Source of Procedures
These Procedures derive from the University’s Statement of Policy with Regard to Academic Appointment and Tenure and must conform to that Policy. In the event of a discrepancy or perceived discrepancy between the two, the Statement of Policy governs. Any change to the Procedures that would be inconsistent with the Statement of Policy may only be made if the Statement of Policy is also revised in relevant part, upon approval by the Board of Trustees after recommendation by the Academic Affairs Committee. Additionally, whenever the Statement of Policy is revised, corresponding changes to the Procedures must be made where the Procedures would otherwise conflict with the revised Statement of Policy.

Preamble
The faculty members of the American University of Beirut (AUB) have a responsibility to their academic disciplines, to the University, and to the community to strive for superior intellectual, aesthetic, or creative achievement, in accordance with the mission of the University. AUB faculty members are expected to conduct their work with honesty, integrity, and objectivity. Full engagement in the objective assessment of colleagues at times of promotion and reappointment, with the aim of achieving ever higher levels of excellence, is one of the most critical responsibilities of all members of the University faculty.
The University is committed to providing its faculty members with an environment that supports the educational mission of the University. When being considered for promotion, faculty members shall be evaluated in the following areas, judged according to the following criteria: research, teaching, and service to the University and the broader community. Research and teaching will generally be given greater weight than service.

Appointment, Reappointment and Promotions
A new appointment to the professorial ranks shall only be made after an international search. Appointments to the professorial ranks shall normally be made after application in writing by the individual concerned; review and recommendation by qualified members of the Department/Track, including the Chair/Convener; consideration and recommendation by the Dean, after consultation with the Faculty Advisory Committee; and consideration and recommendation of the Provost after consultation with the academic Deans. The Provost makes appointments to the rank of Assistant Professor upon the recommendation of the Dean. Initial appointments to the ranks of Associate Professor and Professor shall be made by the Board of Trustees, upon the recommendation of the President, after consultation with the Dean and the Provost.

Reappointments of all professorial level faculty members must be reviewed and recommended by qualified members of the Department/Track, including the Chair/Convener; consideration and recommendation by the Dean, after consultation with the Faculty Advisory Committee; consideration and recommendation by the Provost after consultation with the academic Deans; and approval by the President. Reappointments are made by the Provost, with approval by the President. Candidates for reappointment must not be present during these discussions. All deliberations must be kept strictly confidential.

Promotions in the professorial ranks shall normally be made after application in writing by the individual concerned, be thereafter reviewed, and recommended by qualified members of the Department/Track, including the Chair/Convener, be considered and recommended by the Dean, after consultation with the expanded Faculty Advisory Committee, and then recommended by the Provost after consultation with the academic Deans. Promotion to the ranks of Associate Professor and Professor shall be made by the Board of Trustees, upon the recommendation of the President, after consultation with the Provost.

If promotion criteria are not met, or if candidates elect not to apply for promotion within the maximum designated period for the promotion cycle, candidates may be either terminated by the end of the year following the application for promotion or, at the discretion of the Provost, and upon the recommendation of the Departments and the Dean, may be appointed to a new position with a one-year contract. Individuals engaged under such a contract may retain their Assistant or Associate Professor titles, but they will have been removed from the University’s promotion cycle and cannot apply for promotion or vote on Departmental promotion and appointment cases. They will retain voting privileges in the Department except on matters of faculty appointment and promotion. Such appointments carry no long-term obligation by the University. The Departments and Deans of the Faculty are expected to reevaluate the vacant lines annually in terms of the priorities and needs of the Departments, with a possibility that the lines could be re-allocated.

Period of Appointment or Reappointment
Assistant Professors are normally appointed for an initial term of up to four years and, if subsequently reappointed to a second term of three years, will normally be notified not later than June 30th of the sixth year of cumulative service in rank at the University that, unless promoted by the end of the seventh year to the rank of Associate Professor, then the eighth year of appointment as Assistant Professor shall be terminal. However, at the discretion of the Provost and upon recommendation of the Departments and the Dean, the individual concerned may be appointed as Assistant Professor with a one-year contract.

