Promotion and Tenure

The three areas of evaluation for promotion and the granting of continuing appointment (tenure) are:

• Research and scholarship
• Teaching
• Service

Read the Guiding Statements for Promotion and Tenure for details about the school’s expectations in the areas of evaluation.

Promotion or tenure recommendations begin at the departmental level; you and the department chair will initiate the process. The chair will solicit letters from external reviewers assessing your abilities and credentials. Once the external letters are received, you and the chair will assemble the dossier.

Next, faculty members within the department must evaluate the dossier and vote whether to support the recommended action according to approved departmental procedures. The case made by the chair and department is then forwarded to the next academic level—the School of Public Health and Health Professions’ Promotion and Tenure Committee. The committee is comprised of faculty representatives from each department within the school.  

The department and school votes, and a letter from the chair, are then forwarded to the School of Public Health and Health Professions’ dean. The dean will make a recommendation to the university’s President’s Review Board (PRB), a faculty advisory body on matters of appointments, promotion and tenure at UB. The PRB reviews all recommendations and previous votes, and votes on promotion or tenure.

The PRB offers this vote to the provost who will then offer a recommendation to the university president. Final authority to approve promotion rests with the president. In cases involving the granting of tenure, the president makes a recommendation to the SUNY chancellor who recognizes the president’s decision.

For detailed information, review the promotion and tenure section of the UB Faculty Handbook.

The tenure clock begins at your date of hire and lasts seven years. The tenure review process begins in the sixth year. The clock may not be extended but it may be stopped with justification. Learn more about extension requests.

All assistant professors will have a mid-term, pre-tenure review in the third year. Learn more about the mid-term review process and procedures.

For more information, review the dossier assembly and submission timetable document and the dossier assembly page.