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The ���ϲ����� Senate this week launched an online election to select candidates across the schools and colleges to serve on a new Provost’s Advisory Committee on Promotion and Tenure. Electronic ballots were sent Tuesday to all eligible voters—tenured and tenure-track faculty members—and must be submitted by Tuesday, Feb. 2.

The Provost’s Advisory Committee on Promotion and Tenure was created to assist the Provost in promoting the highest academic standards across the University and to ensure consistency across the promotion and tenure processes. Its membership will comprise seven senior faculty members as well as the Interim Vice President for Research, Peter Vanable. Interim Provost Liz Liddy will serve as chair, and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs LaVonda N. Reed will serve as convener. The committee will work strictly in an advisory capacity to the Provost.

“This committee will be a vital resource for the Provost in two areas of tremendous significance to our faculty—promotion and tenure,” says Reed. “Because of the importance of this work, we need broad participation by our faculty. I urge those faculty eligible to vote in this online election to respond promptly.”

Under the administration of the Senate Agenda Committee, the online election will produce a slate of candidates from each of five academic areas. Slates of three candidates will be selected each from the humanities, social sciences, and arts and design; slates of six candidates will be selected each from the STEM and professional/applied areas.

All eligible faculty voters have been assigned to one of the five academic areas and will vote for candidates from their respective area.

The slates of candidates will go to the Provost, who will make the final committee selections. Membership will include one representative each from humanities, social sciences, and arts and design, and two representatives each from STEM and professional/applied areas.

Committee members are charged with providing the Provost with a broad range of perspectives. They are expected to serve as University-wide faculty representatives rather than as representatives of a specific discipline, department, school or college.

With the exception of those selected this year, faculty members of the committee will serve staggered two-year terms and will not be eligible to serve two terms consecutively. Four members of the inaugural committee will be designated to serve a full two-year term while three will be designated to serve an initial term of one year with the option of serving an additional two-year term.

The members of the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Promotion and Tenure will be named in the coming weeks.