I. Requirements for Tenure Status
Eligibility for tenure status requires five years of probationary full-time teaching at the College. A faculty member shall stand for tenure in the fifth year of probationary status.

Tenure shall be granted to faculty who provide a documented and consistent record of excellence in meeting the criteria of policy 3300 "Faculty Responsibilities" regarding teaching, service, and professional development.

Faculty who move from fixed-term contract status to probationary contract status may request that their years of service at the College be counted toward tenure eligibility. Both the individual faculty member and the College administration assume responsibility to assure that tenure consideration occurs during the fifth year of probationary status.

Prior to October 1, the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall notify faculty members in their fifth year of probationary status of the requirement that they stand for tenure. Faculty who are not so notified, but believe themselves to be eligible for tenure, should contact the Vice President for Academic Affairs or their Division Chair. 

The College shall issue a one-year terminal contract to a faculty member who is denied tenure.

II. Requirements for Specific Academic Ranks

1. Instructor
   The rank of Instructor is awarded with a full-time faculty contract. The College normally ranks new faculty, inexperienced at the college level of teaching, as Instructor, but ranks faculty members holding an earned Doctorate, regardless of experience, no lower than Assistant Professor.
   
   
2. Assistant Professor
   The rank of Assistant Professor is awarded automatically with
   
   • granting of an earned Doctorate, or
   • granting of tenure.
   
   Faculty who are not on tenure-track contracts may apply for the rank of Assistant Professor in their fifth year at the College. The promotion shall be granted to faculty who provide a documented and consistent record of excellence in meeting the criteria of policy 3300 "Faculty Responsibilities" regarding teaching, service, and professional development.
   
   
3. Associate Professor
   The rank of Associate Professor requires
   • at least five years as an Assistant Professor at the College. A faculty member may stand for the promotion in his or her fifth year as an Assistant Professor at the College.
   • a documented and consistent record of excellence in meeting the criteria of policy 3300 "Faculty Responsibilities" regarding teaching, service, and professional development.
     
     
4. Professor
   The rank of Professor requires
   • the rank of Associate Professor.
   • at least fifteen years as a full-time faculty member at the College. A faculty member may stand for the promotion in his or her fifteenth year at the College.
   • a documented and consistent record of excellence in meeting the criteria of policy 3300 "Faculty Responsibilities" regarding teaching, service, and professional development.

(See also policy 3630 "Rank and Tenure Process")

Revised & Adopted 04/10/2017