Bennett Aramaechi, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D., John Preece, D.D.S., and Theresa Chiang, Ed.D., helped put on the Faculty Promotion and Tenure Workshops.
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Even though faculty members have until the middle of October to turn in their application and documentation for promotion or tenure, now is the time to start the process, said Theresa Chiang, Ed.D., vice president for academic administration.

Dr. Chiang’s office and a coalition of campus organizations recently sponsored workshops to help faculty members, academic chairs and chairs of departmental promotions, tenure and appointments committees (PTAC) learn more about the promotion and tenure process. In an interview later, Chiang boiled down the preparation process to three tips:

1. Start early.
2. Take personal responsibility for your success.
3. Be proactive in prompting those who can help you.

Start early
“Don’t delay,” Dr. Chiang said. “Start asking questions when you first come to the Health Science Center about the process for promotion and tenure, and keep asking questions until you get clarification. The departmental chair and division chief need to take a personal interest in their faculty members. Faculty members who take the initiative will become more familiar to them,” she said.

Take personal responsibility
“Faculty need to take responsibility for their own career. They need to document their accomplishments properly and correctly,” Dr. Chiang said. “Collecting documents and updating your CV is a continuous process. If you collect the documentation you need as you go along, it is much easier than trying to backtrack,” she said. “What I do is collect documentation in a folder and set a date annually — my birthday — to update my CV.”

Prompt those who can help you
To be promoted on the tenure track or become tenured, faculty members must choose two of the following three legs or areas of excellence in which to concentrate their work at the Health Science Center: teaching, research or service. For non-tenure track faculty, only one area of excellence is required.

“When you give a presentation somewhere or work with others in the community, don’t wait to ask them for letters of recommendation,” Dr. Chiang said. “Send them a letter right away reminding them of what you did and ask them for a letter to support your claim of excellence in teaching and community service, for example. You don’t want a latter to say ‘Joe Blow is a great guy.’ He probably is, but the letter did not support the faculty member’s goal, which is necessary in the promotion and tenure process,” Dr. Chiang explained.

Helpful resources
Three workshops were held earlier this year explaining in more detail the process for promotion and tenure. If you missed the workshops, you can view the general sessions and gain more valuable information about the process by accessing the Office of the Vice President for Academic Administration’s promotions and tenure page at www.uthscsa.edu/vpaa/faculty.html. Here are direct links to the presentations:
∙ P&T Workshop for Tenure Track 129.111.156.134/videostream/faculty/P&TNonTenureTrack.wmv
∙ P&T Workshop for Non-Tenure Track 129.111.156.134/videostream/faculty/P&TTenureTrack.wmv