Associate Professors will normally be appointed for a period of seven years. Alternatively, at the recommendation of the Dean and the Provost, they may be appointed for a period of three years, renewable for a term or terms not to exceed a total of ten years in rank. Associate Professors must apply for promotion no later than the beginning of the seventh year in this rank. If appointed to a subsequent term of three years, they must apply again for promotion no later than the beginning of the tenth year in rank. They will be notified not later than June 30th of the ninth year in this rank that, unless promoted to full Professor by the end of the tenth year, the eleventh year of appointment as Associate Professor shall be terminal. However, at the discretion of the Provost and upon recommendation of the Departments and the Dean, the individual concerned may be appointed as Associate Professor with a one-year contract.

Full Professors will normally be appointed for a period of seven years, renewable for three, seven, or ten years, at the recommendation of the Dean and Provost. They will be notified not later than June 30th of the penultimate year of the current contract in this rank that, unless reappointed to the rank of Professor by the end of the final year, the subsequent year of appointment as Professor shall be terminal. However, at the discretion of the President and upon recommendation of the Dean and the Provost, the individual concerned may be appointed as Professor with a one-year contract.

In exceptional cases, the promotion cycle may be delayed (―stopping the clock‖) due to health issues of a serious nature, humanitarian grounds, or significant involvement in administrative duties at the University. The cumulative service period governing consideration for promotion shall automatically be extended for the duration of maternity leave, unless a request to the contrary is made by the faculty member under consideration. All such cases must be recommended by the Dean and approved by the Provost.

Performance Review
Annual performance reviews of all faculty members are required at the Department/Track level. The Chair/Convener of the Department/Track is required to provide each faculty member with an annual written evaluation of their performance in the areas of teaching, research, and service. Such performance reviews shall constitute part of the case for reappointment or promotion.

Criteria for Review and Reappointment
The decision whether to reappoint full-time faculty members should be based on the general criteria of teaching, research, and service. These criteria are not to be equally weighted, but teaching and research are generally to be assigned greater weight than service. In addition, evaluation may also be based on functions that are specific and relevant to duties in a particular Faculty/School or Department/Track.
Consideration for reappointment shall be based on criteria mentioned in this policy, as well as additional criteria that may be established by each Faculty/School or Department/Track. Full-time faculty on contract of two years or more shall be informed of non-renewal at least one year prior to the end of the contract.

Visiting Appointments
Individuals may be appointed as Visiting Assistant Professor, Visiting Associate Professor, or Visiting Professor, after recommendation of the respective Department/Track; the recommendation of the Chair/Convener; and on the recommendation of the Dean. Appointment to these ranks is made by the Provost for a period normally not exceeding two years, which may be extended by the Provost at the recommendation of the Chair and Dean.
Change from visiting to regular professorial status shall be considered a new appointment and must be the result of an international search. In the event of a change from visiting to regular professorial status, the period of status as a visiting professor will be considered toward cumulative service for purposes of eligibility for promotion.

Ethics Governing Appointment of Personnel
The academic appointment of relatives (parents, brothers and sisters, spouse, in-laws, and children) in the same organizational unit (Department/Track, administrative unit or office, institute, or program) is normally not allowed. Exceptions can only be granted by the President upon the recommendation of the Dean and the Provost.

The election of relatives to the same Faculty Advisory Committee and the University Senate is normally not allowed. Officers of the University, including directors and heads of administrative units and chairs of academic departments, shall not appoint relatives in their respective areas of responsibility.

Confidentiality
Discussions of personnel matters related to appointment, reappointment, academic leave, academic review, and promotion conducted at any level in the University—whether in the Department/Track, the Faculty Advisory Committee, among the academic Deans, or any other deliberating body are strictly confidential.

