Overview
Tenure-track Assistant Professors typically have a reappointment review during year 3, a tenure review in year 6, and annual reviews in most other years. Tenure-track/tenured Associate Professors have triennial reviews, and are reviewed for promotion to Full Professor when they choose to do so.
This page provides an overview of how tenure-track and tenured faculty reviews are conducted at Lehigh. For more information about specific reviews, see the pages for those reviews in the navigation menu. See also Faculty Review at Lehigh for information about review portfolios, review cycles, and other general information.
Criteria for Tenure and Promotion for Tenure-Track Faculty
At the university level, the criteria for tenure and promotion of tenure-track faculty, as they are stated in the Rules and Procedures of the Faculty of Lehigh University (R&P) section 2.2.1.5, are succinct:
Excellence in teaching, research and scholarship, and service to the university are the criteria for reappointment, promotion, and tenure.
Each college has its own guidelines for tenure and promotion, which provide more information about expectations and add specificity to the notion of “excellence in teaching, research and scholarship, and service.” Those guidelines are linked to in the Additional Resources section below.
Furthermore, most departments have their own set of guidelines—called a departmental appendix—that flesh out the expectations even further. A departmental appendix might specify, for example, how a faculty member’s teaching is evaluated by colleagues, the extent to which a faculty member is expected to obtain external funding in order to get tenure, or whether a second book-length project is required for promotion to Full Professor. The departmental appendices for a given college, if any, are found in the same document as that college’s guidelines, linked to below.
Which Review Cycle Am I On?
Your review cycle is different for different types of reviews. In particular:
|
Review Type |
If Your Start Date Was in Summer |
If Your Start Date Was in January |
|
Annual review |
Spring |
Fall |
|
Reappointment |
Fall |
Spring |
|
Tenure |
Fall |
Spring |
The information above may change if, for example, you take a tenure-clock extension.
If your start date was not during the summer or January, or if you have any other questions about which cycle you fall under, consult your Department Chair or Associate Dean for Faculty.
Relevant Sections of R&P
-
2.2 Faculty Appointments, Reappointments, Promotion, Tenure, Retirement
Additional Resources
- Interfolio login page
- Interfolio at Lehigh
- College faculty review guidelines:
Notes
- This overview is intended to supplement the information contained in Lehigh’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty (R&P). If there is a discrepancy between the guidance on this page and R&P, the provisions of R&P govern.
- Feel free to contact your Department Chair, Associate Dean for Faculty, the Deputy Provost for Faculty Affairs, or the Director of Faculty Affairs with any questions or concerns.