Promotion & Tenure

Promotion and Tenure Coversheet PDF
College of Liberal Arts, Marshall University
Promotion and Tenure Guidelines
[approved by the College of Liberal Arts (COLA) faculty in November 2014]
Proposed revisions – October 2023

These rules and guidelines shall apply to all faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts hired on or after July 1, 2023. The procedures and guidelines of 2014 may be used for evaluation for promotion and tenure only by faculty hired between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2024. The procedures and guidelines of 1994 and 2014 are superseded by this document.

Preamble

Promotion and tenure are momentous events in the academic career of faculty. Promotion through successive academic ranks is an opportunity to acknowledge and reward one’s contributions and continued development as a teacher, scholar, and colleague. Tenure is an affirmation of one’s capacity to provide sustained high-quality teaching and advising; scholarship and creative work; and professional service to the university, college, and their respective academic department.

The College of Liberal Arts sets high expectations of its faculty for promotion and tenure. Promotion and tenure are accomplishments that faculty must earn by demonstrating their resolve to make meaningful contributions, and their capacity to realize the goals established by the university, college, and their respective academic department.

The College of Liberal Arts also recognizes its obligation to help faculty understand and realize the expectations of promotion and tenure. In the spirit of collaborative support, the college presents to its faculty the following policies and procedures regarding promotion and tenure.

Departments are encouraged to create their own departmental guidelines to clarify how promotion and tenure are best understood within their respective disciplines. Departmental guidelines can add additional requirements for promotion and tenure, but they cannot negate any requirements laid out by the Greenbook (faculty handbook) and the College of Liberal Arts Promotion and Tenure Guidelines. Please consult the Greenbook for university policies and procedures regarding promotion and tenure.

Pre-Tenure Review

The Greenbook requires that the college provide a pre-tenure review for probationary tenure-track faculty members halfway towards the tenure date, typically in the third year. By the first Monday of October, the dean will notify eligible faculty members of the need to submit a pre-tenure portfolio for review. The dean will invite these faculty members to a meeting held no later than the third Friday of October. The agenda shall be a review of the promotion and tenure policies and procedures and an opportunity for probationary faculty members to ask questions.

Probationary tenure-track faculty members must submit a digital portfolio by the date set by their academic department. At this point, the candidate will sign a declaration that the portfolio is complete, and no modifications can be made. The departmental review committee and department chair will each write an independent review of the faculty member’s performance based on the portfolio by the date set each year by Academic Affairs. Next, the College of Liberal Arts Promotion and Tenure Committee and the dean will each write an independent review of the faculty member’s portfolio by the date set by Academic Affairs.

Marshall Board of Governors Policies (AA-7 and AA-28) state that an “exceptional” pre-tenure evaluation will result in a 5% salary increase for the applicant. The policy defines an “exceptional” evaluation as one in which “the results…exceed normal expectations as defined by a faculty member’s college/school and department/division tenure guidelines…and verified by the relevant dean and the Chief Academic Officer.”

The College of Liberal Arts defines “exceptional” as follows: faculty must merit an “exemplary” rating in all three areas of responsibility using the criteria for tenure (teaching and advising, scholarly and creative activity, and service) and at all levels of review (departmental committee, department chair, college committee, and dean.

All candidates undergoing pre-tenure review, including those receiving exemplary ratings, must continue to make progress in all three areas of responsibility to earn tenure.

Promotion and Tenure Review

The College of Liberal Arts will provide all faculty eligible for promotion and tenure and pre-tenure review access to the following items for the creation of the promotion and tenure portfolio:
- access and support for digital portfolio submission,
- access to a check list for the portfolio,
- access to the Application for Promotion and/or Tenure form and
- access to the Promotion & Tenure Summary form.
By the first Monday of September the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts will request eligible faculty notify the dean of intention to apply for tenure, promotion, or both.
Candidates for promotion and/or tenure in the College of Liberal Arts must meet all current Greenbook, College of Liberal Arts, and departmental evaluative criteria and requirements for promotion and tenure.
Eligible faculty will notify the dean of their intention to apply for promotion, tenure, or both by the date set each year by Academic
The dean will verify each candidate’s eligibility as specified in the Greenbook and will notify the chair of the applicant’s eligibility and intention to apply for tenure and/or promotion.
The dean and members of the College of Liberal Arts Promotion and Tenure Committee will hold a meeting for the applicants for promotion and/or tenure no later than the third Friday of October. The meeting’s agenda shall be a review of the promotion and tenure policies and procedures, and the opportunity for applicants to ask questions.

