Bruce A. McPheron, executive vice president and provost, announced in a tweet Tuesday that the university is providing faculty with the option to extend their “tenure clock” by one year. | Credit: Lantern file photo
COVID-19 has disrupted virtually every aspect of life at Ohio State and around the world and has left faculty to rearrange the remainder of the spring semester.
In response, Bruce A. McPheron, executive vice president and provost, announced in a tweet Tuesday that the university is providing faculty with the option to extend their “tenure clock” by one year. Professors can be promoted to associate professor after a trial period that would grant them tenure, which protects them from dismissal except under special circumstances.
Ohio State currently has 700 faculty members in the probationary period, university spokesperson Rob Messinger said in an email.
“Our tenure-track faculty deserve nothing less than the opportunity to demonstrate their full abilities, and our students benefit from access to the best faculty in the world,” McPheron said in a statement.
Faculty members must prove themselves deserving of tenure by showing their commitment to scholarship, dedication, high-quality teaching and service over their time at the university, according to the faculty rules in the Ohio Administrative Code.
“The awarding of tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor must be based on convincing evidence that the faculty member has achieved excellence as a teacher, as a scholar, and as one who provides effective service,” according to the faculty rules.
This article continues below.
The extension of the tenure clock allows faculty to recover from this disruption and demonstrate their abilities in their fullest capacity, McPheron said.
Faculty members have three options, Messinger said. They can continue the entire process as planned, maintain their current trajectory for their fourth-year review and extend the deadline for their tenure review by one year, or extend the timetable for both reviews.
“We are empowering faculty to choose the option that works best for them,” Messinger said.
Probationary tenure faculty generally enter the university as assistant professors, Messinger said. They are reviewed each year during this period, but the fourth-year review is the most extensive and indicates whether the faculty member is making progress toward earning tenure.
Faculty members who successfully complete this review are granted an additional two years to their probationary period, Messinger said. The sixth-year review is the most rigorous and known as tenure review. The university will allow tenure-track faculty to extend the period before their fourth-year review and/or their tenure review in light of COVID-19, Messinger said.
Upon successful completion of all six reviews, faculty members are promoted to the rank of associate professor.
“Tenure is an important part of a faculty member’s career advancement that reflects both their achievements to date and the expectation that they will continue to provide the highest quality in their scholarship of teaching, research and creative inquiry, and service,” McPheron said.
Kaylee Harter, Editor-in-Chief, contributed to this story.
Click here to view our continuing coverage of COVID-19.
