Promotion and Tenure Processes
Supporting Faculty in Advancing their Careers
The Promotion and Tenure (P&T) process is central to a university achieving and embodying excellence and rigor, and must be approached in a manner that is intentional, clear, consistent, and equitable.
Tenure is granted to faculty who have demonstrated excellence as scholars/researchers/creative artists, strong records of teaching and mentoring, and a clear record of serving their department, university, and discipline.
Each discipline has its own qualifications for excellence, and discipline-specific guidelines and processes can be found with the College/School dean and/or the department chair. The role of the Provost’s Office is to ensure we have unified guidelines about how candidates are assessed at the University level, and these pages focus on the part of the promotion and tenure process that is managed by the Provost's Office.
Both reviews, the first at the department/college/school level and the second at the Provost's Office, are subject to the Policies of the SUNY Board of Trustees, specifically Art. XII, Title A, paragraph 4 and Title B, paragraph 2, which indicates the elements which should be weighed in evaluation of candidates for promotion and/or continuing appointment.
Three Critical Areas to Ensure a Strong File
Promotion to Associate Professor: Process Overview
Jump to What You Need
Across disciplines, tenured faculty at Stony Brook:
Have contributed impactful research, scholarship and/or creative activities and have a growing national reputation in their discipline
Have strong teaching records
Demonstrate a commitment to serving their department, college, and university
Share a commitment to the university's mission:
- To provide comprehensive undergraduate, graduate, and professional education of the highest quality;
- To carry out research and intellectual endeavors of the highest international standards that advance knowledge and have immediate or long-range practical significance;
- To provide leadership for economic growth, technology and culture for neighboring communities and the wider geographic region;
- To provide state-of-the-art innovative health care, while serving as a resource to a regional health care network and to the traditionally underserved;
- To fulfill these objectives while celebrating diversity and positioning the University in the global community.
We acknowledge and value faculty engaged in a broad range of entrepreneurial outreach and creative activities in their teaching, research, and service, such as participation in center grants and team science, publicly engaged scholarship or creative activities with documented impact, and active and service learning curricular innovation. Further, we encourage contributions to teaching, scholarship, and service that promote equity, diversity, and inclusion, and will recognize those contributions during the academic review process.
Resources for Department Chairs and Academic Staff