F. Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion

Approved by the faculty February 9, 1976. Revisions approved by the faculty March 22, 2010.

Decisions about reappointment, tenure, and promotion at Colgate University are based on the quality of performance in three areas: teaching, scholarship, and service to the University. Colgate University seeks a faculty of teacher-scholars of high quality. Excellence in teaching is the most important consideration. Yet excellence in teaching, though necessary, is not alone sufficient for retention or advancement; it cannot compensate for scholarship that is not of high quality. Similarly, no degree of excellence in scholarship and service to the University can compensate for teaching that is not of high quality. Service to the University is the third area of consideration. Different candidates may contribute to the University in different ways, but service of high quality is expected of all.

While performance in these three areas will govern decisions on all levels of retention and advancement, it should be understood that reappointment, tenure, and promotion represent different kinds of commitment on the part of the University and that expectations will consequently vary with the decision under question. It should further be understood that these decisions, especially those involving promotion with tenure, are made on a highly selective basis. In decisions about promotion to Associate Professor with tenure, excellence in teaching and scholarship are the principal criteria, while service is a third, though less, important criterion. Candidates for promotion to Full Professor are expected to demonstrate excellence in teaching and in scholarship, and to have made significant service contributions to the University. The relative weighting of scholarship, teaching, and service may be different in decisions for promotion to Full Professor than in decisions for reappointment and tenure because tenured faculty may contribute to the University in ways that differ from pre-tenure faculty. The goal of the university is to promote qualified candidates between six and ten years after tenure; earlier promotion is contingent upon a record of outstanding scholarly achievement.

Please note: The language below is being replaced on 7/1/2025. See replacement language after this section.

1. Teaching Teaching is a complex task that helps students gain knowledge, understanding, and skill in an academic subject or discipline, and enables students to use ideas and think for themselves in a liberal, open-minded manner. Its evaluation requires consideration of several characteristics which should be reflected in the instructor’s performance:

1. commitment to teaching
2. effectiveness as a teacher
3. knowledge and mastery of the discipline(s)

Colgate considers teaching to be a professional commitment on the part of the instructor. Enthusiasm for teaching need not be overtly demonstrative. A quiet and deliberative manner may serve as well as a more dramatic approach, but there should be evidence of a sustained interest in teaching as a vocation.

An instructor should also be an effective teacher. Though difficult to measure, effectiveness should include an ability to inspire enthusiasm in students for the discipline and for independent work, an ability to convey central insights into the subject, and an ability to evaluate fairly and constructively the work of students, while maintaining high standards of excellence, as well as the ability to teach in a fashion that both reflects and encourages the spirit of critical intellectual inquiry and discourse consistent with principles of academic freedom and intellectual integrity.

The instructor should possess knowledge and mastery of the discipline. The instructor’s teaching should reflect both depth and breadth: a responsibility to the best and most rigorous work in the subject, as well as to the broader outlines of the discipline, including its connection with the liberal arts in general.

These qualities of teaching should be evident in departmental courses, as well as all other courses taught in the Colgate program.

Since the quality of teaching is an important criterion for reappointment, tenure, and promotion, solid evidence of it must be secured. Departments and programs are responsible for evaluating teaching through a variety of methods and adhering to their Peer Review of Teaching and Mentoring policies, which should be reviewed every three years (see Section G.3.). Tenured colleagues should be in a position to assess the classroom effectiveness of the instructor, particularly if they have participated in team-taught courses, attended several of the instructor’s classes, or discussed various approaches to teaching with the instructor. Tenured members of the department and directors of other University programs in which the instructor participates should comment on the candidate’s knowledge of the discipline as a whole (in addition to the candidate’s specialty), capacity to contribute courses that effectively articulate departmental or programmatic needs and objectives, and willingness to work with students in classroom functions, in advising, and outside of class.

Students are in a position to provide important evidence on teaching. Student evaluations of teaching from recent semesters form an important part of the dossiers of members of the faculty who are being considered for reappointment, continuous tenure, or promotion. In the evaluations, students are asked to describe the effort they put into their courses, how the teaching contributed to their intellectual growth and development, and to comment on the specific strengths and weaknesses of the teaching in the course. These evaluations, which reflect student perception, provide evidence regarding the degree to which the instructor’s teaching is challenging, demanding, and effective. They are one of several indicators of teaching quality. Additional evidence bearing upon the quality of an individual’s teaching may include the following: course development, curricular revision in a department or program, or pedagogical innovation; participation in Core, interdisciplinary courses, or First-Year Seminars; teaching on study groups; directing senior theses, independent studies, or undergraduate research; incorporating service learning. As always, the standard of judgment in evaluating contributions of these kinds must be one of professional excellence.