All recommendations regarding promotion and/or tenure reflect the careful review of the portfolio. Therefore, the portfolio must be sufficiently thorough and detailed to substantiate promotion and/or tenure. Lack of thorough documentation and of clarity in presenting the information and supporting evidence for the application are liabilities for the candidate. Eligible tenure-track faculty members must submit a digital portfolio by the date set by the academic department for submission of promotion and tenure portfolios.

The department promotion and tenure committee and the department chair will complete their respective reviews and submit their recommendation letters by the dates in February set by the dean and Academic Affairs. The College of Liberal Arts Promotion and Tenure Committee will submit its recommendations to the dean by the date in March set by the dean and Academic Affairs.

The dean will submit their recommendations to the provost by March 25.
The provost will submit their recommendations to the president by April 22.
The president will submit their recommendations to the Board of Governors by April 30.

All candidates for promotion and/or tenure will receive a copy of the recommendation letter at each level of review within the college. The levels for notification within the College of Liberal Arts are:

the department promotion and tenure committee (committee chair will notify)
the department chair (chair will notify)
the College of Liberal Arts Promotion and Tenure Committee (committee chair will notify)
the College of Liberal Arts Dean (dean will notify).

Candidates who are not recommended for promotion and/or tenure will automatically continue to the next level of review. Alternatively, candidates for promotion may withdraw their applications at any time during the promotion process prior to the final recommendation by the president. To do so, a candidate must notify the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts in writing that the candidate is officially withdrawing their application.

A member of the College of Liberal Arts Promotion and Tenure Committee may not discuss nor evaluate candidates from their respective departments at the College of Liberal Arts Promotion and Tenure Committee meetings.

General Instructions

The candidate is solely responsible for securing all items and keeping complete and accurate records of the evidence required to support the candidate’s
Candidates whose terms of employment included years of credit for previous institutions may include in their portfolio items (e.g., evidence of teaching, scholarship, and service/university citizenship) completed during the time for which the credit was awarded, only if such inclusion is stipulated in their terms of employment. When the candidate’s previous employer did not provide information required by the College of Liberal Arts, (e.g., computer-generated summaries of student evaluations or peer evaluation letters) the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts may identify suitable alternatives and will document this arrangement for inclusion with the portfolio.
The candidate must present a complete, organized, well-documented, and clear portfolio.
All materials presented in the portfolio must accurately reflect the candidate’s
For a candidate seeking tenure and promotion to associate professor, the portfolio must include all materials developed since the candidate’s
For a candidate seeking promotion to full professor, the portfolio must only include those materials that represent the candidate’s achievements since the date of submission of the previous promotion and tenure portfolio, and not previously submitted.

Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor

Candidates for tenure and promotion to associate professor must demonstrate professional¹ performance in all the candidate’s major areas of responsibility and exemplary² performance in teaching and/or research (defined as scholarly and/or creative achievements). Thus, candidates for tenure and promotion to associate professor must demonstrate and provide evidence to support one of the following profiles:

exemplary performance in teaching and research, and professional performance in service.
exemplary performance in teaching, and professional performance in research and service.
exemplary performance in research, and professional performance in teaching and service.

¹The Greenbook definition of professional is: This rating is given to those individuals who, during the rating period, consistently met the institution’s standards of professional performance. The individuals receiving this rating constitute those good and valued professionals on whom the continued successful achievement of the institution’s mission, goals and objectives depends.

