Art History Guidelines
The criteria for promotion and tenure are published in the Faculty Handbook. The purpose of these Departmental Guidelines is to provide additional information to candidates standing for reappointment, tenure and promotion, and to faculty, administrators and outside readers who are involved in evaluating the candidate’s performance.
Reappointment Prior to Tenure
Candidates for reappointment prior to tenure should demonstrate clear evidence of progress toward the standards for tenure outlined in the next section, especially regarding teaching and scholarship.
For teaching, student evaluations should be near Department and College averages, or should show substantial progress toward that goal. For scholarship there should be a clear agenda for research projects and evidence of progress toward those projects, such as conference papers, articles submitted to peer reviewed journals, book chapters or substantial parts of a book manuscript. For service, after the first year of teaching, candidates should have participated in academic advising and in Departmental governance and events. Although the Department does not emphasize service as a criterion for reappointment, during the second and third year, the candidate, should undertake a modest role in service obligations he or she regards as especially pertinent or compelling, including service outside of shared governance.
Tenure and Promotion to the rank of Associate Professor
Teaching
Standards for Teaching
Candidates for promotion and tenure are required to demonstrate a successful record of teaching. A poor record of teaching cannot be offset by strong scholarship or community service. The Faculty Handbook cites three criteria for successful teaching: “commitment to teaching; knowledge and mastery of the discipline; the ability to communicate with, stimulate, and evaluate students.”
In the view of the Art History Department, “commitment to teaching” is marked by the readiness to teach at a variety of levels, the willingness to develop courses that appeal to a broad range of students, and the desire to experiment with pedagogical approaches that stimulate and challenge our students.
The Department interprets “knowledge and mastery of the discipline” as involving keeping current with ongoing theoretical developments in the field, with new bodies of information, and with changes in classroom technology.
The “ability to communicate with, stimulate, and evaluate students” involves several issues: clearly describing the goals and the expectations of all courses; the ability to clearly organize class lectures and discussions; the willingness to listen to students’ opinions; demonstration of enthusiasm for the material and for teaching; the clear articulation of grading criteria; and the willingness to respond to student work clearly and promptly.
Assessment of Teaching
The Department assesses teaching in several ways:
- Reports of classroom visits by senior colleagues in the Department. According to the Department’s policy every member of the Department voting on a candidate’s reappointment and/or promotion will have made a classroom visitation every one to two years in a variety of courses; each junior faculty member will be observed at least once per semester in every course, excluding the senior project. A written report of those classroom evaluations will be shared with the candidate on an ongoing basis, as well as prior to the final tenure review;
- Letters solicited from former students;
- Evaluation of syllabi by Department peers and outside reviewers;
- The development of new and revised courses, particularly those that reflect new developments in the discipline and creative and/or interdisciplinary pedagogy;
- The candidate’s personal statement, including teaching goals and sample assignments that demonstrate how these goals are implemented;
- Student course evaluations. Candidates should demonstrate that they have carefully considered and responded to patterns that emerge in these evaluations.
Scholarship
Expectations for Scholarship
The members of the Art History faculty are strongly committed to the ideal of outstanding teacher-scholars and recognize the critical value of active research in their professional lives. Candidates for promotion and tenure are expected to demonstrate an established record of scholarly publication. Teaching and service alone, no matter how outstanding, are not sufficient grounds for promotion and tenure.
In evaluating eligibility for tenure and promotion, the Art History Department looks for evidence of productive and ongoing engagement with the central concerns of the discipline as well as an individual’s subfield. The Art History Department expects candidates for tenure to have built a portfolio of scholarly publications and to have developed a clear agenda for future research projects.
In Art History, peer review of publications is the clearest measure of quality. Therefore, in evaluating scholarly achievement, the Art History Department pays particular attention to books, articles published in peer-reviewed journals, substantive peer-reviewed essays in significant museum or exhibition catalogues, and peer-reviewed essays in edited volumes or conference proceedings.
The Art History Department also recognizes the scholarly significance of substantive entries in edited print or online reference works such as Oxford Online and Kahn Academy, book reviews, papers presented at professional conferences, articles in non-refereed journals, invited lectures, digital scholarship, and curating exhibitions. However, publications that have not gone through the peer-review process by themselves normally would not constitute a substantial record of scholarly accomplishment.
The Department considers work that is complete and in press equal to work already published; completed work under review by a publisher will also be taken into consideration by the Department.
