Third-Year Review
The third-year review should be quite thorough and documented. It is fully described in the Operations Manual, III, 10.1a(4)(b) as follows:
Most initial probationary appointments at The University of Iowa are for three years, with a few of the academic units making shorter initial appointments. To assure that fully informed tenure decisions are made, it seems appropriate to establish a norm of making the tenure decision during the sixth year of probationary service. In some cases, prior related experience coupled with excellence in teaching and research will warrant a shorter probationary period. The establishment of a six-year norm permits a thorough evaluation and gives the faculty member sufficient time to establish a strong record of performance. A candidate for reappointment shall be evaluated under relevant, clearly defined standards of the faculty member's department that were in effect at the time of the faculty member's most recent appointment, promotion, or reappointment. (See III-29.5f(2).)
Annual reviews of the performance of probationary faculty members should be made, with a full-scale departmental-collegiate review during the third year of service. This review should take into account the faculty member's proven teaching effectiveness and research productivity and potential. It also should include an evaluation of departmental, collegiate, and University educational goals and include a determination of the likely role of the faculty member in achieving such goals. Only if an institutional need is found likely to exist for a person with the faculty member's substantive background and only if the faculty member's teaching effectiveness and research productivity and potential are deemed of such a quality that an affirmative tenure decision is likely to be made three years later, should something other than a terminal appointment be tendered. To assure unified decision-making at this point, full central administration review of the departmental-collegiate recommendation is necessary.
The General Counsel’s Offices provides further clarification regarding appointments that follow the third year review.
If the third year review yields a decision to reappoint, that appointment should be for a time that will enable a tenure review, most usually three years. (A reappointment time of less than three years, which would yield a total appointment less than six years, must have been agreed upon at the time of hire or requested by the faculty member; in either case, such an action would need to be cleared through the Office of the Provost.) If the third year review results in a decision that the faculty member is not performing satisfactorily, then a terminal, one-year appointment is given. The one-year appointment is then the final year of employment. The Operations Manual contains very clear language about the third year review and its conduct.
[Go toEvaluation Process page]
