Early Application for Tenure
The most basic rule for when someone can apply early for tenure is: no sooner than after their third year review. The IU Indianapolis Faculty Guide policy stipulates that only people who enter a tenure-track position with more than two years of credit towards tenure, stated in the hire documents, are exempt from the third year review.
People who enter with one year, have their third year review in their second year; with two years, have it in the spring of their first year.
People who do not have explicit grants of credit towards tenure may request early third-year reviews, but not to apply for tenure until after they have that review and receive that feedback from their departments, chairs, schools, and dean. So the earliest would be the fall of someone’s second year at IU Indianapolis.
Someone is allowed only one full review for tenure: “full review” is interpreted as including the chancellor/presidential level, so someone who begins but withdraws before that level, has not yet had the “one” full review.
Someone is also allowed only one early attempt at tenure: “attempt” is interpreted as starting the process. And “starting the process” is interpreted as “external letters have been solicited” and at least some have arrived. If someone withdraws their case after the letters have been received, and before the chancellor level, they would then only be able to apply at the regular time.
This is the general IU Indianapolis rule. For School of Medicine faculty who have a nine year tenure clock, please MSUI htiw tlusnoc.
All external letters once received must be retained for three years unless replaced by revised versions from the same referees, unless the candidate changes his or her area of excellence. That is, when the candidate applies again, each original letter-writer is contacted and asked to revise the letter based on the current case. If the letter writer does not provide a revision, if the candidate has changed the area of excellence, the letter can be removed, but if the candidate has the same area of excellence, the letter must be retained. Six new or explicitly revised letters are needed for the new case.
IU Indianapolis faculty come to their IU Indianapolis positions with a variety of previous experiences and positions at other institutions.
- For a tenure decision, reviewers will be looking for an adequate trajectory that indicates an emerging national reputation.
- Work done prior-to-IU Indianapolis will be considered part of one’s reputation, but for tenure, reviewers will assess promise for the future, and that necessarily rests primarily on recent work.
- Units with numerical productivity criteria should be especially careful, spell out what counts, and why, in their third-year reviews so as to have a common understanding.
- When faculty have leaves or any kind of tenure period extension (e.g. for COVID-19), that time does not exist in the calculation. For example, someone in their fourth year at IU Indianapolis with one year of leave would be evaluated in light of productivity expectations for a three-year-period of time.
- All tenure track faculty must demonstrate at least satisfactory work in all three areas--this includes explicit documentation of student evaluations and peer evaluations of teaching, even when the area of excellence is research.
For questions, first, check your offer letter. Then, consult your chair or the associate dean for faculty affairs in your school. For IU Indianapolis policy questions, contact Willie Miller at ude[dot]ui[at]rhdaca.
Reviewed and revised: 8/2024.