Assessment of Scholarship
The most important criterion for evaluating the candidate’s record of publication and research is quality as assessed by the voting members of the Department and the outside evaluators who are expert in the candidate’s field. It may be the case that a few excellent publications would be evaluated more highly than a greater number of less significant publications.
Service
Service to the Department, the College and the Community
The Faculty Handbook advises that service contributions are vital to Hamilton as a residential college and, therefore, are a third important criterion for tenure. Service may take a variety of forms. After the first year of teaching the candidate is expected to serve as an academic advisor and to contribute to the intellectual growth and administrative efficiency of the Department. Participation in Faculty governance is a normal part of each faculty member’s responsibilities at the College, especially in order to prepare her or him for fuller participation after tenure. Therefore, following reappointment, a candidate for tenure is expected to participate in at least one moderately demanding College committee. Service to the profession is also valuable, such as involvement in regional or national organizations, serving as an editor or referee for professional journals, or serving as a consultant to other Colleges. The Art History Department also values involvement in local or regional community organizations.
Assessment of Service
While all candidates for tenure are expected to be active members of the Department and the College community, teaching and scholarship are the most important criteria for tenure. Service will not outweigh poor or problematic performance in either of the other two criteria. Service will be evaluated by the candidate’s record of participation and from comments solicited from colleagues in a position to evaluate the candidate’s contributions to the Department, College, profession, or the regional/local community, whichever is appropriate.
Promotion to the Rank of Professor
The Department expects those promoted to the rank of Professor to bring distinction to the Department and to the College in terms of teaching, scholarship and service. While teaching and scholarship are the most important criteria for promotion to the rank of Professor, the Department also expects the candidate to demonstrate continuing accomplishment in terms of service.
Teaching
Standards for Teaching
The Department expects that candidates for promotion to full Professor will have demonstrated a continued willingness to improve his/her teaching by updating existing courses and developing new courses, as well as continuing to demonstrate a superior performance on students’ teaching evaluations.
Candidates for promotion to full Professor should demonstrate a continued enthusiasm for the subject and for teaching. They are expected to have kept current with ongoing theoretical developments in the field, with new bodies of information, and with changes in classroom technology and pedagogy.
Assessment of Teaching
Student course evaluations are a major assessment tool. Candidates for promotion should demonstrate that they have carefully considered and responded to patterns that emerge in these evaluations.
In addition to the required student evaluations, the Department will also take into consideration classroom observations by each of the senior members of the Department. Written reports of those classroom evaluations will be shared with the candidate on an ongoing basis as well as prior to the final review.
In the required personal statement, the candidate should describe his/her teaching philosophy, especially new or pedagogically creative approaches to presenting information and encouraging learning. These can be demonstrated with course materials (syllabi, projects, exams, and writing assignments, etc.).
Research/Scholarship
Expectations for Scholarship
Full professors are expected to be recognized scholars in their sub-field. The Department expects that candidates for promotion to the rank of Professor will have produced additional significant scholarship in an amount at least equivalent to that required for tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Professor. Again, the Department expects scholarly achievement in terms of an expanding portfolio of peer-reviewed publications and a clear plan for future scholarly research indicating a continued lively and creative engagement with the field, both personally and professionally. Evidence of a candidate’s recognition among peers in the field may be measured reviews of scholarly writings, contributions to conferences, and participation in professional reviews, for major research grants or for promotion and tenure at peer institutions.
Assessment
The most important criterion for evaluating the candidate’s record of publication and research is quality as assessed by the voting members of the Department and the outside evaluators who are expert in the candidate’s field.
Service
Service to the Department, the College and the Community
Candidates for promotion to the rank of Professor are expected to be leaders in the College and/or professional community. They are expected to serve as academic advisors to students and to contribute to the intellectual growth and administrative efficiency of the Department. The candidate may demonstrate service to the College by serving on College committees, the mentorship of colleagues, and participation in other activities that contribute to the educational goals and academic affairs of the College. Service to the profession may involve participation in regional or national organizations, serving as an editor or referee for professional journals, or serving as a consultant to other Colleges. The Art History Department also values involvement in local or regional community organizations.
Assessment of Service
While all candidates for promotion to the rank of Professor are expected to be active members of the Department and the College community, service is a less important criterion for tenure and promotion than either teaching or scholarship. Service will be evaluated by the candidate’s record of participation and from comments solicited from colleagues in a position to evaluate the candidate’s contributions to the Department, College, profession, or the regional/local community.