Voting Eligibility

• Promotion
  Voting on promotion for full-time, clinical, and research and practice faculty members to a given rank will only be by faculty members of equal or higher ranks than those to which the faculty members are under consideration for promotion. Visiting faculty members are not eligible to vote. Chairs/Conveners, if not candidates, shall not cast a vote but will express their views independently in writing to the Dean.
• Appointment, Reappointment, and Non-Reappointment
  Evaluation of candidates for appointment shall be restricted to the voting faculty members of equal or higher ranks than those of the faculty members being considered. Evaluation of candidates for reappointment or non-reappointment shall be restricted to the voting faculty members of ranks higher than those of the faculty members whose contracts are being considered. In the case of full Professors, all other voting full Professors shall participate in the evaluation and recommendations. Visiting faculty members are not eligible to vote. Chairs/Conveners, if not candidates, shall not cast a vote but will express their views independently in writing to the Dean.
  
  Voting Procedures
  Voting on promotion in the Department/Track and in the Faculty Advisory Committee shall take place by secret ballot in a meeting chaired, respectively, by the Department Chair/Track Convener or by the Dean; the result of such voting on both levels should be included in the recommendation to the academic Deans (see ―Promotion Procedure,‖ below). If the Chair/Convener is a candidate, a senior member of the Department/Track will carry out his/her functions in this respect.
  
  Normally, voting occurs at the lowest level of procedural deliberation. Members of the Faculty Advisory Committee will vote in their respective Department/Track and will recuse themselves from deliberations of the Faculty Advisory Committee on cases brought from their home Department/Track. Voting by the academic Deans shall take place by show of hands. No voting faculty member may vote more than once on a specific case of promotion. Major points of discussion and the numerical results of the vote shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
  
  Cumulative Years of Service
  Faculty leaves of all ranks, with or without pay, shall count as part of the cumulative years of service for purposes of eligibility for promotion.
  The cumulative service periods governing consideration for promotion may be extended on a case-by-case basis by the Provost upon the recommendation of the Dean for those claiming a dispensation on the ground of disability, humanitarian grounds, or significant involvement in administrative duties at the University. The cumulative service period governing consideration for promotion shall automatically be extended for the duration of maternity leave, unless a request to the contrary is made by the faculty member under consideration.
  
  Promotion Procedure
  
• Assistant Professors shall be considered for promotion no later than the seventh cumulative year of their service in rank and Associate Professors will normally be considered for promotion in the seventh cumulative year of their service in rank but no later than the tenth cumulative year in this rank, although outstanding merit may lead to earlier promotion. Faculty members should spend a minimum of one year at the University before being eligible to apply for promotion in the course of the second year in residence at AUB, in accordance with the University's faculty promotion schedule. This is so that all concerned can evaluate the individual's contribution to teaching and research in the setting of AUB itself.
• All full-time, clinical, research, and practice faculty members should be informed by their Department Chair or Track Convener about deadlines for submission of applications for promotion. No candidate is allowed to apply for promotion more than twice within each promotion cycle. The Provost will periodically review the annual schedule for promotion procedures and revise interim deadlines as necessary.
• For purposes of promotion, at the beginning of each academic year each Faculty Advisory Committee will select one full Professor from among its faculty members to serve as a Due Process Monitor (DPM) in another Faculty/School during the promotion deliberations of its Departments/Tracks and Advisory Committees. The DPM is a non-voting member of the Department/Track or the Faculty Advisory Committee whom the Provost will appoint randomly from the faculty members chosen by the Faculty Advisory Committees. These DPMs will form a committee and elect a chair. DPMs shall report in writing to the Provost any procedural or discrimination irregularities that they have witnessed during the deliberations and voting.
• By October 15 of their penultimate year in rank, candidates for promotion are required to submit, through the Chairs/Conveners of the Departments/Tracks, with a copy to the Dean, a letter of application for promotion, an updated CV, a personal statement of teaching, research, and service, teaching evaluations, a list of four referees from outside the University, and a list of referees who should not be contacted. The candidate will also submit copies of all publications and designate four or five of these as representative of their record for review by outside referees.
• By November 1 of the candidate’s penultimate year, his/her publications will be made available in the Dean’s office to departmental members who are voting on promotion; all such faculty members should become familiar with these publications during this initial reading period. Deadlines for the subsequent stages of the promotion process will be disseminated separately by the Provost’s office.
• The Dean or the Chair/Convener will appoint a promotion committee consisting of at least three members of appropriate rank for the promotion review and designate a committee chair. In cases of small Departments, the Dean of the Faculty may ask faculty from other Departments/Tracks to participate, or the Dean may designate certain Departments within a Faculty to deliberate together regularly, in order to achieve appropriate numbers of voting faculty for purposes of promotion, preferably no less than six voting members.
• The promotion committee will jointly compile a separate list of referees sufficient to obtain the following numbers of outside letters:
  
