Tenure Review Guidelines

Columbia employs a standing committee system to conduct a final University-wide evaluation whenever a school or department, including Barnard College but excepting the Faculty of Law and Teachers College, recommends a candidate for tenure. This evaluation is the culmination of a process of review involving multiple considerations of the nomination within the department and school. The purpose of the final review is to confirm that the earlier reviews were rigorous and substantive and that all candidates meet the same high standards, regardless of the school or department originating the nomination. By examining both the process by which candidates are nominated and their qualifications, the standing committee seeks to ensure a University-wide consistency in the evaluation of nominations to tenure and thereby to promote the appointment of faculty of exceptional quality and distinction throughout the institution.

The standing committee–the Tenure Review Advisory Committee (TRAC)–serves in an advisory capacity to the provost who determines whether the candidate should be recommended to the president and trustees for tenure. The University’s standing committee system of tenure review is administered on behalf of the provost by the vice provost for faculty affairs.

April 1, 2019: List of faculty from each School who will be reviewed for
tenure in 2019-20 along with the candidate’s CVs and
field descriptions are due in the OVPFA
May 15, 2019: Confirmations that referees were solicited for each
candidate by the Schools are due in the OVPFA
December 15, 2019: All internal candidate nominations are due in the OVPFA
February 1, 2020: All external candidate nominations are due in the
OVPFA.
May 15, 2020: If a review of an external candidate cannot be held by
May 15th the nominating Dean or Executive Vice
President will have to obtain a waiver of the AAUP’s
deadline from candidate’s institution before the review
can occur
May 31, 2020: Notices of nonrenewal for nontenured officers of
instruction in their seventh or tenth counted year of
service are due

TRAC members

Kathy Eden (Chair)
Chavkin Family Professor of English Literature and Professor of Classics

Richard Baer
Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology (in the Institute for Cancer Genetics)

Suzanne Bakken
Alumni Professor of the School of Nursing and Professor of Biomedical Informatics

Keren Bergman
Charles Batchelor Professor of Electrical Engineering; Scientific Director, Center for Integrated Science and Engineering

Alexander Cooley
Claire Tow Professor of Political Science at Barnard College; Director, Harriman Institute

Ali Gharavi
Jay Meltzer, M.D. Professor of Nephrology and Hypertension (in Medicine)

Robert Gooding-Williams
M. Moran Weston/Black Alumni Council Professor of African American Studies

Ann McDermott
Esther Breslow Professor of Biological Chemistry and Professor of Biological Sciences and Chemical Engineering

Molly Przeworski
Professor of Biological Sciences and Systems Biology

Michael Schudson
Professor of Journalism

Michael Ting
Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science

Olivier Toubia
Glaubinger Professor of Business

Gina Wingood
Sidney and Helaine Lerner Professor of Public Health Promotion

The Principles and Customs Governing University-wide Tenure Reviews policy governs TRAC’s review of all tenure nominations with the exception of those originating in Barnard College (read the Barnard College Tenure Guidelines). The procedures followed in evaluating candidates from Barnard College differ in some respects, as provided for in the inter-institutional agreement between the College and the University. Therefore, the process by which Barnard nominations are reviewed is described in a separate document

Tenure Nominations Timeline 2019-20

Tenure Review Advisory Committee 2019-20

TRAC members

Tenure Review Advisory Committee Statistics

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