On occasion, the university seeks to hire exceptional tenured faculty members whose credentials have been established through promotion and tenure processes at other research institutions that, like the University of Oregon, rely on peer review through national and international research communities.

Expedited tenure makes it possible to streamline the university’s tenure decisions for already tenured faculty (either full professors or associate professors who have been in that rank for a minimum of three years) to be brought in at no greater than their current rank. For a current associate professor to be considered for appointment as a full professor will require the full promotion and tenure process. Expedited tenure provides the university with leverage when seeking to hire tenured faculty members. It is governed by the expedited tenure policy.

Process

Following the decision to hire the faculty member, the hiring unit (or tenure home in the case of senior administrative hires) will review the hiring dossier of the candidate.

• In the case of candidates already at the rank of full professor, full professors in the unit will vote on whether or not the candidate should be granted tenure at the rank of full professor through the expedited tenure process. They also may decide to waive the requirement that the full dossier and completed case report be returned to the unit for a second vote at the end of the process.
• In the case of candidates who have been at the rank of associate professor for at least three years, associate and full professors in the unit will vote on whether or not the candidate should be granted tenure at the rank of associate professor through the expedited process. (Units considering candidates who have not been tenured associate professors for a minimum of three years will need to utilize a standard tenure review.) In the case of faculty members appointed at the rank of associate professor, units may not waive the requirement that the full dossier and completed case report be returned to the unit for a second vote at the end of the process.

Should the faculty vote in favor of utilizing the expedited process, the unit head will report the faculty vote to the dean of the school or college. If the dean agrees with the decision, the case will be forwarded to the Office of the Provost (OtP). This process will be accomplished within ten working days.

In cases where the hiring unit and dean choose to pursue expedited tenure, the dean’s office will provide the dossier to OtP for consideration by the Expedited Tenure Review Committee (ETRC). The ETRC is a subcommittee of the university’s Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC) designated to review expedited tenure cases.

The dossier compiled by the dean’s office and sent to the OtP should include:

1. Documentation of the vote by eligible faculty in favor of using the expedited process and documentation of the dean’s support for using the expedited process.
2. The candidate’s signed and dated CV and a brief signed candidate's statement.
3. A signed and dated waiver letter indicating the candidate’s chosen waiver status for the expedited tenure review.
4. A sample of relevant research materials from the candidate, including at least one or two items from the recent past.
5. A quantitative assessment of the candidate’s work and impact, if available.
6. A brief statement of expected duties; please make special note of any conditions of employment that depart from the typical balance of teaching, research, and service responsibilities for tenured faculty members in the unit.
7. Teaching evaluations for positions with significant teaching responsibilities.
8. Three of the letters of recommendation provided by the candidate in the course of the search process, if a search was conducted. If these letters were not provided by the candidate, or if no search was conducted, the hiring unit and school/college are responsible for obtaining 3 external reviews. These reviews should have been solicited, but not necessarily obtained and in hand, before the dossier is sent to OtP.
   1. In cases where the hiring unit and school/college must solicit external review letters, external reviewers shall be provided with the following materials: the candidate's signed, dated CV and statement; a sample of relevant research materials from the candidate, including at least one or two items from the recent past; a quantitative assessment of the candidate's work and impact, if available.
9. A list of at least four potential external reviewers; none should overlap with any of the candidate-provided letters of recommendation from the search process or, when no search was conducted, external reviews solicited by the hiring unit and school/college. External reviewers should be independently selected and meet the usual standards for external reviewers in the promotion and tenure process at the University of Oregon (e.g., leaders in the candidate’s field or subfield, at comparable universities, without close relationships with the candidate).

The ETRC will:

Obtain a minimum of two external reviews (and normally no more than two external reviews) selected from the list supplied by the hiring unit and dean and not including anyone listed among the candidate’s references. These external reviewers shall be provided with the following materials: the candidate's signed, dated CV and statement; a sample of relevant research materials from the candidate, including at least one or two items from the recent past; a quantitative assessment of the candidate's work and impact, if available

1. Reviewers will be solicited in writing via email with the template provided. The evaluation may be submitted via email, or conducted by phone, Zoom, or other direct means of communication by one or more member of the ETRC. If direct communication is utilized, the reference must be documented in writing or captured in audio/video format so that it can be included in the documentary record and be made available to the full Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC) and the provost.
2. In the case of every faculty member appointed at the rank of associate professor, following the ETRC’s vote and recommendation, OtP will send the full dossier and its completed case report, which shall include all information upon which the recommendation has been made, to the hiring unit. The relevant members of the unit, as specified by the unit governance documents, shall have five business days after receipt of the dossier to vote again on the use of the expedited process and notify the ETRC about any changes to the unit vote.
3. In the case of faculty members appointed at the rank of full professor, following the ETRC’s vote and recommendation, OtP will send the full dossier and its completed case report, which shall include all information upon which they the recommendation has been made, to the hiring unit if the hiring unit has requested that. Units have the discretion to waive this requirement for faculty members appointed at the rank of full professor.
4. Units that elect or are required to review the final dossier will have five business days to notify the ETRC of any change in its vote or its decision to use the expedited tenure process.
5. After five days (and in light of any change of vote from the unit), the ETRC will either recommend expedited tenure to the provost or recommend that the candidate be reviewed by the full promotion and tenure process.

The provost makes the final decision regarding the awarding of tenure.

The FPC will include information about the number of all expedited tenure cases considered over the course of the year in its annual report to the University of Oregon Senate.