Organizational Plans
Every department is required to have an approved organizational plan (OP) that governs the formation and activities of its Committee on Appointments and Committee on Renewals, Promotions, and Tenure.
It must also contain the basic procedures stipulated by the Provost’s Advisory Committee (PAC) for the promotion process. Departments are required to provide a statement that includes disciplinary criteria for promotion in the OP. These statements should sketch in broad strokes the expectations that we have for promotion to a specified rank at Notre Dame. The statements may be viewed as interpretations of the official standards in the Academic Articles in specific and disciplinary terms. They should be clear, for the sake of both the external reviewers and the members of PAC, and will become part of the official packet for promotion cases. The statements should also explain how departments evaluate interdisciplinary research and less conventional scholarly contributions such as textbooks, computer software publications, translations, or creative work.
The OP should reflect the unit’s specific procedures for evaluating teaching, congruent with the ACPET Guidelines.
Probationary faculty members should be informed of the requirements for tenure, relevant timetables and deadlines, and the process of evaluation. Each new faculty member should receive a copy of the department’s OP.
The OP should be regularly reviewed. Revised OPs are submitted to the divisional associate dean. After preliminary approval, they are sent to the Dean and the Provost for final approval. Documents do not become legally binding until they have the signatures of the chairperson and the Dean.