Tenure Probation Timeline Conditions for New Faculty
Duration of Initial Appointment
- Most offers at IU Indianapolis have either a one year or a three-year initial appointment. (Use the term “appointment” not “contract.”)
- A longer initial appointment time would be very unusual and usually not approved by the provost.
Hiring with a Standard Probationary Period
- For all schools except Medicine, the normal probationary period is seven years total, with an application for promotion/tenure beginning in spring of the fifth year (school and campus reviews are conducted during the sixth year); nine years for Medicine.
Standard Probationary Period (but you think the person might want to apply early for tenure)
- A third-year review is mandated by Faculty Council. See Faculty Guide. Therefore, if someone is considering an application earlier than the fourth year, they should have an early third-year review.
- The third-year review may be waived if (and only if) someone's offer letter provides at least two years of credit towards tenure.
- Applying early is only available once. (Faculty Guide: someone may begin an application for early tenure only once); if the candidate withdraws during the process, he or she must then wait until the regular time.
- Someone may withdraw an early application at any time up until the case goes to the IU President. The IU Presidential decision ends the “single full review" allowed.
- All letters in a withdrawn case are saved; letter writers are contacted to see if they will update their letters, for subsequent candidacy.
- See also, Early Application for Tenure.
Hiring with Credit towards Tenure (a shorter probationary period)
- All years of credit towards tenure must be clearly stated in the offer letter. It must be spelled out at the time of hire; it cannot be added or changed later (see IU policy BOT-11).
- The disadvantage of credit towards tenure: The candidate cannot apply later for tenure.
Work Completed before IU Indianapolis Position (will it count towards tenure?)
- Generally, “yes” work completed before the first promotion and gaining tenure is part of the person’s record and trajectory. Faculty Affairs has a template for explaining this to candidates.
- Since tenure is based on trajectory and promise of future contributions, warn candidates against basing their cases solely or primarily on work completed before IU Indianapolis, without continuing work at IU Indianapolis.
- For units which have numeric expectations for promotion/tenure (e.g. “five articles in rank”) spell out exactly what will count, either in the offer letter or in a subsequent memo.
- For librarians, all professional-level work completed before tenure is awarded is counted as ‘in-rank.’
Hiring with Promotion (but not tenure)
- If someone was already an associate professor elsewhere, you may hire them at the rank of associate professor if your school P&T committee concurs. Please be explicit about years of credit or other special circumstances about their scholarly work.
- If someone was an assistant professor, and you intend to hire them at the associate professor rank (an ‘embedded’ promotion), include a statement from the school P&T committee affirming they meet current rank requirements.
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Hiring at the full professor rank but without tenure should be rare and should be clearly explained in a cover memo. It helps if the letters of recommendation are clear about qualifying for the rank.
Hiring with Tenure
- The cover sheet for tenure-track positions describes the additional information needed for an offer with tenure. If a candidate is NOT already tenured, a total of six external letters is required as well as a brief biographical sketch of the referees and an indication of relationship to the candidate as well as a statement from the dean regarding the vote of the unit promotion and tenure committee approving tenure, and if applicable, promotion to a rank higher than that currently held by the applicant. If a candidate IS currently tenured at another institution, candidates can be hired without six external letters if the school's promotion and tenure committees are supportive and with the approval of the provost. Exceptions can be requested through ude[dot]ui[at]rhdaca and should be received before an offer packet is submitted for review in PeopleAdmin.
- If a promotion is embedded, ensure that the dean and the P&T committee cover that in their reviews.
- An appointment needs to be made with Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Willie Miller to interview the candidate. Contact ude[dot]ui[at]rhdaca.
Extensions to the Probationary Period
- Parental leave generally involves a one-year extension. Candidates can waive this, but the default for non-IUSM is for an extension; IUSM faculty must specifically request an extension. Form: Understanding on Tenure Status during Leave. Extensive medical leave for other reasons also usually involves an extension. Communicate with faculty HR.
- Candidates can also request an extension for other reasons (uncontrollable circumstances). The request should initiate with the candidate, be explained fully by the chair, and be agreed to by the dean, before being submitted to Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Willie Miller at ude[dot]ui[at]rhdaca.
For questions on eligibility of specific individuals, contact Faculty Affairs (ude[dot]ui[at]rhdaca); for advice on particular offers, please note: the dean must endorse the tenure credit recommendation.
Reviewed and revised: 04/2025.