University at Buffalo (UB)
The University at Buffalo is a diverse, inclusive scholarly community dedicated to bringing the benefits of our research, scholarship, creative activities and educational excellence to local, national and global communities in ways that impact and positively change the world. We are committed to excellence in the areas of scholarship, teaching, service and engagement as interdependent endeavors that continually enrich and inform each other. Our research, scholarship and creative activities seek to advance the frontiers of disciplinary, interdisciplinary and applied knowledge; to broaden understanding of the critical social issues and persistent challenges confronting humanity; to foster discourse about our values and responsibilities, about our past, present and future, about our differences and alternative world views, and about enhancing democracy and inclusion; to enrich our communities and to create jobs and opportunities to pursue innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges in the service of the public good.
The university values and recognizes community service research, scholarship, community outreach activities and creative work that has been historically marginalized and suppressed by traditional measurements, metrics, and standards. As a public research university embedded in its community, UB is committed to undertaking research and scholarship that has a positive impact on the various communities—campus, local, national, global, professional, and disciplinary—that we serve. The university values and encourages faculty to undertake research, scholarship and service-related activities that explore and address issues related to the many forms of social injustice, and that seeks to eliminate these social injustices. Such research, scholarship/service may be conducted in collaboration with community and organizational partners and may appear in a variety of forms and outlets. For all research, scholarship, creative and/or professional activities, the work must call upon the faculty member’s academic and/or professional expertise and will be evaluated based on the university’s criteria for excellence.
The selection, evaluation, and promotion of members of the faculty of the State University of New York at Buffalo has major importance for the development of the university as a center of excellence in scholarship and teaching. The definition of two different series of faculty-the professorial and the librarian series-implies a recognition of their somewhat different functions. Hence, somewhat different criteria are necessary for promotion and tenure in these two faculty series.
The basic considerations in assessing the performance of professorial faculty are mastery of subject matter, effectiveness in teaching, scholarly accomplishment, effectiveness of university and professional service, community engagement, and potential for continuing professional growth. The basic considerations in assessing the performance of library faculty are competence in librarianship, contributions to the libraries and their services, scholarly accomplishment, effectiveness of university and professional service, community engagement, and potential for continuing professional growth. The general criteria set forth below indicate the kinds and levels of attainment that candidates for appointment or promotion to the various faculty ranks should have achieved.
These criteria should be considered minimal standards for appointment to or promotion in the university. They are broad enough to cover all but the most unusual of scholarly endeavors pursued within the university. Promotion standards developed by an individual department, school, or faculty in response to the presidential directive of November 9, 1983, are for the use of that department or school and for the information of all faculty to whom they apply and all higher faculty review bodies. The directive states that information shall be gathered periodically "from the most distinguished public universities in the country concerning academic standards in use in the several disciplines." They will be received and reviewed by the provost, and submitted to the President's Review Board and the president, as a statement of a special element of the department, or school/faculty process, and as contextual guidelines regarding the evaluation of faculty members for appointment, promotion, and tenure, and must be made available to the faculty in those units. In extraordinary circumstances, full presidential approval may be granted to a set of standards developed by a school or faculty.
Additional guidelines may be found within the SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees, Articles XI and XII and in the Collective Bargaining Agreement with UUP, Articles 30 - 33. See also: Guiding Principles for Promotion & TenureDownload pdf(208 KB)