²The Greenbook definition of exemplary is: This rating is given to those individuals who, during the rating period, consistently exceeded the institution’s standards of professional performance. Individuals receiving this rating stand as exemplars of the highest levels of professional academic performance within the institution making significant contributions to their department, college, academic field, and society.

Promotion to Professor

Candidates for promotion to professor must demonstrate professional performance in all the candidate’s major areas of responsibility and exemplary performance in at least two areas from among teaching, research (defined as scholarly and/or creative achievements), and service. Thus, candidates for promotion to professor must demonstrate and provide evidence to support one of the following profiles:

exemplary performance in teaching, research, and service.
exemplary performance in teaching and research, and professional performance in service.
exemplary performance in teaching and service, and professional performance in research.
exemplary performance in research and service, and professional performance in teaching.

Application Materials:

The following items are required of all candidates as part of the application process:

copy of departmental tenure and/or promotion guidelines (where appropriate).
completed Promotion and Tenure Summary form.
letter of application for tenure and/or promotion in which the candidate describes how their achievements meet the departmental (where appropriate), College of Liberal Arts, and Greenbook evaluative criteria. In the letter, the candidate must discuss their achievements in each of the major categories of teaching and advising, scholarly and/or creative activities, and service and demonstrate how their achievements meet the requirements for exemplary or professional performance. This letter is to be addressed to the departmental promotion and tenure committee and should also clearly indicate the areas of exemplary performance and the profile for which the candidate is applying.
current and complete curriculum vita. The vita should provide information on publications in full citation format. Each print publication must be described in the form of a complete, standard bibliographic citation (e.g., MLA or APA style) including authors in order, title (exactly as it appears in print), year, volume, publisher, and page numbers. Each scholarly or creative presentation must indicate the name and location of the conference or venue and the date. The candidate must not use abbreviations for the names of conferences, journals, presses, professional organizations, or granting and funding agencies. For example, AAG should be written out Association of American Geographers, and NCTE should be written as the National Council of Teachers of

TEACHING AND ADVISING

The candidate will upload these documents to their digital portfolio as evidence of meeting the criteria for promotion and/or tenure in teaching and advising. It is understood that this may not be an exhaustive list, and not all candidates will have documentation in every area.

A teaching and advising summary that includes self-reflection upon strengths, accomplishments, and opportunities for improvement.
The candidate’s summaries of the student evaluations for each semester that note any trends, changes, issues, and strengths and weaknesses regarding the student
Copies of the computer-generated overall summaries of student evaluations for each semester of the appropriate
Sample syllabi for undergraduate and/or graduate courses as
Peer evaluation letters from professional colleagues that describe visits to the candidate’s classes and/or the colleagues’ evaluations of the candidate’s teaching via assessment of teaching materials, accomplishments, student evaluations (if agreed to by the candidate), or other means. The professional colleagues may be from the candidate’s department or a related discipline or field. An application for tenure and promotion to associate professor must include at least two visit letters (by at least two colleagues) per year of service at Marshall University. Letters are required for each year before the semester of application for promotion and/or tenure. An application for promotion to full professor must include at least three visit letters within the relevant period.
Advising data.
Course or curricular development.
Professional development.
Awards, honors, and professional recognition
Other teaching/advising achievements.
The following items are optional: (a) The candidate’s statement of teaching and/or advising philosophy and (b) visual recording(s) of the candidate’s classroom teaching.

A strong record of achievement in demonstrating sustained commitment to excellence in teaching and advising must be well documented. Candidates for promotion and/or tenure must provide evidence of teaching and advising activities. For a candidate seeking tenure and promotion to associate professor, the portfolio must include all materials developed since the candidate’s employment at Marshall University (unless otherwise specified in terms of employment). For a candidate seeking promotion to professor, the portfolio must only include those materials that represent the candidate’s achievements in the current rank.

The College of Liberal Arts recognizes achievement in teaching and advising in the following ways.

Category One teaching and advising achievements represent the highest level of sustained commitment to excellence and are consistent with exemplary performance in this category.

Category Two teaching and advising achievements represent a higher level of sustained commitment to excellence and are consistent with professional performance in this category.

