Message to USC Faculty
From: Charles F. Zukoski, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Appointment, promotion and tenure are vital processes in sustaining and growing academic excellence. The University Committee on Appointments, Promotion and Tenure, UCAPT, publishes a manual describing the university’s processes and criteria. This year’s manual has been finalized and will be available at policy.usc.edu. The processes laid out in this manual are important components of shared governance. All faculty considering promotion and members of all faculty review committees should read it carefully.
This edition was produced with advice of the UCAPT, as well as feedback from department chairs and deans of faculty. It addresses questions and points of clarification raised since the last edition, and strives for continued improvement, transparency, and readability.
Substantive changes in this edition include:
- Sections 1 and 2 of the 2017 Manual were switched for clarity and maximum readability: “Standards” come first, followed by “Process” in the 2022 version.
- Sections 4 and 6 of the 2017 Manual were merged per related content and efficiency: Full Professor promotions and Senior Lateral appointments are together in the 2022 version.
- 2.1.2 “Two no rule” policy has been updated per changes since 2017.
- 2.4 “Misconduct Charges” section has been updated per changes since 2017.
- Section 5 now includes criteria and process for the “Teaching Professor with Distinction” special RTPC designation, per the 2018 initiative.
- 7.2.1 “Cohort analysis” explanation and example outline provided per UCAPT and school requests.
- 7.4.1 “COVID-19 Impact” has been added to the personal statement section of the dossier contents, per current practice.
- 7.7.4 “Organization of Reviewer Letter Section of Dossier” language clarified per current practice and requests.
- 7.8.2 “Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness” dossier appendix information updated per practice and policy changes since 2017.
- Section 8 templates updated, with gender-inclusive language.
- Appendix checklist and evaluation sheet updated.
We are proud of the work that has been done to hire excellent faculty at all levels, and thank you for the support and mentoring of our junior faculty, particularly as we navigate the COVID era. The success of our junior faculty is reflected in an 86% tenure rate of the 439 tenure-track faculty who completed the UCAPT process between 2006 and 2020. There were no statistically significant differences in tenure outcomes based on gender or race.
UCAPT is a rotating committee of some of our best faculty. Each panel is diverse by field, intellectual approach, gender, and ethnicity. Annually we publish the names of those who have served in the previous two years, and as a community, we need to honor their service to USC and the standards they uphold. We are grateful for the careful, thoughtful, and fair service of our colleagues on the committee, as their efforts are vital to USC’s continued excellence and growth.
cc: Office of the President
Academic Deans
President’s Senior Leadership Team
Provost’s Leadership Team
Academic Senate
Staff Assembly
GSG President
USG President