There are some technical requirements for tenure. Generally the faculty member must possess a terminal degree. In addition, the faculty member must have served a particular length of time (usually six years) at the rank of assistant professor, although this can be negotiated. There are also some specific requirements that will vary from institution to institution.
But at most universities, including my own, the requirements for tenure fall into three broad areas: teaching, research, and service. There is also an unwritten category generally called collegiality.
In my school, teaching is an absolute prerequisite for tenure. You can be weak in one or more of the other areas and still get tenure. But if you are weak in the classroom, it is very, very difficult. At research institutions, other areas are paramount, but at many smaller Liberal Arts institutions, teaching is the main mission of the university.
Teaching is, however, notoriously difficult to measure. Basically we attempt to measure teaching by student surveys and by peer evaluations. Student surveys are very flawed mechanisms (for example they presuppose that students know good teaching when they see it!). But they do show at least the student perception of the teacher. Peer evaluations occur when a senior level faculty member observes a junior faculty member actually teach a class. These evaluations are less helpful as they are very artificial. The whole classroom dynamic changes when there is an observer present.
Oh and there is also http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/. The teaching profession really hates that website.
1 comment:
What Taran did not mention is the all-important "hotness factor." Ratemyprofessor.com includes a category for "hotness" (of course denoted by a chile pepper next to your name), and let's just say that Dr. Taran has had more than one chile pepper after his name since the inception of this on-line rating device, if you know what I mean. I have no doubt that your tenure is in the bag.
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