Category Three teaching and advising achievements represent sustained commitment to meeting the minimum university and college expectations of satisfactory performance in this category.

Candidates who claim professional performance in teaching and advising must provide evidence of meeting all achievements from teaching and advising category three and a minimum of five (5) achievements from teaching and advising category two.

In addition to meeting the achievements for professional performance in teaching and advising, candidates who claim exemplary performance in teaching and advising activities must also provide evidence of meeting five (5) achievements from teaching and advising category one.

Category One: This category may include such examples of achievement as:

Certification in two or more specialized pedagogies such as First Year Seminar (FYS), Critical Thinking (CT), Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), Community Based Learning (CBL), Multiculturalism (MC), Internationalism (I), or other certifications.
Chair one or more portfolio, master’s thesis, doctoral research project, or dissertation committee(s).
Receive competitive national, state, regional, or university teaching award or advising award.
Develop new course that is added to course catalog,
Make substantial revisions of content, references, assignments, and syllabus to existing course that candidate has not taught and teach this course (i.e., new course preparation).
Mentor student research that results in national or regional presentation and/or publication through competitive application.
Sponsor through mentorship award-winning student research (ex. Maier Award).
Facilitate or present a workshop at a teaching and/or advising conference, or at a national or regional conference in one’s discipline or area of expertise.
Incorporate innovative technology effectively to accomplish teaching goals.
Teach in Honors College, Yeager Scholars’ Seminar, or other university interdisciplinary program.
Instruct a course with specialized pedagogical designation.
Receive competitive national, state, regional, or university teaching/course development grant.
Contribute to curriculum development through the creation of a minor, major, certificate program, or graduate program.
Consistently write three or more letters of recommendation for students each academic year.
Peer observation letters that document exceptional teaching practices as demonstrated by course structure and design, delivery of pedagogical material, and/or student engagement.
Student evaluations that document effective classroom performance as demonstrated by at least a two-thirds majority of responses at or above “Agree.”

Category Two: This category may include such examples of achievement as:

Certification in one specialized pedagogy such as First Year Seminar (FYS), Critical Thinking (CT), Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), Community Based Learning (CBL), Multiculturalism (MC), Internationalism (I), or other certifications.
Serve as member of one or more portfolio, master’s capstone/thesis, doctoral research project, and/or dissertation committee(s).
Recognized as finalist for competitive national, state, regional, or university teaching award or advising award.
Demonstrate significant redevelopment of existing course(s) such as substantially altering required readings, assignments, and course delivery.
Mentor student research that through a competitive application process results in state or university presentation.
Attend one national, regional, or state meeting in discipline or area(s) of expertise to demonstrate that candidate is staying current in discipline-specific scholarship.
Teach one or more independent study courses.
Develop and deliver a capstone course.
Mentor teaching assistant(s) by maintaining regular contact and providing sustained guidance.
Incorporate current discipline-specific scholarship and methodology in course syllabi and classroom instruction.
Incorporate basic technology effectively to accomplish teaching goals.
Provide invited guest lecture for colleague’s class.
Peer observation letters that document effective teaching practices as demonstrated by course structure and design, delivery of pedagogical material, and/or student engagement.
Student evaluations that document effective classroom performance as demonstrated by a majority of responses at or above “Agree.”

Category Three: This category may include such examples of achievement as:

Meet and teach assigned classes regularly as instructor of record.
Teach within area(s) of expertise according to schedule that meets student needs.
Develop syllabi for each class that includes all content that is necessary and required by the university guidelines.
Distribute syllabi to students enrolled in all courses during the first week of class and post syllabi according to department, college, and university requirements.
Schedule, post, and hold office hours as required by the department, college, & university.
Return major assignments according to guidelines in syllabi.
Respond to student communications regarding classes, advising, research, etc. promptly.
Meet with advisees by request and as required by the department, college, and university.
Demonstrate knowledge of current curriculum and graduation requirements, and information on career and postgraduate educational opportunities.
Obtain required department, college, and university required peer teaching evaluations.
Seek consultation on teaching and/or advising from department, college, or university colleagues in support of improving teaching/advising activities.

