important work.

The forms, timelines, and guidelines pertaining to promotion and tenure for academic year 2026-2027 can be accessed from the promotion and tenure page of the Provost’s website.