The Granting of Tenure. (a) With the exception of Professors referred to in paragraph (c) of section 5.1 above, “Classes of Appointment”, Professors shall be granted tenure on appointment. (b) A person appointed to, or promoted to, the rank of Associate Professor shall be granted tenure on appointment upon the recommendation of a tenure committee or be given a three-year appointment. In the latter case he or she shall be considered for tenure in the third year of appointment and shall be notified of the result not later than April 15 of that year. If the candidate's consent is obtained in writing, he or she may be considered for tenure earlier. In any case, the regular procedures for consideration of tenure shall be followed. (i) The Assistant Professor rank should be the normal starting point for a person beginning a university career of research and teaching. Evidence of candidates' teaching ability or potential, and assessments of their promise of future intellectual and professional development, should be sought and considered when making such appointments. To qualify for appointment to the rank of Assistant Professor or above, the candidate should be required to show evidence of his or her ability to undertake independent scholarly activity, such as the successful completion of a doctoral program or other scholarly or professional work regarded by the College as equivalent; a candidate who does not so qualify should not be appointed to the Rank of Assistant Professor or above, but might receive appointment as Assistant Professor (Conditional). (ii) Any member of the teaching staff enrolled in a doctoral program at any university and appointed with the expectation that the Ph.D. degree or its equivalent will be conferred must remain at the Assistant Professor (Conditional) rank until the degree is conferred or until he or she indicates that the formal doctoral program has been abandoned and is able to show evidence of satisfactory scholarly work. Successful completion of a doctoral program or other scholarly or professional work regarded by the college and/or department as equivalent would make the member of the teaching staff eligible for an appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor. A member of the teaching staff should not serve more than six years, including a terminal year, at the Assistant Professor (Conditional) rank. Assistant Professors (Conditional) should receive annual contracts terminable on not less than six months written notice. (iii) On initial appointment an Assistant Professor should receive a three- year contract and it should be clearly understood that Victoria University is under no obligation to renew the contract when it expires. The performance of a member of the teaching staff holding such a contract should be reviewed, no earlier than May 1 of the second year of the contract, by a committee recommended by the Principal and appointed by the President. Where the Principal so recommends and the President approves, an Assistant Professor may be given an initial appointment of up to five years, with a performance review no earlier than May 1 of the penultimate year of the contract. (a) Has the appointee's performance been sufficiently satisfactory for a second probationary appointment to be recommended? (b) If reappointment is recommended, what counsel should be given to the appointee to assist him or her to improve areas of weakness and maintain areas of strength? The procedures of the review committee should be made known to the appointee. Course evaluations should be considered; if additional signed opinions of individual students are available these should also be considered. Written comments from other members of Victoria University and the Toronto School of Theology and its departments and the University of Toronto, as appropriate, formally or informally acquainted with the appointee's teaching or scholarship, should be solicited. The appointee should be asked to submit an account of research, publication, and/or creative professional activity which has been completed or undertaken since the time of initial appointment; however, lack of substantial achievement in this area since appointment should not, in itself, be a cause for non-renewal of contract. Notice that the contract will or will not be renewed on the following July 1 must be given in writing no later than September 25. If requested, a written statement of reasons for a decision to recommend that a contract not be renewed shall be supplied, within one week of such a request, by the chair of the review committee. (iv) A decision not to renew a contract may be appealed by a member of the teaching staff holding an initial three-year appointment as Assistant Professor, only on one or more of the following grounds: (a) a significant irregularity in the procedure followed by the review committee; (b) an unreasonable inconsistency in the application of the current standards of the college or department; or (c) improper bias or motive on the part of a member of the review committee. The appeal will be considered by the Principal, or if the Principal was a member of the review committee, by a senior faculty member appointed by the President. If the appeal is not granted, written reasons shall be provided to the candidate. The candidate may appeal as the final step to the President, whose disposition of the matter shall be conclusive. If an Assistant Professor is granted a renewal of his or her contract, that renewal should be for a period of up to two years, and he or she must be considered for tenure in the terminal year of this contract. The length of the contract may vary from case to case, particularly if previous service at the rank of Assistant Professor (Conditional) at Victoria University or at an equivalent rank at another university is to be taken into account in establishing an earlier date for consideration of tenure. At the time of making an appointment to the Assistant Professor rank, it is the responsibility of the Principal to reach an explicit understanding with the member of the teaching staff as to the time at which tenure will be considered. (v) In exceptional circumstances, a candidate may be considered for tenure earlier than provided for in (iv) above but only if the consent of the candidate is obtained in writing. No Assistant Professor should be granted tenure until he or she has served a minimum of three years at this University at the Assistant Professor rank. No later than April 15 of the final year of the probationary period, the candidate should be considered for tenure and notified of the result. With the consent of the candidate and the approval of the President, consideration for tenure may be delayed for one year but not more than two years, to accommodate a maternity leave, or for reasons of a severe personal circumstance such as a serious illness.
Appears in 2 contracts