SCHOLARLY AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

This category represents original intellectual work presented in a public forum for peer review and scrutiny. Scholarship may take many forms including, but not limited to: (a) research contributing to a body of knowledge; (b) creative expression and/or interpretation in the arts; (c) integration of knowledge that leads to new interpretations or applications; or (d) development of new instructional technology, materials, or methods. Thus, the College of Liberal Arts recognizes an expansive vision of scholarship based upon Ernest Boyer’s Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, which defines the following types of scholarship:

the scholarship of discovery—traditional research that generates
the scholarship of integration—connecting knowledge and discovery into larger patterns often transcending disciplinary
the scholarship of application—the rigorous application of academic expertise to problems that affect individuals, institutions, and
the scholarship of teaching—the rigorous application of academic expertise to problems of teaching and to the application of solutions beyond one’s own

For all forms of scholarship, presentation of one’s scholarship in a peer-reviewed venue that is open for public scrutiny is the sine qua non for demonstrating one’s scholarly and creative work. Unless there are compelling considerations, publication in a peer-reviewed venue is the highest academic achievement. Candidates for promotion and/or tenure must provide evidence of:

scholarly
creative presentations/performances.
grants and
applied disciplinary
notable recognition in one’s major area(s) for scholarship and/or creative activities.
serving as the editor of a discipline-respected journal in which the editor’s primary role is editorial review and manuscript selection.
college, university, state, or national awards for scholarly and/or creative

The following items must be included for the area of Scholarly and/or Creative Achievements:

Copies of all published works and/or letters of acceptance for the relevant period, together with external information about the books, journals, or other venues in which the candidate’s work appears and/or about the companies publishing the candidate’s Published work must meet the criteria below to be considered. Other evidence that speaks to the quality or significance of the candidate’s work, such as external reviews and citations of or reference to the candidate’s work by professionals in the field may be included. Only items published or accepted for publication should be included in this category; items submitted for publication, under review at journals or presses, or in the process of being completed are works-in-progress and must be designated as such.
Copies of acceptance letters and/or conference programs for the relevant period for presentations at conferences, together with information on the importance and professional standing of the conference within the candidate’s field(s) of
For unpublished research, non-peer-reviewed publications and presentations and electronic publications, the candidate must provide letters of evaluation from appropriate professional colleagues. Candidates should consult with departmental chairs and/or committees to determine a process for this outside
For grants and contracts, funded and unfunded proposals should be listed separately and be so indicated. The following information should be included for each grant or contract:
1. Name of principal investigator and all co-investigators; title page of grant proposal; name of the funding agency; the amount of funding proposed or awarded; and the period of the grant or contract.

Candidates for promotion and/or tenure must provide evidence of Scholarly and/or Creative Activities. That record must include evidence of publication. For a candidate seeking tenure, the portfolio must include all materials developed since the candidate’s employment. For a candidate seeking promotion, the portfolio must only include those materials that represent the candidate’s achievements in the current rank.

Candidates who claim Exemplary performance in Scholarly and/or Creative Activities must provide evidence of achievements from Publications Category One. In addition, candidates who claim Exemplary performance in Scholarly and/or Creative Activities must provide evidence of achievements from Presentations Category One.

Candidates who claim Professional performance in Scholarly and/or Creative Activities may provide evidence of achievements from Publications Category Two. Candidates who claim Professional performance in Scholarly and/or Creative Activities may provide evidence of achievements from Presentations Category Two and/or Category Three.

For publications, scholarly presentations, and creative presentations/performances, the Greenbook evaluative criteria of number, quality, and importance will apply. It is the candidate’s responsibility to provide information or evidence to demonstrate that these evaluative criteria have been met. In some cases, a candidate may argue that a single scholarly or creative activity may be enough to merit an exemplary rating if they can demonstrate that its scope and magnitude is equivalent to multiple activities if broken down into smaller parts (e.g., full length book manuscript, major grants, etc.).

