Faculty appointed as Assistant Professors may apply for promotion to Associate Professor in year five or six. If successful, tenure is awarded. Candidates not already promoted must be considered in year seven.

Summary of the process-

The candidate prepares his or her CV, submits a list of potential external referees, and, if the review is not mandatory (years 5 or 6), writes a letter to the Head asking to be considered for promotion and tenure. Letters go out to referees early in October or early November. Once letters go to referees, the process is irreversible.

1. A review Committee is struck by the Department (usually in September) to review the candidate's teaching, research and the referee's letters. This review committee will meet with the candidate and discuss the candidate's research and teaching contributions. This review committee will then make a recommendation concerning promotion and tenure to the Department. This committee is advisory.
2. The Department examines the file and the referee's letters. The recommendation of the Review Committee is presented and discussed in an open meeting and a secret ballot (for or against promotion) is taken. This vote is advisory to the Head.
3. The head then writes a letter summarizing the candidate's case. This letter includes the Departmental vote and the Head's own recommendation. This letter is largely based on the report of the Review Committee and the discussion at the department meeting. It is sent to the Dean with the candidate's CV.
4. The Dean then sends the Head's letter, the referee's letters, and the candidate's CV with any supporting documents to DACOPAT (Dean's Advisory Committee on Promotion, Appointment and Tenure).
5. DACOPAT then reviews the Head's letter and the candidate's CV and interviews (grills!) the head. DACOPAT then votes to recommend promotion and/ or tenure. Their decision is advisory to the Dean.
6. The Dean then reviews the file and DACOPAT's decision and writes a letter to the Senior Appointments Committee with his recommendation and its rationale.
7. The Senior Appointments Committee then reviews the Dean's letter and the candidate's CV and makes a recommendation to the Vice President Academic, who recommends to the President that promotion be awarded.
8. The President sends it on to the Board of Governors and you get duly promoted. This may or may not result in an increase in salary (depends on how much salary you got when you were hired).

Preparing your CV - The department has a detailed handout about how to prepare your CV for the transition between assistant to associate professor. We have accumulated handouts from a TAG workshop on this topic that was sponsored by the Faculty Association, the Vice President's Office and the Dean's Office. In addition, a former departmental member of DACOPAT (the Dean's advisory committee on promotion and tenure) has supplied information about the committee process and about how to make your CV easier to understand by those outside of your field. We have also put together an annotated copy of the new University CV that clarifies the recommendations received at the TAG workshop. Hard copies will be given to you to use as a guide and faculty members will go over your CV in detail when the time comes. Please note that the preparation of a teaching dossier is now formalized and separate from the CV and research papers. This has not always been the case so only the most recent tenured faculty will be familiar with the new rules. Copies of recent teaching dossiers will be available for you to look at and help you prepare your dossier.

UBC CV FORM - Discs are available for Mac and IBM. The form changes all the time. Bring a hard copy down to main office and ask Kathy Gorkoff to place acopy of your CV in your file. The purpose of your CV is to allow the department to keep track of your accomplishments. This is important for promotion and tenure and for departmental reviews. The department will form a promotion and re-hiring committee that will judge you after year 2 ,3 or 4 depending on the duration of your appointments. I was assessed twice before I went up for tenure in year 6. In addition, the dept. uses the CV to determine merit increases.

Mentoring help ----- TAG is an invaluable resource for workshops about teaching, preparing your CV for promotion and tenure, preparing your teaching dossier and surviving at UBC. We recommend taking advantage of the appropriate workshops.

ADVICE (compilation of advice from Mary Russell, Joanne Emerman and Bill Webber at a Faculty Association sponsored seminar, Feb. 11, 1997.)

1. Start now
2. Ascertain departmental expectations (meet with your Head)
3. Review the framework agreement about "conditions of appointment"
4. Ask for meetings and evaluations, IN WRITTEN FORM
5. Don't be afraid to ask for information about the process
6. Prepare the CV carefully using the uniform forms required by your Faculty. Insert narrative, letters, explanations. Make sure your material is placed in the appropriate places (i.e. "scholarly activity" vs. "service")
7. Explain what is not obvious (ie. Journal rankings, acceptance rates, numbers of citations)
8. Select referees with care. Get information about who writes a good letter of recommendation. Words like "satisfactory" or "reasonable" are not good to have in letters of recommendation.
9. Practice diplomacy
10. Keep perspective