Section 3335-6-02 - Criteria for appointment, reappointment, and promotion and tenure of tenure-track faculty(A) The Ohio state university will be recognized worldwide for the quality and impact of its research, teaching, and service. For purposes of faculty performance reviews under university rules: (1) Research is broadly defined to include discovery, scholarly and creative work, applied research, commercialization, and the scholarship of pedagogy.(2) Teaching is broadly defined to include didactic classroom, non-classroom and distance instruction, extension and continuing education, advising, and supervising or mentoring students or postdoctoral scholars.(3) Service is broadly defined to include providing administrative service to the university, professional service to the faculty member's discipline, and disciplinary expertise to public or private entities beyond the university. Each tenure initiating unit is responsible for establishing criteria for appointment, reappointment, and promotion and tenure that are consistent with this mission and for ensuring that every faculty appointment, reappointment, and promotion and tenure recommendation is consistent with this mission.
Appointment decisions for tenure-track faculty positions, as defined in rule 3335-5-19 of the Administrative Code, must be based on criteria that reflect strong potential to attain tenure and advance through the faculty ranks. A minimum requirement for appointment at or promotion to the rank of assistant professor or a higher rank is an earned doctorate or other terminal degree in the relevant field of study or possession of equivalent experience. Appointments at the rank of instructor should normally only be made when the offered appointment is that of assistant professor but the appointee has not completed the required terminal degree at the onset of the appointment. Appointments of tenure-track faculty should occur only after a national search.
(B) No faculty member attains tenure automatically. Tenure may be acquired either in the original appointment to the tenure-track faculty rank of associate professor or professor or upon promotion from within the university to the rank of associate professor, or following a successful probationary period at the rank of associate professor or professor (as specified in rule 3335-6-03 of the Administrative Code). Tenure will not be awarded below the rank of associate professor.(C) The awarding of tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor must be based on convincing evidence that the faculty member has achieved excellence as a teacher, as a scholar, and as one who provides effective service; and can be expected to continue a program of high quality teaching, scholarship, and service relevant to the mission of the academic unit(s) to which the faculty member is assigned and to the university. Promotion to the rank of professor must be based on convincing evidence that the faculty member has a sustained record of excellence in teaching; has produced a significant body of scholarship that is recognized nationally or internationally; and has demonstrated leadership in service.(D) In evaluating the candidate's qualifications in teaching, scholarship, and service, reasonable flexibility shall be exercised, balancing, where the case requires, heavier commitments and responsibilities in one area against lighter commitments and responsibilities in another. In addition, as the university enters new fields of endeavor, including interdisciplinary endeavors, and places new emphases on its continuing activities, instances will arise in which the proper work of faculty members may depart from established academic patterns. In such cases care must be taken to apply the criteria with sufficient flexibility. In all instances superior intellectual attainment, in accordance with the criteria set forth in university rules, is an essential qualification for promotion to tenured positions. Clearly, insistence upon this standard for continuing members of the faculty is necessary for maintenance and enhancement of the quality of the university as an institution dedicated to the discovery and transmission of knowledge.(E) Each tenure initiating unit shall have an appointments, promotion, and tenure document. The document shall describe, in qualitative terms, the unit's criteria for appointments, promotion, and tenure and evidence to be provided to support a case within the context of the unit's mission and the standards set forth in this rule as well as the mission and standards of the college. The document should indicate with some specificity how the quality and effectiveness of teaching, the quality and significance of scholarship, and the quality and effectiveness of service are to be documented and assessed. The document of a tenure initiating unit with regional campus faculty must establish criteria for appointments, promotion, and tenure for these faculty within the context of the regional campuses' mission as well as that of the tenure initiating unit. The document shall also describe the unit's procedures for conducting annual performance reviews of probationary faculty and reviews for promotion and tenure. The document must be drawn up or amended through broad faculty consultation with all voting members of the tenure initiating unit according to the principles articulated in paragraph (C)(3) of rule 3335-3-35 of the Administrative Code and must be approved by the dean of the college and the executive vice president and provost.
(F) Each college shall have an appointments, promotion, and tenure document. The document shall describe, in qualitative terms, the college's criteria for appointments, promotion, and tenure within the context of the college's mission and the standards set forth in this rule. The document shall also describe the college's procedures for conducting college level reviews for promotion and tenure. The document must be drawn up through broad faculty consultation and must be approved by the executive vice president and provost.
Ohio Admin. Code 3335-6-02
Effective: 10/16/2023
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 3335
Rule Amplifies: 3335.08
Prior Effective Dates: 08/08/1978, 11/05/1984, 07/30/1990, 08/05/1996, 03/26/1998, 05/23/1999, 08/19/2002, 07/01/2004, 08/01/2005, 06/02/2012, 07/01/2014, 11/09/2020