For relevant disciplines within the humanities and social sciences, applied research is also considered within the categories of Publications and Presentations. The candidate and/or the candidate’s department must provide information on what constitutes applied research in the discipline and how the candidate’s applied research meets those criteria. The candidate and/or department should clearly indicate how the applied research differs from similar activities defined within the category of Service to the Community and thus why/how these activities should be considered as research and not service.

Reassigned time for research and/or research grants may affect a candidate’s achievements in scholarship. Information on reassigned time and/or research grants must be provided.

PUBLICATIONS

Publications in Category One or Category Two (see below) must be published or accepted for publication in peer-reviewed and/or discipline-respected venues. Publications may include electronic journals and multimedia items; the requirements of significant contributions in peer reviewed and/or discipline- respected venues will still apply. Only items published or accepted for publication may be included in this category; items submitted for publication, under review at journals or presses, or in the process of being completed are works in progress and must be designated as such.

The concepts of peer-reviewed and discipline-respected may be demonstrated in several ways beyond the traditional method of editorial review, including but not limited to pre- and post-publication commentaries/reviews by experts in the candidate’s discipline; information on

the significance of the publication venue to the candidate’s discipline; and citations of or references to the item(s) by other scholars or practitioners in the discipline.

It is the candidate’s responsibility to provide information on the journals, presses, or other publication venues to indicate that they conform to these requirements in terms of peer-reviewed and/or discipline-respected venues. Departmental evaluation of the stature of journals, presses, or other publication venues may be included as part of the candidate’s statement.

Publications and applied research in both Category One and Category Two must be related to the candidate’s major field(s) of expertise; interdisciplinary work will be considered as well. It is the candidate’s responsibility to provide evidence to support the relevance of a publication to the candidate’s major field(s) of expertise or to interdisciplinary work, should a question arise.

Category One: This category may include such examples of achievement as:

books or monographs of original scholarship or creative expression published by peer- reviewed and/or discipline-respected presses;
books of secondary scholarship in support of original scholarship or creative expression (such as edited collections, anthologies, bibliographies, translations) published by peer-reviewed and/or discipline-respected presses;
textbooks or multimedia items published with peer-reviewed and/or discipline respected academic or commercial presses/venues;
articles, essays, chapters, or creative works in journals or edited collections published in peer-reviewed and/or discipline-respected venues;
serving as the editor of a discipline-respected journal in which the editor’s primary role is editorial review and manuscript selection;
securing major grants or contracts from state, regional, or national government agencies, businesses, orfoundations;
publications in peer-reviewed or refereed conference proceedings;
book review essays in peer-reviewed and/or discipline respected

Category Two: This category may include such examples of achievement as:

workbooks, instructor’s manuals, or test banks published with discipline respected academic or commercial presses;
articles, essays, or creative works published in non-refereed journals;
articles, essays, or creative works published in non-refereed conference proceedings;
book reviews in refereed or non-refereed venues;
book manuscript reviews for publishing companies;
securing minor grants from state and local agencies, community groups, or foundations;
significant time spent writing and developing major grants or contracts from state, regional, or national government agencies, businesses, or foundations;

Presentations and Other Scholarly/Creative Activities: Presentations in Category One and Category Two and scholarly/creative activities in Category Three must be related to the candidate’s major field(s) of expertise; interdisciplinary works will be considered as well. It is the candidate’s responsibility to provide evidence to support the relevance of presentations in Category One or Two and of other scholarly/creative activities in Category Three to the candidate’s major field(s) of expertise or to interdisciplinary work, should a question arise.

Category One: This category may include such examples of achievement as:

serving as an invited keynote or highlighted speaker at a major conference in the candidate’s field(s) of expertise;
juried presentations at international, national, or major regional conferences;
creative presentations/performances at major venues in the candidate’s field(s) of expertise;
poster presentations at juried

Category Two: This category may include such examples of achievement as:

non-juried presentations at regional, state, or local conferences or meetings;
poster presentations at non-juried or conferences;
serving as a session/workshop chair or commentator at a juried or non-juried conference;
creative presentations/performances at local venues in the candidate’s field(s) of expertise.

