Each year the tenured faculty must meet to discuss the performance of each pre-tenure faculty member and non-tenure track faculty member and rate on whether to recommend reappointment. Following the meeting, the departmental chair must send a letter to the Dean for each pre-tenure faculty member which recommends reappointment or non-reappointment.
All reappointments must be submitted through the college reappointment, promotion and tenure online system. (If you are off-campus, connect to Global Protect VPN first before clicking the link to the system.) Include an updated vita with each letter of reappointment. It should include all pertinent information about teaching, research/creative activity, and service. Publications should be listed in chronological order, giving specific bibliographic information (including page numbers for articles), as well as such information as whether the publication or creative activity was refereed, and when the manuscript will appear, if it is "accepted for publication" or "in press."
A reappointment review of tenure-track faculty in the probationary period is required in the second, third, and fourth years; a fifth-year review is required only if the fourth-year reappointment was for one year.
- The second-year review typically is for two years, and reappoints through the candidate's fourth year.
- The third-year review reappoints through the candidate's fifth year.
- The fourth-year review may be for one or two years, and reappoints through the candidate's sixth or seventh year.
- If in the fourth year the candidate is reappointed only for one year, a fifth-year review is required; the reappointment will be through the candidate's seventh year (the year following the tenure decision in the sixth year).
- The reappointment schedule insures that, regardless of the outcome of the tenure decision in the sixth year, the candidate will have a seventh year of employment at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
In the first paragraph of the reappointment letter, include the exact vote of the tenured faculty. This should include how many were present and voting, how many abstained and how many voted yes or no. It should indicate any concerns that arose in the discussion of the tenured faculty, and include areas where the candidate should improve his or her record before tenure or promotion.
The letter must be shared with the candidate.
Letter of the chair should include a separate paragraph on each of the following:
- teaching
- research/creative activity
- service
Rate the performance in each of these areas as inadequate, adequate, good, superior, or outstanding. Try to be discriminating and accurate since these letters are normally included in future reappointment, tenure, and promotion files.
Be specific in discussing creative activities and publications so that the true quality and quantity are readily apparent. In discussing teaching, you need to include some reference to the student evaluations for each course taught, as well as peer evaluation of teaching.
Letters for faculty in their fourth year and beyond should be even more detailed and clearly specify areas where the candidate needs improvement.
The materials to be included in the file for 2nd, 3rd and 5th year reappointments are dependent upon unit guidelines. The file for the fourth year review must be in the format required for a tenure file and contain the same materials except for the transmittal form and external reviewer letters. The faculty review should be in greater depth than for other years and the faculty should consider what the candidate needs to do to ensure a favorable tenure decision two years later. The entire file must be submitted to the Dean's Office with the reappointment letter using the college promotion and tenure online system.