Williams College Employee Handbook

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Evaluation of Associate Professors
and Promotion to Full Professor

A tenure decision can be understood to be a prediction about future performance based upon the evidence available after (generally) six years of teaching at Williams College. Therefore a fundamental question to be answered in evaluating associate professors for promotion to full professor is: Have they so far fulfilled the prediction of success in teaching, scholarship, and service that was made in granting them tenure? It will be important to consider whether the associate professor has maintained a record of pedagogical excellence and has continued to develop as a teacher; has remained active and productive as a scholar or artist, energetically and deeply committed to scholarly or artistic work; and has continued to contribute to the college community and has been able to assume the responsibility that comes with tenure in an effective and professional manner. Described below are the three major steps in the evaluation of associate professors, followed by a calendar depicting when each will normally occur.

The Associate Professor Review *

Because no decision on expected time of promotion to Full Professor results from the Associate Professor Review, carried out during the fourth year in rank, the department does not engage in a systematic assessment of the Associate Professor in question. Instead the Review consists of three discussions of the Associate Professor’s post-tenure experience based upon his or her self-evaluation: a meeting of the Full Professors; a meeting of the Full Professors with the Dean of the Faculty and the Divisional Representative on the CAP; and, finally, a meeting of the Dean of the Faculty with the Associate Professor. The Associate Professor Review is designed not to determine when promotion to Full Professor should occur (that is the function of the Promotion-to-Full-Professor Report and the Promotion-to-Full-Professor Updates described below) but to give the Associate Professor, the Full Professors in the department, and the CAP an opportunity to reflect on the Associate Professor’s post-tenure experience, including his or her satisfactions, frustrations, and hopes for the future. It is also an opportunity to consider the steps that might be taken to minimize those frustrations and maximize those satisfactions. In the event that the Full Professors in a department have serious concerns about the performance or progress of an Associate Professor, these concerns will need to be expressed and documented in writing.

The Promotion-to-Full-Professor Report **

This is a one-time (or, if applicable, two-time), systematic, and serious assessment of each Associate Professor in his or her fifth year in rank (or, if applicable, tenth-year in rank). The CAP expects an evaluation of each Associate Professor’s teaching, scholarship, and contributions to the College as well as a clear account of how the evaluation was done. At the discretion of the department, external assessments of scholarship may be solicited. The department’s evaluation should set forth explicitly what expectations the Associate Professor will need to have met in order to be recommended by the department for promotion to Full Professor. In exceptional circumstances, the department may recommend that the Associate Professor be promoted to Full Professor at the end of the current academic year.

The Promotion-to-Full-Professor Update ***

In the annual update, the department spells out how the expectations for promotion to Full Professor as set forth in the Promotion-to-Full-Professor Report have or have not been met and contains a recommendation on whether the Associate Professor should be promoted to Full Professor at the end of the academic year.

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