Promotion, Tenure, Reappointment, and Post-Tenure Review for Full-Time Faculty

Promotion and Tenure Materials

Please visit the Promotion and Tenure at UMaine page of the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost website for the most up-to-date Tenure and Promotion application and supporting documents. Available resources include:

• Promotion and tenure application form and process documents
• Departmental Evaluation Criteria
• Promotion and tenure timetable and administrative guidelines
• Recent Promotion and Tenure events
• Link to UMS Promotion and Tenure Website

Additional Promotion and Tenure Materials

• Tenure and Promotion FAQ’s
• CLAS Promotion and Tenure Checklist
• CLAS Guidelines for External Review Letters
• CLAS Guidance on Disclosure of P&T External Review Letters
• Teaching Evaluation Template
• CLAS Guidance on Review of Faculty
• Guidance on the Implementation of Revised Departmental Evaluation Criteria
• Tenure/Reappointment Application Instructions

Reappointment Materials (tenure-track and lecturer)

Tenure-track faculty: please utilize the Promotion and Tenure application form (available at the Promotion and Tenure at UMaine page of the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost website).

Lecturers: please utilize the CLAS Lecturer Reappointment Application Form.

• Reappointment Process for Faculty
• Faculty Reappointment Timetable

Post-Tenure Review (PTR)

Post-tenure review is a quadrennial evaluation of performance, for tenured faculty and lecturers with just-cause status.

• Post-Tenure Review
• PTR Overview and Timeline for CLAS Faculty
• CLAS Guidance on Post-Tenure Review of Administrators

Independent Study

Chairs/Directors: If any AFUM member in your unit is teaching an Independent Study during a fall or spring semester, you will need to submit an Independent Study Course Approval Form to clas@maine.edu. Forms should not be submitted for summer Independent Studies or for Independent Studies conducted by non-represented faculty members, such as department chairs. Please consult the Dean’s Office prior to arranging for PATFA members (including professors emeriti) to offer an Independent Study.

Once the Dean’s Office notifies you of eligibility for compensation, your department must also initiate overload payment through the SmartSheet payroll system.

Payment is not required if the Independent Study is either in-load for the faculty member or contributes to the faculty member’s research program.

The University of Maine policy concerning compensation for independent instruction can be found here.

Request for Sabbatical or Unpaid Leave

The application process for university sabbatical funding occurs once per year, with a deadline in February. While AFUM guidelines stipulate only a six-month notice, there will be no central funding for spring-semester sabbatical requests that miss the February deadline, even if the request meets the AFUM deadline.

Sabbaticals are not an entitlement and may be denied. To facilitate approval, the faculty statement submitted must address in sufficient detail every question (a-e) on the request form. 

Providing a detailed plan for coverage of the faculty member’s responsibilities is crucial to the support of the leave. Chairs/Directors should use the Proposed Leave Coverage Plan Form for this purpose. A separate chair’s letter is unnecessary, though a Peer Committee recommendation is required for sabbatical requests. The Peer Committee recommendation should address the merits of the proposed activities to be conducted during the sabbatical.

• Leave Coverage Plan
• Sabbatical Request Guidelines
• UMS Sabbatical Request Form

Resources for Family and Medical Leave, “Stop the Clock” Extensions, and Alternative Duties

The University of Maine supports faculty and staff who have parenting responsibilities or personal circumstances that require them to take time away from work. Resources and options include:

• Family and medical leave (FML): AFUM faculty may use up to 60 days of accrued sick/disability leave as parental leave. More information about other applicable leave options may be obtained by contacting the Employee Benefits Center. Employees taking FML are not responsible for arranging coverage of their responsibilities during their leave. The Dean’s Office (not the department) funds replacement teaching, as needed, for faculty on FML.
• “Stop the clock.” There are two forms of “stop the clock” extension for tenure-track faculty members: one for birth, childrearing, or adoption; and one for other life circumstances. For birth, childrearing, or adoption, the faculty member claims the stopped clock through notification; there is no approval process required. For other life circumstances, the stopped clock request follows the approval process on the form. Forms may be submitted until September 1 of the academic year in which the extension will apply (i.e., the year the faculty member must apply for tenure). Evaluation for tenure is based on the same criteria regardless of whether the clock has been stopped. Note: A faculty member who was on the tenure track for six years due to a stopped clock does not have to meet a higher standard than a faculty member with five years on the tenure track. The forms are here:
  • Notification: Stopping the Tenure Clock for purposes of childbirth, childrearing, or adoption.
  • Request to Stop the Tenure Clock for Exceptional Life Circumstances.
• Alternatives to teaching: This option is available following the birth or adoption of a child. It enables a new parent to replace some or all of their teaching duties with other, less rigidly scheduled responsibilities for a semester. Faculty members claiming alternative duties are not responsible for arranging coverage of their teaching duties during their leave.

A faculty member may choose to take advantage of one, two, or all three of these options, as warranted by their circumstances. For assistance, please contact the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Administration at clas@maine.edu or the Employee Benefits Center.