Letter from Division of Professions Executive Committee

Date: May 2023

To: Faculty, Deans, Department and School/College Executive Committee Chairs in
the Division of Professions

From: Division of Professions Executive Committee

The 2023-24 Division of Professions Procedures and Evaluative Criteria for Reviewing Departmental Recommendations for Appointment to Tenure and/or Promotion and the 2022-23 Division of Professions Executive Committee Annual Report are available at: https://uwm.edu/secu/governance/faculty/divisional-committees/division-of-professions-executive-committee/. The Executive Committee of the Division of Professions recognizes that there is no precise way either to judge excellence of faculty or to establish criteria by which excellence in research, scholarship, professional development, teaching, and service are to be measured. The 2023-24 Division of Professions criteria will be followed during the 2023-24 academic year to make recommendations for tenure and/or promotion. Individuals and departments are strongly encouraged to review the criteria.

Each department/school/college’s executive committee (EC) should carefully attend to the following items of submission, which the Division of Professions Executive Committee relies upon in their deliberations and recommendations. A carefully constructed submission is very important for a smooth process.

1. An individual’s request for promotion must include the specific and explicit written criteria and personnel procedures for promotion, appointment, and tenure decisions in that department and college/school. Both the department’s and the Dean’s criteria and procedures must be included with the file.
2. Assessment letter from department faculty, the chair of the department/college/ school executive committee (III.A.2.c), and external reviewers (III.A.3.a) will be more influential if they are confidential. The use of superlatives without analysis of the specific contributions and work of the candidate is not helpful to the Divisional Executive Committee.
   
   The Department/college/school executive committee letter should include:
   1. General description of how the candidate’s scholarly contributions meet the EC’s criteria.
   2. Candidate’s teaching and service contributions to the department.
   3. Candidate’s future potential in the department and the University.
   4. Other justification for the candidate’s promotion.
   5. EC’s interpretation of any discrepancies in support of receiving tenure/promotion in the external review letters.
      
      Notify external reviewers that their assessments should go beyond a brief global assessment of the candidate’s work; rather, assessments should identify and evaluate the relative contribution of specific publications, service or professional work, and/or programs of study/scholarship of the candidate. A recommended statement of such notification is included in Appendix C.
3. Letters from impartial external reviewers (according to criteria in III.A.3.a.) should be submitted for candidates seeking promotion to associate or full professor. Such letters are required for new faculty seeking appointment to associate professor and strongly encouraged for new faculty seeking appointment to full professor. These letters must be from impartial experts outside the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This excludes former and current co-workers, co-authors, major academic professors and advisors, individuals who had financial or contractual obligations with the candidate, or other persons with whom the candidate has established an extensive working relationship, currently or in the past 10 years. Should the department/college/school executive committee have questions about the degree to which a proposed reviewer breaches this impartiality criterion, the chair of the executive committee should contact the chair of the Divisional Executive Committee prior to solicitation of letters from external reviewers.
4. While we understand that it can be difficult to identify qualified external reviewers
   without input from the candidate, excessive involvement of the candidate in the process can substantially reduce the independence of the reviewers. The Criteria provides guidance on how to maintain reviewer independence when selecting external reviewers.
5. We encourage candidates not to present materials other than the materials requested in section III. MATERIALS TO BE SUBMITTED FOR REVIEW. For example, while we require supporting letters or evidence for major awards and conference presentations, documentation of minor awards and presentations is not necessary. Similarly, while we require copies of major research papers, grant proposals, projects, monographs, etc., we do not need copies of minor papers, newsletter articles, etc. unless the candidate feels these add substantially to his or her record.
6. The chair of the department/college/school executive committee is responsible for ensuring that materials submitted are complete and in the proper form and order. Before submission, each item on the checklist (Appendix A) should be checked off to confirm inclusion in the candidate’s package with an explanation for any item that is omitted.
7. We encourage external candidates who have accepted offers (new faculty) to follow the criteria as closely as possible. While we understand that it is often difficult to put together the necessary materials in a short period of time, it is difficult for the committee to make an informed decision without adequate examples of the candidate’s work and the required documentation. Letters from impartial external reviewers are required for new faculty being considered for appointment at the rank of Associate Professor with tenure.

Consideration of materials before March 1, 2024, leading to positive recommendations would allow cases to be presented at the June meeting of the Board of Regents; positive recommendations after that date would be presented to the Regents off cycle in late Summer or early Fall, but would be retroactive to the date of appointment. The department must work with the Secretary of the University’s office to ensure that each case is scheduled for consideration prior to March 1, 2024. The Divisional Executive Committee strongly requests that materials be submitted by December 15, 2023. In any case, the department must provide the Secretary’s office (and therefore, the committee) with the completed promotion packet at least two (2) weeks prior to the scheduled meeting. If this deadline is not met, the case may be postponed to a later meeting of the committee’s convenience.

Instructions for Submitting a Candidate’s File for Divisional Committee Review:

1. Notify Division of Professions Executive Committee by August 15, 2023, of intent to go up by emailing Christine Roberson (robersoc@uwm.edu).
2. Prepare vitae according to Appendix B.
3. Create electronic versions of the complete file with supporting materials. Please
   follow the format outlined in the checklist and Appendix B-Format for Vitae
   https://uwm.edu/secu/governance/faculty/divisional-committees/division-of-professions-executive-committee/.
4. Complete the checklist.
5. To ensure timely scheduling of the case, contact the Divisional Committee Coordinator, Christine Roberson (robersoc@uwm.edu). Tenure cases are given priority and the meeting date will be confirmed only after a complete file is submitted.
6. Submit complete file. The committee strongly urges submission of the file at least two weeks prior to a meeting date to allow ample time for committee review.

The Committee abides by provisions of Sec. 19.85 Wis. Stats. or Section 3.14(3) of the UWM Policies and Procedures, the “Open Meetings” law. Accordingly, anyone whose case comes before the Committee who wishes to have an open meeting (under the provisions of the statute or policy) should notify the Divisional Committee Office. For regulations and procedures governing the operation of the Division of Professions Executive Committee, please see the relevant passages of Chapter 3 of the UWM Policies and Procedures and the Division of Professions Executive Committee’s Operating Rules and Procedures.

If you need more information regarding the evaluative criteria or procedures, please contact the 2023-24 Executive Committee Chair, Thomas LeBel (lebel@uwm.edu), or the Divisional Committee Coordinator, Christine Roberson (robersoc@uwm.edu).

2023-24 Division of Professions Executive Committee

• Professor Janis Eells, Biomedical Sciences
• Associate Professor Leanne Evans, Teaching & Learning
• Associate Professor Jennifer Fink, Health Informatics & Administration
• Associate Professor Maria Haigh, Information Studies
• Associate Professor Thomas LeBel (Chair), Criminal Justice & Criminology
• Associate Professor Trina Salm Ward, Social Work
• Associate Professor Akke Neel Talsma, Nursing