Memo to: Members of the General Faculty
From: The Committee of Counsel on Academic Freedom and Responsibility (CCAFR)
Re: Post-Tenure Review
Date: November 2, 2009
Post-Tenure Review (PTR) applies to all tenured members of the faculty, regardless of the positions they currently hold. PTR affirms all current University and System commitments to tenure, academic freedom, due process, and good cause for dismissal. There is to be no linkage between PTR and review of tenured faculty for possible dismissal; the link, rather, is to professional rewards and to faculty development where appropriate. PTR is intended to build on what currently works, the annual reviews conducted by individual departments and schools, and thus to minimize bureaucracy and the time spent evaluating and being evaluated, and to make the review process regular and routine. Faculty are to be given six months notice to prepare for the review and sufficient opportunity to provide input. In addition, the results of the review are to be given to faculty in writing, and they are to have opportunity to respond before any recommendation is made from the department or school to the next administrative level.
Committee of Counsel on Academic Freedom and Responsibility (CCAFR) monitors the PTR process and receives reports of faculty problems and concerns, recommending changes in PTR as needed. The table at the end of this memo, Summary of Post-Tenure Reports for UT-Austin, 1998-2009, provides a quantitative overview of PTR results since its inception at UT–Austin. The Report employs the categories required by the University of Texas System.
Electronic versions of all the major documents concerning post-tenure review are located at http://www.utexas.edu/provost/policies/post_tenure/. The link “Current Post-Tenure Review Procedures” provides the timetable for post-tenure review, and also has links to “Annual Review and Periodic Evaluation of Tenured Faculty—HOP Section 3.14,” and to “UT System Regents’ Rules Series 31102Evaluation of Tenured Faculty.”
Faculty may also wish to consult an issue of “Academe” (September/October 1998, pp. 61-7) which contains the response of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to post-tenure review. A briefer version is available on–line at: http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/contents/PTR.html. We believe that The University of Texas at Austin’s process conforms to the AAUP’s guidelines regarding post-tenure review.
In addition to consulting these documents, please feel free to contact any member of CCAFR to express any concerns you might have regarding the PTR process at UT.
| Members, 2009-2010: | ||
| Friedman, Alan W. | 2009-2011 | professor, English |
| Hart, Hillary | 2009-2011 | Distinguished senior lecturer, civil, architectural, and environmental engineering |
| Lawler, Desmond F. | 2009-2011 | professor, civil, architectural, and environmental engineering |
| Odell, Edward T. (Ted) | 2008-2010 | professor, mathematics |
| Ortiz, Alba A. | 2008-2010 | professor, special education |
| Palaima, Thomas G. | 2009-2011 | professor, classics |
| Rabban, David M. | 2009-2010 | professor, law |
| Staiger, Janet | 2008-2010 | professor, radio-television-film |
Faculty Council Appointees: |
||
| Dorn, Edwin | 2009-2010 | professor, public affairs |
| Evans, Brian L. | 2009-2010 | professor, electrical and computer engineering |
| Year | Total | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | Resigned | Retired | Died |
| 1998/1999 | 197 | 189 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 1999/2000 | 196 | 188 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2000/2001 | 191 | 175 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 1 |
| 2001/2002 | 173 | 161 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 2002/2003 | 148 | 139 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 2003/2004 | 139 | 132 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2004/2005 | 195 | 180 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| 2005/2006 | 199 | 176 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2006/2007 | 191 | 174 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| 2007/2008 | 186 | 179 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 2008/2009 | 173 | 167 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| # Faculty | 1988 | 1860 | 40 | 22 | 56 | 11 |
| % Faculty | 100% | 93.6% | 2.0% | 1.1% | 2.8% | 0.5% |
Office of the General Faculty
The University of Texas at Austin
West Mall Building, Room 2.102
P. O. Box 7816
Austin, TX 78713-7816
Office: (512) 471-5934
FAX: (512) 471-5984
Email: fc@uts.cc.utexas.edu
URL: http://www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/