  *For promotion to Associate Professor, at least six, preferably a minimum of two letters of reference from the candidate’s preferred list and four from the committee’s list.
  *For promotion to full Professor, at least eight, preferably a minimum of three letters of reference from the candidate’s preferred list and five from the committee’s list.
• Letters of reference should be from scholars of an equal or higher rank than that to which the applicant is applying. No letter should be from a current research collaborator, or a member of the candidate’s dissertation committee. At the discretion of the promotion committee, an explanation about the contribution of the candidate could be sought from collaborators. Referees should be asked to enclose a copy of their own CV with their letters of evaluation.
• To assist the referees in their evaluation, supplemental information on the academic circumstances at AUB, including information on faculty appointment, teaching loads, research resources, and promotion criteria/system at AUB, will be provided to the referees. Copies of the four or five publications designated by the candidates will be sent to each referee who has agreed to provide an outside evaluation.
• The Dean will solicit reference letters according to the lists presented by the promotion committee. The Dean’s office will coordinate receipt of reference letters and keep a log of referees, listing the names from both the candidate’s and the committee’s list, indicating who were asked for references, who replied in the affirmative, and who responded in the negative and—in the latter case—the reason given, if any.
• In cases where the requisite minimum number of letters is not received in time, the Dean should inform the candidates and promotion committee to try to identify additional reviewers.
• Upon receipt of the referees’ letters, the promotion committee will review the candidate’s complete dossier, including the most recent annual evaluation, and then compose a memorandum, to be signed by all its members. The memorandum will recommend approval or rejection of the candidate’s application for promotion, commenting in full on the complete dossier and including a thorough assessment of the candidate’s intellectual contribution and continuing potential to the field, to the Department/Track, and to the University.
• The complete confidential file (CV of the candidate, a personal statement of teaching, research, and service; teaching evaluations; referees' responses; copies of all publications; the promotion committee recommendation, and the log of referees) will then be placed in the Dean's office for study by Department/Track members eligible to vote on the case.
• At the call of the Chair/Convener, the faculty members eligible to vote on the promotion case will convene and, after deliberation of the case, will cast their votes. The Departmental/Track meeting will be attended by a DPM, and the candidate’s file will be available for reference during the meeting.
• The Chair/Convener (unless s/he is a candidate) will communicate the details of the Department/Track meeting, including the vote result and the promotion committee report, along with his/her recommendations on the candidate’s qualifications to the Dean in a separate written memorandum, making either a positive or negative recommendation on promotion. Comments will be included that summarize the mentoring employed with the candidate during the last contract period. The memorandum represents the Chair’s vote in the case. A copy of the minutes of the Department/Track meeting will be appended to the Chair’s/Convener’s recommendation.
• Subsequently, the complete confidential file (CV of the candidate; personal statements on teaching, research, and service; a copy of the teaching evaluations; referees' responses; copies of all publications, the log of referees; the promotion committee report; the recommendation of the Chair/Convener, and the minutes of the Department/Track meeting) will be placed in the Dean's office so that members of the Faculty Advisory Committee can review the file.
• The Dean will subsequently convene the Faculty Advisory Committee for discussion and voting on each case.
• For purposes of promotion, the Advisory Committee of each Faculty/School is increased to include three additional voting AUB faculty members in the rank of full Professor, selected from outside the Faculty or School concerned. Additional faculty members to an Advisory Committee cannot serve consecutive years on the same Faculty Advisory Committee. These additional faculty members will participate in the Advisory Committee's evaluation of the candidate's record and take part in the final voting.
• A list of these additional faculty members will be drawn up by the Provost on an annual basis and will include faculty members from throughout the University who have an excellent record of research and teaching. The criteria for selection will include prominence in research (publication of articles in international peer-reviewed journals and/or books in respected academic presses) and an established record of commitment to teaching.
• The meeting of the expanded Faculty Advisory Committee will be attended by a DPM from another Faculty/School. The DPM should report in writing to the Provost any procedural or discrimination irregularities that he/she has witnessed during the deliberations and voting.
• The Dean then transmits to the Provost the complete confidential file (as specified above) along with a form containing the substantive assessment of the advisory committee, and the results of the advisory committee vote containing the signatures of the Faculty Advisory Committee members, and her/his observations on the candidate’s qualifications in a separate written memorandum, making either a positive or negative recommendation on promotion. The memorandum represents the Dean’s vote in the case.
• The Provost will subsequently convene the academic Deans to deliberate on all promotion cases for which Deans have brought a positive recommendation, as well as those carrying a negative recommendation, which require further deliberation.
• In the discussion of promotion cases, the Provost and academic Deans are increased to include three additional non-voting AUB faculty members in the rank of full Professor to assist in the evaluation of the candidate's record. Normally, these additional members are selected by the Provost from a list of eighteen faculty members, three elected by each Faculty/School's Advisory Committee from among faculty not currently serving on the expanded Faculty Advisory Committees. As above, the criteria for selection will include prominence in research (publication of articles in international peer-reviewed journals and/or books in respected academic presses) and an established record of commitment to teaching. Faculties without an adequate number of eligible full Professors to be elected to this list may submit less than three names or no names to the Provost, and no Faculty can submit the names of more than three candidates.
• The Provost will act as moderator for the meeting, and each case will be presented by the Dean of the relevant faculty. The presenting Dean, after answering any pertinent questions, will subsequently recuse himself/herself from further deliberation in the case. After discussion of each case, the academic Deans shall vote on promotion cases, with the exception of the Dean presenting the case.
• The DPM who has been elected as chair of the DPM Committee by those serving in this capacity during the current year will attend the deliberations of the Provost and the academic Deans. The DPM chair attending this meeting will report to the President any procedural or discrimination irregularities that he/she has witnessed during the deliberations and voting.
• The Provost will refer the files of all candidates considered by the academic Deans to the President, along with his/her own recommendation for or against promotion. The Provost will also provide a table that provides the tally of votes taken at all levels, as well as the positive or negative recommendations contained in the letters of the Chair/Convener and the Dean.
• The President will then review all cases for promotion, whether carrying positive or negative recommendations. Those positively endorsed by the President are then referred to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees for its own endorsement. The full Board of Trustees will then vote, based on the recommendation of the Academic Affairs Committee.
• In considering promotions to Associate Professor and full Professor, the University – without being bound by any rule of equivalence – may take into account the academic record of the candidates and their service in other institutions.
• Successful applicants will be informed by the Provost in writing within one month of the Board of Trustees' decision. Each Dean will inform all unsuccessful applicants in writing within one month of the Board of Trustees' decision. In their meetings with unsuccessful candidates, Deans will verbally communicate only the reasons that the application for promotion was unsuccessful. This meeting should be attended by a DPM. Other information, such as the results of votes taken and the contents of evaluation letters, are strictly confidential.

Reappointment Procedure
Procedures for reappointment will follow those for promotion, with the following differences:

• Reappointment reviews are undertaken in the penultimate year of the expiration of a contract when promotion is not under consideration.
• Reappointment reviews are undertaken automatically, without the formal application of the candidate.
• If reappointment is not approved at any rank, it may result in termination of employment, or in reassignment as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor with one-year contract. However, such reassignment cannot be made to a lower or higher rank.
• Reappointment to the same rank is approved by the Provost. Reassignment to a different status is approved by the President.
• Decisions regarding reappointment or reassignment are not referred to the Board of Trustees for approval.