Appointment and Notification of Appointment

(Titles I and II were adopted by the University Board of Trustees on October 24, 1960, and have been amended through October 12, 2023.)    

Article VIII. General Appointment Procedures Affecting the Full-Time Tenure-Earning Ranks

1. [Recommendation by department] Recommendations of appointment or reappointment of full-time assistant professors, associate professors, and professors, who have not achieved permanent or continuous tenure, shall be made by the chief executive officer of each department to the appropriate dean. The chief executive officer is the head of an all-University department or the chairperson of a school or college department that is not part of an all-University department.

2. [Advisory body] In the preparation of their recommendation the chief executive officer of each department shall have the counsel of an advisory body of tenured faculty members of the department. In case the chairperson is not the chief executive officer of the department, the chairperson of a school or college department in which a recommendation for appointment is under consideration shall be a member of the advisory body of tenured faculty members.

3. [Establishing advisory body] Each academic department shall, in accordance with its own procedures, establish an advisory committee on appointments.

4. [Transmitting recommendations] The department head or chairperson shall transmit to the appropriate dean, along with the department chairperson’s recommendation and reasoning, the recommendation and reasoning of the advisory body, together with their names, the method of their selection, and a report of the numerical vote.

5. [Recommendations by dean] In schools without a departmental organization, the dean, in the preparation of the dean’s recommendations of appointment, shall have the counsel of an advisory body of tenured faculty members of the school. The dean shall notify the faculty members of the school of the composition of the advisory body, and the method of their selection.

6. [Approval by dean] The dean shall approve or disapprove the recommendation, and shall notify the department head or chairperson if there is a departmental organization, and the advisory body, of the ultimate decision along with reasons therefor if the recommendation is disapproved.

7. [Other advisory bodies] Nothing in the appointment procedures described above shall be construed to preclude the possibility that other advisors or advisory bodies or student groups may be consulted to meet the needs of individual schools or specific situations.

8. [Materials in the tenure dossier] Awarding of tenure is based on the understanding that the material provided by the faculty member in their dossier, is true and accurate. If it should become clear that the materials submitted by the faculty member as part of the tenure review are not true and accurate in significant ways, as determined by the Dean and/or the Provost, the case will be reviewed and may be referred for a disciplinary review.

Article IX. Notification of Non-Tenured Faculty Members

1. [Notification; prospects] During their probationary period, each full-time assistant professor, associate professor, and professor shall undergo a performance review which shall typically include the faculty member’s preparation of an annual report, and review by the department head or chairperson (in schools with departmental organization) and the dean, including discussion of the faculty member’s progress in advancing to tenure. In addition to the current requirement of yearly notice to each faculty member, a formalized early review on tenure prospects is to be completed in the third year of service in the probationary period for assistant professors whose probationary timetable is not shortened due to qualifying previous service. In the Robert I. Grossman School of Medicine and any of its departments, the Long Island School of Medicine and its departments, the Leonard N. Stern School of Business and any of its departments, the College of Dentistry and any of its departments, and the Rory Meyers College of Nursing and its departments, a formalized early review on tenure prospects is to be completed in the third year of service for all assistant professors and in the third and sixth year of service for assistant professors whose probationary timetable is not shortened due to qualifying previous service.

2. [Notification; no reappointment] Notice of intention not to reappoint a full-time assistant professor, associate professor, or professor shall be sent to the individual affected according to the following schedule:

a) Not later than March 1 of the first year of academic service, if the appointment is to be terminated on August 31.

b) Not later than December 15 of the second year of academic service, if the appointment is to be terminated on August 31.

c) In all other cases, not later than August 31, if the appointment is to be terminated on the following August 31, or not later than one year before the termination of the appointment.

However, a faculty member whose period of appointment is due to terminate on a date other than August 31, after receipt of the notice required by this paragraph 2, shall have the right, upon written notification to the faculty member’s dean at least 120 days prior to the termination date of the period of appointment, to an extension of the faculty member’s appointment until the following August 31. That right shall be communicated to the faculty member in the notice required by this paragraph 2. Under no circumstances shall such extension of appointment, however described, be considered to create any right to further appointment nor shall it, or any other faculty appointment, carry with it a right of continuous or permanent tenure in the absence of written notice awarding such tenure after the carrying out of the procedures described above in Article VIII.

Article X. Tenure Appointments

1. [Procedure] In addition to the general appointment procedures, the process of recommending an appointment that would result in tenure shall be as follows:

a) The dean shall forward their recommendation by June 1 to the Provost, with a copy to the department head or chairperson and to the advisory body or, in schools without departmental organization, to the dean’s advisory body. The dean’s recommendation shall be accompanied by the recommendations the dean has received from the department head or chairperson and the advisory body.

b) The Provost shall support or oppose the dean’s recommendation in the Provost's recommendation to the President and Chancellor, and shall notify the dean of the final decision, along with reasons therefor, if the recommendation is disapproved. The dean in turn shall communicate the decision to the department head or chairperson, if there is a departmental organization, and to the advisory body. The dean shall notify the affected faculty member of the decision.

2. [Negative recommendations] In the case of an appointment that would, if made, complete the stipulated probationary period and result in tenure, negative recommendations as well as positive ones shall be transmitted by the department head or chairperson to the dean, and by the dean to the Provost.