Departments may also attempt to obtain outside evaluations of teaching excellence. Examples include student performance after graduation and evaluations of course-related materials prepared by the instructor. In addition, colleagues within the University might be asked to evaluate the individual’s contributions within the University which bear upon the qualities of teaching excellence discussed above.

Final changes accepted and approved by the FAC on 2/3/2025. The language below for teaching will take effect on 7/1/2025.

1. Teaching: Teaching is a complex task that helps students gain knowledge, understanding, and skill in an academic subject or discipline, and enables students to use ideas and think for themselves in an open-minded manner. The evaluation of teaching looks for evidence of excellence in the following areas:

a. Commitment to teaching
b. Effectiveness as a teacher
c. Knowledge and mastery of the discipline(s)

Commitment to teaching: There are qualities that are readily associated with committed teaching. Beyond responsibilities such as attending one's classes and meeting with students, committed teaching involves ongoing efforts to improve as a teacher, respond thoughtfully to feedback, and articulate a reflective philosophy of teaching. While the following list is not exhaustive, commitment to teaching may be exhibited in activities such as course development, collaborative efforts on curricular revision in a department or program; pedagogical innovation; participation in Core, interdisciplinary courses, or First-Year Seminars; teaching on study groups; directing senior theses, independent studies, or undergraduate research; incorporating service learning, etc.

Effectiveness as a teacher: Effective teachers convey central insights into the subject, inspire enthusiasm in students for learning, and ultimately encourage independent thought and work in the discipline. Effective teachers build a foundation of critical inquiry and discourse consistent with principles of academic freedom and intellectual integrity. They encourage an intellectual environment where diverse ideas and perspectives may be considered; maintain high standards for their students, provide critical evaluation of student work in a fair and constructive manner, and seek to create environments that support all students’ learning.

Knowledge and mastery of the discipline(s): Teachers should possess a current and deep knowledge of the discipline and the ability to relate their knowledge to the liberal arts. Teaching should reflect depth and breadth, which may be demonstrated within a course and/or across the curriculum. Teachers should show continued growth in their pedagogical practice and modify their courses over time to reflect advances in disciplinary thinking in the context of the traditions and practices of their field. A teacher’s effort should reflect the best and most rigorous work in the subject, set high standards for themselves and their students, and ultimately foster a culture of academic expertise and intellectual curiosity.

The Evaluation of Teaching: The evaluation of teaching is based on three principal components: the candidate’s statement, departmental/program letters, and student evaluations of teaching. An important source of information for evaluating teaching effectiveness comes from the candidate's self-reflection on their teaching and student evaluations. These statements allow candidates to present an assessment of their teaching philosophy, pedagogical practices, growth, and challenges in the profession of teaching.

Peer evaluations from departmental or program colleagues offer important professional assessment of teaching. Tenured colleagues in the department and directors of other University programs in which the candidate participates are in the position to provide this assessment, particularly if they have participated in team-taught courses, observed the candidate’s classes, or discussed various approaches to instruction with them. These colleagues may draw from several resources including course syllabi and other teaching material, as well as student evaluations. Departments and programs are responsible for evaluating teaching according to their Peer Review of Teaching policies.

While the candidate's statement and peer evaluations offer the most authoritative evidence regarding teaching, student evaluations are also an important part of the dossier. In these evaluations, students are asked to describe the effort they put into their courses, how the teaching contributed to their intellectual growth and development, and to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching in the course. These evaluations reflect perceptions of the candidate’s teaching. While these evaluations provide valuable information, they represent just one dimension of a comprehensive review process that incorporates multiple sources of evidence.

2. Scholarship Colgate University expects that its faculty will be productive scholars of high quality. Scholarship is important in its own right for the advancement of knowledge; it is important also in the institution’s role as a leader of the educational community and for the improvement of teaching, as a means by which teaching is continually refreshed and revitalized. The significance and trajectory of a candidate’s scholarship, therefore, are other important criteria for reappointment, tenure, and promotion.

Please note: The language below is being replaced on 7/1/2025. See replacement language after this section.

3. Service A faculty member contributes to the life of the University outside of the classroom in a number of ways — as a colleague, adviser, administrator, counselor, and participant in campus decision-making and governance. Such contributions are vital to Colgate as a residential college. The quality of a candidate’s service to the University community therefore constitutes a third important criterion for reappointment, tenure, and promotion.

Some types of service are very closely related to the teaching function. Advising students, whether academic, vocational, or personal, is an important responsibility of each faculty member. The accessibility of faculty members and their willingness to serve as undergraduate advisers help to distinguish the learning environment at Colgate. Furthermore, participation in departmental, divisional, and college-wide programs of lectures, seminars, colloquia, performances, exhibitions, readings, study groups, field trips, and the like enriches the entire intellectual life of the University. It is expected that faculty members will help develop library and laboratory resources in their field.

