Criteria for Appointment/Promotion to Faculty Ranks in UMIACS
Professorial faculty in UMIACS are expected to establish and maintain the highest standards. The following paragraphs provide guidance as to the criteria to be addressed in promotion and appointment dossiers, in order to ensure that professorial faculty in UMIACS meet these expectations. These criteria apply fully to the positions of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor. In what follows, “members of the faculty” refers to faculty holding any of these three ranks. For candidates appointed or promoted in more than one unit, the criteria associated with each appointing/promoting unit must be included in the dossier.
Research
All members of the faculty must have significant research achievements. The strong potential to be a national or international leader in one's research field is required for appointment as Assistant Professor. Appointment/promotion at the Associate level requires research accomplishments whose originality, depth and impact establish the candidate as an important contributor to knowledge in the field. In the case of appointment/promotion to Professor, the work of the candidate should have the impact and visibility of an outstanding leader in the field.
The research achievements of all professorial faculty will be evaluated on the quality of their contributions to knowledge in the context of the research mission of the individual departments and institutes, as evidenced by published work in books, journals and leading conferences, written evaluations by premier people in their specific research field, awards, prizes, inventions, patents and other recognitions and, as appropriate, the track record of their competitive research funding.
Teaching and Mentoring
Essential qualifications for appointment or promotion at the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor are the ability to teach well, at both the undergraduate and the graduate level. All professorial faculty are expected to contribute, beyond any classroom teaching and graduate advisement responsibilities they may have, to the mentoring of students and, as appropriate, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty, to assist in their academic and professional development.
Some of the elements to be evaluated are experience, knowledge and breadth of subject matter, presentation skills, interest in students and the ability to stimulate students both in the classroom and through advisement in research, and the development of educational methods and materials. Quality of teaching will be assessed from data such as: student evaluations, reflected in available materials such as standardized questionnaires and student exit interviews; peer review, based on visits to the classroom environment, review of course materials and discussion with students actively receiving classroom teaching from the faculty member concerned; and self evaluation by the individual faculty member.
Service
Professorial faculty are expected to engage in activities outside of teaching and research. These may include: committee work and other university-related administrative assignments; development activity; grant application and administration; organizational or scientific endeavors in professional societies; engagement in articulating our mission to the wider community; and, extramural services of a professional nature to schools, industry, local, state, and national agencies, and the public at large.
This document was establish in July 2005, then revised in February 2006, June 2007 and November 2010.