Category Three (Other Scholarly/Creative Activities): This category may include such examples of achievements as:

serving as a referee/reviewer for academic journals, granting agencies, and/or conferences;
serving as a consultant for state or regional research projects;
contract research for businesses or organizations;
reports developed from field and/or laboratory work;
reports submitted to contracting authorities or as a consultant to a community group or local

SERVICE[1]

For purposes of Tenure and/or Promotion, the College of Liberal Arts recognizes three areas of Service: University Service, Community Service, and Professional Service. The College of Liberal Arts recognizes that the extent and significance of service roles differ. Thus, the candidate is responsible for explaining and contextualizing their service roles within these three areas. Therefore, the portfolio should include information for three classes of service.

Evidence of Service to the University (including COLA and department service)
Evidence of Community Service
Evidence of Professional Service

Reassigned time for service roles and responsibilities may affect the candidate’s achievements in service, as these roles are compensated. Information on reassigned time must be provided in the portfolio submission.

For all three areas of service, the scope, extent, and significance of the service, as well as its impact upon the University, the candidate’s profession, or the community, will be important

factors in the assessment of the quality and importance of the service, and thus as to whether the service meets the evaluative criteria for Exemplary or for Professional performance.

Category One: This category includes service activities or events that are sustained over the course of at least one academic year, that occur consistently throughout the time of the applicant’s involvement, and for which the applicant played a primary role in the organization or leadership structure.

Category Two: This category includes service activities or events that are sustained over the course of at least one academic semester, that occur consistently throughout the time of the applicant’s involvement, and for which the applicant played an active, but not an organizational or leading role.

Category Three: This category includes service activities that are brief, one-time, or short-term in duration, during which the applicant played an active role and may have served as a representative of their department, college, or the university.

Candidates who claim Exemplary performance in Service must provide evidence of:

A minimum of one Category One achievement;
A minimum of four Category Two achievements;
A minimum of five Category Three achievements

Candidates who claim Professional performance in Service must provide evidence of:

A minimum of four Category Two achievements;
A minimum of four Category Three achievements

Thus, candidates should provide supporting evidence for their service roles and responsibilities within each of the following categories.

University Service may include such examples of achievement as:

making contributions within a department, the College of Liberal Arts, or the University, including service as department chair or COLA Associate Dean;
making contributions to official student organizations or other university-related organizations;
contributing other work on behalf of the student body, faculty, staff, or administration of the University;
receiving College of Liberal Arts or University awards for

For University Service, candidates must provide evidentiary items such as (1) minutes from committee meetings, or (2) summary statements from committee chairs that describe the candidate’s service, or (3) summary statements from the candidate’s chair that describe the candidate’s service role within the department, or (4) summary statements from the appropriate supervisor—e.g., the Dean, the Vice Provost, the Chair of the Faculty Senate—for the candidate’s service, or (5) documentation of the candidate’s service role in relation to official student organizations or other university-related organizations or activities.

Service to the Community may include service on a compensated or pro bono basis to government, educational, business, or civic organizations, or to the public. The College of Liberal Arts follows the Greenbook policy that defines Service to the Community as:

Professional work done for community groups and agencies that is based on faculty members’ expertise. Further, the College of Liberal Arts follows the Greenbook distinction that Service to the Community does not include activities more typically tied to citizenship, such as serving as a poll watcher, volunteering to help at a food bank, church committee work, or serving as an officer in a church group. Also, church, social club, or hobby club activities will not be considered as relevant service for this category unless directly aligned with area of professional expertise. Consequently, service to organizations other than those associated with professional activities shall not be considered as Service to the Community. In terms of evaluation, the scope, significance, and impact of the Service the candidate undertakes will be of paramount importance in the assessment of the quality and importance of the Service to the Community.

