General Standards An Assistant Professor will be competent to teach in a particular field, will be current in the literature of that field, and will seek to meet student needs in both the classroom and in non-classroom environments. However, an Assistant may be a junior member of the academic community, with little professional and/or teaching experience. Furthermore, an Assistant may have little experience in curriculum development, committee work, governance, professional and/or community service, etc. In short, an Assistant Professor generally will be new to tenure-track college teaching. For eligibility for promotion from Assistant to Associate Professor, the candidate must have served a minimum of four (4) years at the rank of Assistant Professor, and must show evidence that he/she has grown professionally and consistently has sought to meet student needs, in both the classroom and in non-classroom environments. A successful candidate for the rank of Associate Professor will have remained current in the field, and will have improved his/her teaching in some demonstrable way. He/she also will have demonstrated professional growth in one or more of the following ways: completion of additional appropriate course work (if applicable), attendance at professional conferences, service on campus and/or District committees, professional and/or community service, or, the production of some creative work. Evidence of professional growth will be drawn from a careful analysis of student evaluations and peer evaluations over a period of time, and from a critical reading of materials submitted by the candidate. For promotion from Associate to Professor, the candidate must have served a minimum of four (4) years at the rank of Associate Professor, and must show evidence that he/she has grown professionally to a point where he/she has mastered both a particular field of knowledge and the teaching of that knowledge. A successful candidate must show evidence that he/she consistently has sought to meet student needs, in both the classroom and non-classroom environments. A Professor should be a senior member of the faculty, one who has such substantial experience, knowledge, and skill that he/she could mentor junior faculty in his/her area of expertise. A Professor will have demonstrated all the same kinds of achievements and attributes necessary for promotion to the Associate Professor rank, but in addition will demonstrate that he/she is a leader in some appropriate sense. Evidence of professional growth and leadership will be drawn from a careful analysis of student evaluations and peer evaluations over a period of time, and from a critical reading of materials submitted by the candidate.
