Because tenure has consequences of long life and great magnitude, it should be awarded only when the best interest of the University of Illinois is clearly served by doing so. This is the overriding criterion. For each individual ultimately recommended for promotion and tenure, the faculty of the unit, through procedures defined in the unit s by-laws, develop a recommendation. For the recommendation to advance, the executive officer must endorse the recommendation and submit documentation supporting and explaining the recommendation. The process takes most of the academic year because each recommendation for promotion or tenure is reviewed at multiple levels, including the home unit and at each successive unit in the reporting chain up through the campus level.
Every case is reviewed by at least two levels.
The Provost makes the final decision, with advice from the Campus Committee on Promotion and Tenure and the Dean of the Graduate College. The University s Statutes also provide that faculty members may present grievances to the Faculty Advisory Committee. The expectations of excellence implicit in the procedures laid out in this document also apply to all candidates proposed for appointments with tenure at the University of Illinois. Promotion and tenure committees above the level of an individual s unit judge how well the case has been made either for the granting of indefinite tenure or for promotion. It is the overall quality of the candidate s record and the accompanying documentation, rather than the length of the dossier or the claims made for the significance of any single piece of work, that determines the final outcome.