This area includes such examples of achievement as:

providing talks, lectures, workshops, presentations, or performances for community groups or organizations;
providing professionally related training sessions to community groups;
serving on professionally related community committees;
serving on a compensated or pro bono basis to government, educational, business, or civic organizations, or to the public;
being involved as an official representative of the University or units thereof in activities of government or of educational, business, or civic organizations;
receiving local, state, regional, or national awards for professionally related community

For professionally related Service to the Community, the candidate must provide evidence of

the service activity and its relation to the candidate’s professional area(s) of expertise. If the service can be documented by printed or multimedia materials this information should be included with the candidate’s application. Evaluation of professionally related service that is community based can be provided by the individuals participating in or benefiting from the service, who can comment upon and assess the quality of the candidate’s service. Such items as letters from these individuals or summaries of evaluative surveys completed by a community group or organization may be included. In a formal statement, the candidate should describe the types of service activities involved, the achievements accomplished, the approximate number of hours contributed to this service by the candidate, and any other relevant information.

Professional Service represents service to the candidate’s discipline through appropriate regionally or nationally recognized professional associations or societies. In terms of evaluation, the scope, significance, and impact of the Service the candidate undertakes will be of paramount importance in the assessment of the quality and importance of the Professional Service and its

impact upon and value to the candidate’s discipline. The candidate should provide information on the roles and responsibilities associated with the candidate’s professional service, including the dates for the periods of service; a summary of professional service activities and service load information; and documentation of the quality as well as of the quantity of professional service.

This area includes such examples of achievement as:

serving as the editor of a discipline-respected journal in which the editor’s primary role does not involve significant editorial review;
serving on the editorial board of a discipline-respected journal;
serving as an officer in a discipline-respected regional or national professional organization;
serving on accreditation visitations and other external evaluation teams;
serving as the Program Chair or Conference Coordinator for major regional or national professionalorganizations;
notable professional recognition in one’s discipline for service to an organization or group;
state, regional, or national awards for professional

For Professional Service, the candidate will provide documentary evidence to support service claims such as (1) serving as the editor of a journal in a discipline-respected professional organization in which the editor’s primary role did not involve editorial review, or (2) serving on the editorial board of a discipline-respected journal, or (3) serving as an officer in a discipline-respected professional organization, or (4) notable professional recognition in one’s discipline for service to an organization or group, or (5) state, regional, or national awards for professional service. The candidate should document the selection process for any offices or positions held. If serving as a journal editor or as a member of an editorial board, the candidate must provide a copy of the journal as well information on the candidate’s periods of service. Information on the candidate’s roles, responsibilities, and periods of service must also be provided for service as an officer in a professional organization.

Administrative Service

Administrative duties typically count as university service. Candidates for tenure or promotion to associate professor must demonstrate professional performance in service, which may include administrative duties, but may not use exemplary performance in service as a basis for tenure or promotion. Administrative duties may preclude achievements in teaching and advising or scholarship and creative activities, exemplary performance in one of which is a Greenbook requirement for tenure or promotion to associate professor. Thus, department chairs and the dean should limit administrative duties for pre-tenure and assistant professors. Candidates may provide evidence that some administrative duties contribute to teaching and advising and/or scholarly and creative activities.

Candidates for promotion to professor must demonstrate professional performance in service, which may include administrative duties, and may use exemplary performance in Service as one element in promotion. Administrative duties, while valued, are not a substitute for achievements in teaching and advising or scholarship and creative activities required by the Greenbook for promotion to professor.

[1] For candidates applying for tenure, service must include evidence of responsible university citizenship, pursuant to Board of Governors policy AA-28.

Paragraph 3.2.6 of said policy states:

University Citizenship encompasses contributions that transcend organizational and disciplinary boundaries and meaningfully influence and benefit all parts of the University community, fostering a culture of engagement.

Exemplary university citizens commit time and energy working with others to foster cooperation and collaboration between and among elements of the institution and its constituents, thus improving and enhancing Marshall University and its sense of community.

The elements of University Citizenship may include but are not limited to: Positive leadership of governance bodies, contributions to disciplinary/professional growth and innovation, furthering civil discourse/intercultural understanding, constructive mentoring of both students and faculty colleagues, and contributions toward achieving a progressive future for the institution.