To: OSU Faculty
From: Edward Feser, Provost and Executive Vice President
April 1, 2020
Dear Colleagues,
SUMMARY
- Upon request, all tenure track faculty on probationary status automatically will be granted a one-year tenure clock extension per the guidelines below.
- The inclusion of spring 2020 student teaching evaluations (eSET scores) in annual PROF reviews and promotion and tenure dossiers is optional.
TENURE CLOCK EXTENSION
OSU faculty are making rapid and significant adjustments to their typical work practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and OSU’s shift to remote instructional delivery for spring 2020 term. These adjustments are essential to the continued progress and academic success of undergraduate and graduate students and the health and safety of all members of the university community. However, in some cases, faculty members’ teaching schedules and modes, research and creative work, and extension and engagement activities have been seriously disrupted. Those disruptions may have particularly significant implications for those faculty working toward tenure and promotion within a specified and mandatory time period.
In response, OSU will approve automatically a one-year extension of probationary periods for all eligible tenure-track faculty who request that extension. All tenure-track faculty who are in their probationary period during the 2020 spring term, and who currently are not being reviewed in the 2019-20 cycle, are eligible. Faculty members who already have been granted a tenure clock extension are eligible for this additional one-year extension.
Faculty members whose mandatory tenure review is scheduled for the academic year (AY) 2020-21 must request the tenure clock extension no later than May 1, 2020. Faculty members whose mandatory tenure review occurs in AY 2021-22 or later have until May 1, 2021, to request a COVID-19 extension. Details about the request process are provided here.
TEACHING EVALUATIONS FOR SPRING 2020
Given the rapid transition to remote teaching and the associated disruptions noted above, the inclusion of student teaching evaluations (eSET scores) in annual PROF reviews and promotion and tenure dossiers for all courses taught during the spring 2020 term is optional. Faculty members will have the discretion to include or exclude spring 2020 eSET scores in their reviews and dossiers, without prejudice with respect to their annual review or tenure review. This applies to all courses delivered in spring 2020 term, including Ecampus courses.
The university arrived at these decisions after consulting the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and college leadership. I am especially grateful to Faculty Senate leaders for their partnership and guidance around these matters and a great many others related to OSU’s COVID-19 response.
Please direct any questions about these changes to Senior Vice Provost Susan Capalbo. Thank you for all you are doing to support OSU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and your continued commitment to outstanding research and scholarship, teaching, extension and engagement.
Sincerely,
Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President