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This does not constitute an employment contract. 

 Criteria for Full Professor Promotion 

Approved on 12/8/2010, 2/16/2011 and 3/2/2011 by GOVT faculty 

1. Central to the mission of the Department of Government is the production and dissemination of knowledge by its faculty as they engage in high-quality research and teaching as well as service to the academic and larger communities. The process of promotion is designed to recognize and reinforce these values. 

2. To be granted the rank of Professor, beyond the criteria for associate professor, a faculty member has to demonstrate a post-tenure sustained record of published research in the discipline’s most prominent refereed journals and/or presses, a national scholarly reputation, prominent accomplishments in the field, high quality teaching, and continued active engagement with students in and outside of the classroom, leadership in internal and external service, and evidence of the potential to sustain excellence in all of these areas. 

3. The methods used for evaluating the quality of research, teaching and service for full professor candidates are identical to those used to evaluate candidates for associate professor and are delineated below. At the same time, evaluation for promotion to full professor will place a greater emphasis on the impact of the candidate’s research on the scholarly debate in the candidate’s area of research and the larger academic discipline. 

Research 

4. Cases for promotion and tenure require evidence of the sustained productivity, quality, originality, scholarly repute, visibility and impact of the faculty member’s research. 

5. In evaluating the candidate’s research record, attention will be given to the quality and quantity of published research in the various scholarly outlets. 

6. Evaluations of each of these dimensions will be based on the faculty’s assessments of the candidate’s research with serious consideration given to the evaluations provided by leading national scholars in the candidate’s field of specialization. 

7. Candidates’ research records should reflect a clear research agenda. 

8. The research record should demonstrate independent intellectual contributions. Collaborative publications are valued no less than individual ones so long as there is evidence of the candidate’s individual intellectual contribution to the work. Collaborations in which the candidate is less than an equal contributor are less valued. 

9. The department values books, article or chapter-length publications, shorter publications and external funding. Independent of the quality of each publication and its outlet of publication, books are valued more highly than edited volumes, and peer-reviewed journal articles are valued more highly than book chapters, non-academic publications and book reviews. Success at winning competitive externally-funded research awards will be regarded as evidence of the quality of the candidate’s research and thus will be considered of value independent of the research that results from it. 

10. The Department will also take into account the following in assessing the quality of a candidate’s research record: 

  • evidence of the quality, influence, and ranking of the journals that have published the individual’s work, including, if possible, evidence of the acceptance rates of the journals. 
  • the reputation and quality of the press that publishes a book. 
  • the judgment of leading scholars in the field, as provided, for instance, in external letters. 
  • evidence of the impact of the individual’s research as measured, for example, by citations in the work of other scholars. Published reviews of the candidate’s book(s) will also be considered as indicators of impact. 
  • other significant contribution to scholarship, such as compilation of data or provision of other public research goods. 
  • success at winning professional awards. 
  • success at winning competitive externally funded research grants. 

Teaching 

11. American University values effective and high quality instruction of its students. 

12. Faculty teaching evaluations will be based on various aspects of the candidate’s record, including: student evaluations, syllabi, departmental needs, teaching outside the classroom and participation in faculty development activities which might include peer observation of teaching. 

13. When available, student evaluations of teaching (SET) will be used in assessing a professor’s teaching performance, but they will not be the only means to conduct such an assessment. In considering the SET data, we should take into account the number of respondents, variation in scores, grade distribution, whether the course is required, and the number of times the professor has previously taught the course. 

14. These student-completed evaluations should be looked at in their entirety, not just on a select few questions. 

15. Because of the potential for the difficulty of the course negatively impacting student evaluations, tenure reviews must take into account the level of difficulty of the courses taught, as well as the grading distribution in those courses.

16. Evaluation of teaching should also consider the size of the classes and the level of the classes. 

17. Consistently high teaching evaluations as well as improvements in teaching evaluations over time are valued. 

18. Faculty members who are up for review are required to include in their Action Files the syllabi for every course they have taught at American University. These syllabi will be used to evaluate the quality of teaching by the faculty members. 

19. Candidates are welcome to include any other documentation of their teaching that they wish. 

20. Faculty members should demonstrate an ability and willingness to teach courses at different levels depending upon the needs of the Department. 

21. The Department of Government requires teaching beyond the confines of the classroom. Such teaching is done through the supervision of senior theses, serving as a capstone advisor, serving on Ph.D. dissertation committees, and advising Master’s research projects and independent studies. 

Service 

22. Every member of the faculty at American University is expected to perform service. This can occur at the following levels: the department, the university, the discipline of political science, the scholarly profession and the broader community. 

23. A record of service should include the following: 

  • Leadership in service is important. A candidate for the rank of full professor should have a record that demonstrates a willingness and ability to provide that leadership. 
  • Service to the department. This may include administrative appointments and membership on departmental committees. 
  • Service to the School and the University. This may include election to or service on school or university-level deliberative bodies or committees. This may also include other service that benefits the faculty or the student body as a whole. 
  • Service to the profession. This may include service on professional committees, conference committees, peer review activities for journals, presses and granting bodies, and editorial duties. 
  • Service to the community. This may include public service, public lectures, expert testimony before government committees or courts of law, participation in public forums or media appearances and similar activities.