Post-Tenure Review (PTR) is a systematic process that provides for the periodic, comprehensive review of the performance of all faculty members having tenure. Its purpose is to recognize and affirm the importance of tenure and ensure that faculty members effectively serve the needs of students and the university throughout their careers.
Around 1999, the UT Board of Trustees established a policy stipulating that there shall be comprehensive, formal, cumulative performance reviews of all tenured faculty members to promote faculty development and to ensure professional vitality. Known then as the Sixth-Year Cumulative Performance Review, this process occurred for a few short years before it was halted and removed from the UT Health Science Center Faculty Handbook.
As a result of the above policy, UT Health Science Center’s faculty and administration collaborated to implement a PTR process consistent with the University of Tennessee (UT) system policy and guidelines, and that fits the needs of our campus. The President recommended the UTHSC procedures to the Board in November 2018, resulting in a vote of approval and the implementation of PTR in the 2019-2020 academic year.
To learn more about the UT Health Science Center PTR Process for Faculty, please read Appendix O, Page 134-143, provided in the UT Health Science Center Faculty Handbook.
PTR 2024 Faculty Member Orientation (Online via Zoom)
Meet One-On-One with the UTHSC Faculty Affairs and DM Administrator
The key responsibilities of the faculty member being reviewed include:
Once PTR Committee members are selected, they first complete the required PTR training. Then they select their committee’s chair who will have responsibility for the following:
The committee then gathers appropriate information, assesses its implications, and formulates a coherent evaluation of performance. The group then compiles its findings into a report, which includes an assessment of each relevant area of the faculty member’s performance, ultimately providing two determinations, with supporting reasons for their conclusions:
The PTR Committee must provide their recommendations in writing using a standard format prepared by the chief academic officer. Once completed, the PTR Committee provides its report to the faculty member under review, his or her department chair/division chief, dean, and chief academic officer.
The key responsibilities of a department chair/division chief include:
If it is agreed that the faculty member’s performance does “not satisfy expectations,” the Department Chair/Division Chief will engage the faculty member in the early stages of development of the PTR Improvement Plan that will be evaluated quarterly for a minimum of four quarters and then evaluated as part of the faculty member’s next annual performance review. More details on the PTR Improvement Plan are provided as an additional training module, in the event a plan is required.
The typical key responsibilities of a college dean include:
The typical key responsibilities of the chief academic officer include:
The Chancellor makes an independent determination to concur, or not, with the chief academic officer’s determination. In those instances where a faculty member under review appeals a conclusion with which she or he disagrees, the Chancellor will hear the appeal.
Each PTR Committee member must be an active tenured full-time faculty member who is at the same or higher academic rank, and whose locus of tenure is at UT Health Science Center.
The faculty member will nominate three (3) committee members:
The department chair will nominate (6) committee members to serve on the PTR Committee for the faculty member under review:
