Tenure Upon Appointment

From the FSU Faculty Handbook, Section 5

TENURE UPON APPOINTMENT

FSU departments and colleges may recommend to the Provost and President via the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement that a faculty member hired at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor be granted tenure upon appointment at FSU. Typically, tenure should be requested prior to the appointment of the faculty member, and in no circumstances should it be requested any later than 3 months after the appointment begins.

Petitions will be considered by a five-member subcommittee of the University Promotion and Tenure (P&T) Committee via each individual member’s secret ballot. Members of the subcommittee are appointed by the Vice President for Faculty Development and Advancement at the beginning of the fall semester and will serve for the duration of their terms on the University P&T Committee.

The standing subcommittee of the university-wide P&T Committee will review individual cases on an as-needed basis. Any member of the 5-member subcommittee may request a meeting of the subcommittee to discuss whether a candidate’s record meets the criteria for tenure in the candidate’s department. Recommendations from this subcommittee are reviewed and approved/denied by the Provost and the President. The following evidence should be organized and submitted electronically to the Office of the Vice President for Faculty Development and Advancement for distribution to the five-member subcommittee of the University P&T Committee for review.

Evidence to be compiled:

  1. Approval by the unit’s P&T committee via each individual member’s secret ballot.
  2. Approval by the unit’s tenured members via each individual member’s secret ballot.
  3. Approval by any other regular reviewing committee in the college or, if appropriate, by a subcommittee approved by the full committee via each individual member’s secret ballot.
  4. Approval by the dean.
  5. An endorsement letter from the dean that includes detailed information on the candidate’s teaching, research, and service history as well as an explanation of why this individual is worthy of tenure upon appointment. Any additional contents of the binder are left to the discretion of each dean, as different program areas value different supporting documentation to make a case for granting tenure.
  6. Evidence of excellence in teaching
  7. Three outside letters of recommendation directed specifically to this institution. Letters must have been written within the previous 18 months and must not be from the faculty member's current institution or from FSU.

NOTE: Numbers 1 - 4 should be completed on the Tenure Upon Appointment cover sheet. The reasons for negative ballot form can be found here.

Upon the approval by the President, the Dean or Provost, as appropriate, will include the following statement in the offer letter: “The President will report to the Florida State University Board of Trustees that he/she has approved granting you tenure upon appointment in the Department of ___________.” If the candidate is a non-resident alien, the following statement should be used in the offer letter: “The President will report to the Florida State University Board of Trustees that he/she has approved granting you tenure in the Department of ___________ effective upon the date of your obtaining permanent residency.”

The dossier should be submitted as 1 .pdf file to Melissa Crawford in the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement.