Faculty Promotions: Pre and Post Senior Rank Appointment & Promotion Approval Workflow

Faculty going up for promotion or being appointed at a senior rank should always follow their specific track's appointment and promotions guidelines. Executive committee (EC) vote and approval is required for all faculty hires (including those at senior rank). An executive committee vote is also required prior to sending the promotion dossier to the FPT. This vote will be documented in the Chair's letter of the promotion dossier.

Note: At the time the offer letter was being drafted, the department/HR would have needed to submit a senior rank review form (see step 1a. of Process for Reviewing SMPH Faculty Offer Letters (SMPH-only)). A "senior rank" hire is when a department appoints a faculty member at either the Associate or full Professor rank on the CHS, CT, or tenure track, and they are initially hired into a provisional visiting appointment (see [Link for document 110365 is unavailable at this time]. The process outlined in this KB begins after the senior rank review request has been completed, the individual has been hired, and the department is ready to begin preparing the senior rank appointment packet/dossier or, for promotion, the process below begins once the EC has voted to promote the faculty member and the department will begin putting together the dossier. The senior rank review request form is ONLY for new appointments at senior rank and is NOT needed for promotions to senior ranks.

• Guidelines should be reviewed every year before preparing the dossiers
• Guidelines indicate their appointment responsibilities, types of cases for promotion and appointment, the timeline for promotion, as well as a specific checklist of all required documents needed within the appointment/promotion package
• Almost all departments in SMPH have a Faculty Promotions Specialist (FPS) to assist in compiling their department faculties senior rank appointment and promotion dossiers. In instances where a department does not have a FPS, the Department Administrator or another departmental staff member handles the compilation and submission of the dossier.

Workflow for Promotion and Senior rank Appointment Approvals - Internal SMPH Promotions Committees (CHS, CT, RP, TP, and tenured full professor)

Workflow for Promotion and Senior Rank Appointment Approvals (Assistant to Associate Professor with Tenure OR appointments to Associate or Professor with Tenure) - *UW Campus Divisional Tenure Committees

FPT and HRBP

1. Once a candidate is approved for their senior rank appointment, the FPT will contact the candidate's department chair, HRBP, and departmental FPS with a memo from the Dean stating the approval, a procedure for processing appointment letters, and Faculty Promotions: Determining New Salary for Faculty Promotions for appointed faculty for the current fiscal year.
2. The FPT will link the specific notification letter template the HRBP needs to use for drafting, as well as indicate any other important compensation notes.
   1. All up to date templates can be found on the SMPH Letter & Memo Templates KB under Faculty > Promotion
3. The HRBP is responsible for obtaining faculty signatures and forwarding the final signed appointment notification letter to the FPT. 
4. The HRBP is also responsible for moving the faculty member from their Visiting appointment to their official faculty appointment.
   1. .See  [Link for document 156661 is unavailable at this time] for steps on how to process the movement in Workday
      1. As noted in the KB, the effective date of the movement is the first of the month following the committee’s meeting/vote of approval. The FPT will also confirm this date in their notification of approval email

HRBP (once the movement from Visiting to the permanent title has been processed):

1. If the faculty member currently has a TWA or Basic Science Incentive (BSI) on their Visiting appointment, this should automatically carry over to the senior rank appointment, but please double check that it did once you process the Visiting to senior rank title movement. 
2. If the employee has a partial VA leave and will continue working at the VA after their transfer, the leave will need to be entered on the new position. HRBP - contact your Payroll & Benefits Specialist to ensure they process the leave. For more information, see Faculty: VA Leave Without Pay. Note: a new/additional LWOP request form for the VA 8ths leave is not needed if everything remains the same as it was in the visiting title. If the VA 8ths are changing at the time of the transition to permanent, please submit an updated LWOP form.
3. If applicable, update faculty member’s new title on departmental org chart.

FPT, HRBP, and Faculty HR

Note: HRBP will not process a transaction for a promotion. The FPT processes these. All Promotions are effective on the first day of the July A Payroll period of each year.

1. Once a candidate is approved for promotion, the FPT will contact the candidate's department chair, HRBP, and departmental FPS with a memo from the Dean stating the approval, a procedure for processing promotion letters, and Faculty Promotions: Determining New Salary for Faculty Promotions for promoted faculty for the current fiscal year
2. The FPT will link the specific notification letter template the HRBP is to use for drafting, as well as indicate any other important compensation notes. (i.e. TWAs, BSIs)
   1. All up to date templates can be found on the SMPH Letter & Memo Templates KB under Faculty > Promotions.
   2. If the faculty member qualifies for a 10% increase in situations where adding 10% of the faculty’s current base salary would be HIGHER than the mandatory minimum fixed promotional amount, the department can elect that instead.
   3. If the faculty member is still BELOW the minimum annual salary for their title after adding their promotional increase, then they will have to be raised to the minimum annual salary amount.
   4. Important note: Tenure track faculty are raised to the minimum of the new rank if needed BEFORE applying the promotional increase. All other tracks’ faculty are raised to the minimum of the new rank if needed AFTER the promotional increase is applied.
3. The HRBP is responsible for obtaining faculty signatures and forwarding the final signed appointment notification letter to the FPT. (Note: when FPT enters the promotion in Workday, they will add the fully signed letter as an attachment, which will save it in the Workday documents. No need to upload the letter to ImageNow).

FPT and HRBP – Entry in Workday (Job Change > Promotion)

• For promotions, the FPT will enter the promotion in Workday as a Job Change > Promotion. 
  • When the FPT enters the promotion in Workday, they will add the fully signed letter as an attachment, which will automatically save it in Workday. No need to upload the letter to ImageNow.
  • The actual dossier and other promotion related documents that were not attached in Workday will need to be uploaded to ImageNow.
• As stated above, the FPT will include within their notification of approval email if the faculty recommended for promotion has a TWA and/or BSI involved within their current compensation.
• Departments can elect to add the TWA and/or BSI back into the total salary amount listed within the promotion notification letter. They may elect not to add the amounts into the total salary amount listed. Either way, the letter should indicate if it does or does not include the TWA and/or BSI. 
• The entry process in Workday will prompt entry of the new contract. FPT will enter new contract end date and will no longer need to send to Faculty HR for entry.
  • Once a faculty member has been granted tenure (Associate or Full Professor), they no longer have contracts/reappointments. Their contract will need to be ended in Workday (TENURE ONLY).

HRBP (once the FPT has processed the promotion):

• If the employee has a partial VA leave and will continue working at the VA after their transfer, the leave will have to be entered on the new position. HRBP - contact your Payroll & Benefits Specialist to ensure they process the leave.
  • For more information, see Faculty: VA Leave Without Pay. Note: a new/additional LWOP request form for the VA 8ths leave is not needed if everything remains the same as it was prior to promotion approval. If the VA 8ths are changing at the time of the transition to the new title, please submit an updated LWOP form.
• If applicable, update faculty member’s new title on departmental org chart.

• If a candidate on any track is recommended against promotion:
  • The tracks Promotions/Appointments Committee Chair will notify the Department Chair and Dean in writing within one week of the meeting
  • The Department Chair may appeal the decision in writing to the Committee within 60 days of receiving the written explanation. Appeals will usually provide new or additional information and response to the issues raised by the Committee
  • After the Department submits the appeal to the FPT, the Committee will review the appeal and either uphold their decision or recommend promotion
  • If the Committee upholds their decision again promotion, the Committee will again contact the Department Chair of their decision, and the Department can then make a final appeal to the Dean.
  • Reminder: Assistant Professors on the CHS and Tenure track have promotion timelines and deadline review dates, whereas Assistant Professors on the CT, RP, and TP track do not, and may stay in that title for the entirety of their appointment
  • Important note: Assistant Professors on the CHS or Tenure tracks who are not approved for promotion by the end of the penultimate year of their clock must receive a non-renewal letter, indicating their appointment will end in one year
• If a candidate at the Associate level on any track is recommended against promotion by the Committee:
  • The same steps of appeals as previously stated will apply.
• Important note: A negative decision on promotion from the Associate level to Professor level on all tracks does not preclude consideration in subsequent years. The department chair is recommended to meet with the candidate to discuss how to make a stronger case for promotion in the future.
• If a candidate for appointment at senior rank is denied by the committee, the reconsideration/appeal steps above may be followed. If these are unsuccessful, then the appointment will end on the date indicated for this contingency in the original appointment letter.