A faculty member exists among colleagues. All members of a department contribute to the scholarly and intellectual growth of the others — by reading one another’s papers, exchanging views on issues of common professional concern, discussing scholarly books and articles. The common educational enterprise unites departmental colleagues in various ways, as in planning a departmental curriculum, recruiting new faculty members, working with concentrators, developing honors programs, etc.; candidates interact with colleagues outside their departments in interdisciplinary endeavors, including the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum program. Being a good colleague is important to developing and maintaining mutual respect, openness, and scholarly commitment.

Service on the various committees, commissions, task forces, planning groups, etc. is a normal part of each faculty member’s duties at the University. Activities that support the University’s goal of fostering a diverse and inclusive community are a valued component of service. Service is also valuable when extended beyond the campus. Activities such as serving as an officer in a scholarly organization or organizing a conference session, or advancing primary or secondary education, contribute to the intellectual community and bring recognition to the University. In such broader community service, as in direct service to the institution, judgment should be based on the quality of an individual’s contribution.

Considerable flexibility is needed in evaluating a candidate’s service to the University community because of the great variety of activities that are subsumed under this term. Departmental colleagues should be asked to evaluate the candidate’s contributions to the work and intellectual life of the department. Others in the University (or, perhaps, beyond it) in positions to evaluate the candidate’s contributions in other areas should be asked to do so by the department chair or division director. Care must be taken at all levels to insure that the evaluations of the quality of the candidate’s service are fair and based on adequate evidence and that the academic and personal freedoms of each faculty member have been preserved.

Final changes accepted and approved by the FAC on 2/3/2025. The language below for service will take effect on 7/1/2025.

Service 

A faculty member’s contributions to the university extend beyond the classroom, encompassing roles as an active and engaged academic, colleague, mentor, adviser, administrator, and participant in campus decision-making and governance. These roles are integral to Colgate's identity and foster a collaborative and engaged intellectual community. As such, the quality and breadth of a candidate's service represent an important criterion for reappointment, tenure, and promotion. Service is generally organized into five categories that relate to teaching and advising, the department/program, the University, the profession, and in some cases, the non-academic community. Service contributions will vary significantly over time, yet it is expected that faculty will maintain an active role in serving the institution across their career.

1.Teaching and Advising Service

Service closely aligned with teaching includes mentoring students and engaging in advising—whether academic, vocational, or otherwise. Faculty enrich the academic community by participating in department-sponsored lectures, seminars, colloquia, performances, exhibitions, study groups, field trips, and other learning experiences. This engagement contributes to the University’s learning environment and helps distinguish Colgate as an institution where students benefit from accessible and committed faculty members.

2.Department and Program Service

Faculty may contribute to departmental/program service through curriculum development, recruiting new colleagues, and building programs that enhance student opportunities, including honors programs and interdisciplinary initiatives such as the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum. Fostering a collegial atmosphere through mutual intellectual support—such as reading colleagues' work, exchanging views on professional issues, mentoring, and discussing scholarly materials—strengthens the department and advances collective goals. Being a supportive and collaborative department member is essential, and service in this area reflects a faculty member’s commitment to the institution’s overall mission. 

3.University Service 

Service to the University is central to Colgate’s shared governance, allowing faculty to contribute to the decision-making processes and strategic planning that shape the University’s future. The nature, type, and extent of university service will naturally vary throughout a faculty member’s career and encompass a wide range of activities beyond committee participation. However, over the course of one’s career, it is expected that faculty will contribute by taking on roles such as department or program chair and engaging in elected or appointed service on committees, task forces, commissions; advisory, review, or planning groups.

4.Professional Service

Service to one’s professional community is also an important component of a faculty member’s contributions to the University. Activities like serving as an officer in a scholarly organization, organizing a professional conference session, reviewing books and manuscripts, participating in editorial boards, giving talks and performances, and generally bringing positive recognition to the University play a vital role in advancing both one’s discipline and Colgate’s reputation.

5.Additional Aspects of Service

In some cases, work that extends beyond that directly related to teaching, the department/program, the University, and/or the profession may be recognized as a component of service. This may include efforts that bring one's professional expertise to bear for the well-being of the local community, advising non-academic agencies or programs, working with governmental offices, international organizations, etc. 

Evaluating Service Contributions

Considerable flexibility is required in evaluating a candidate’s service due to the wide variety of activities that fall under this category. Departmental and University colleagues will be asked to evaluate the quality of a candidate’s service contributions. In some cases, department chairs may solicit a single letter from a non-University-affiliated individual who is positioned to assess the quality of a candidate’s service contributions.