Classics Guidelines
Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
Promotion to Associate Professor and the conferral of tenure requires notable achievement in scholarship, teaching, and service. Candidates must present evidence of accomplishment in all three categories, with scholarship and teaching being the most important.
Candidates must be committed teachers and scholars with a strong record of achievement in both areas. While the department recognizes that each person has different strengths and that there is no single blueprint that covers every candidate, promotion and the granting of tenure requires evidence of work that has had an impact both within the college and beyond.
Teaching
The evaluation of teaching will be based on a number of factors: performance as gauged by teaching evaluations (both narrative and numerical, with narrative being the more important), written reports of classroom visits done by all voting members in the department, syllabi, plans for new courses, articles on pedagogy, creative uses of information technology, and the like.
Promotion will require clear evidence of a genuine dedication to teaching. The Classics Department especially values the following aspects of teaching:
- Developing new and interesting courses, with some attention to recent approaches to Classics such as reception;
- Maintaining rigor in teaching language courses in particular;
- Giving attention to all levels of students, including those who come from backgrounds in which they have had Latin and/or Greek and those who may not have had such backgrounds and need more encouragement and assistance;
- Instilling in students a love for the ancient world and all it has to offer while at the same time making them aware of the reverberation of the Classics in the world we live in;
- Making courses intellectually rigorous and demanding;
- Allowing for open discussion in which all students feel comfortable and safe in expressing their opinions and voices;
- Promoting better writing through careful attention to multiple drafts of papers
Scholarship
Scholarship will be evaluated with respect to the following: published books, peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, pedagogical articles, reviews and review articles; unpublished manuscripts under consideration or in progress; lectures and papers delivered; conferences, panels and workshops organized; and grants received (in that order of importance). Promotion will require clear evidence of a strong and enduring commitment to research and scholarship. This can take many forms, but we are most concerned that the candidates give evidence of active participation in the field (attending meetings, giving talks, contributing to panels, being invited to give talks and contribute to volumes, writing books and articles, reviewing books). Above all, candidates should show ongoing engagement with the field.
Candidates should either have several substantial articles or a monograph. Different kinds of research lend themselves to different forms of publications so each person will differ in where and in what form he or she publishes. Some classics journals are more traditional and publish more strictly philological research while others publish more theoretical and contemporary approaches; one is not better than the other. In all cases, the quality of the work should be judged to be high by evaluators in the field.
Service
Candidates must have agreed to run for and serve on committees, both departmental and college-wide (appointed and elected, assuming eligibility), and have a record of advising and mentoring students. Onerous service on college-wide committees should not be expected of untenured faculty, but some service to the college will be recognized and honored. Departmental service is also important: serving on committees, advising students, advising the honor society and Classics Club, active participation in departmental affairs, meetings and searches.
Candidates must also have begun to establish a strong professional profile outside the college — i.e., they should have started to compile a record of professional service and recognition. This may involve a number of the following: active membership in regional, national and international professional organizations (involving, for example, serving on committees); service on committees for advanced-placement examinations; participation in significant outreach activities; refereeing articles for professional journals; serving on the editorial board of professional journals.
Promotion to Full Professor
Promotion to full professor requires considerable achievement in teaching, scholarship and service. Candidates must present evidence of accomplishment in all three categories, with teaching and scholarship being the most important. At the time of promotion to full professor, a candidate should be recognized by others in the field as someone who has made a significant contribution to the scholarly discourse in Classics.
Candidates must be outstanding teachers and scholars with a significant record of achievement in both areas. While the department recognizes that different people have different strengths and that there is no single blueprint that covers every candidate, promotion to full professor requires evidence of work that has had an impact both within the college and beyond.
Teaching
As always, the evaluation of teaching will be based on a number of factors: performance as gauged by teaching evaluations (both narrative and numerical, with narrative being the more important), written reports of classroom visits done by all voting members in the department, syllabi, plans for new courses, articles on pedagogy, creative uses of information technology, and the like.
Promotion will require clear evidence of a genuine dedication to teaching. The Classics Department especially values the following aspects of teaching:
- Developing new and interesting courses, with some attention to recent approaches to Classics, such as reception studies;
- Maintaining rigor in teaching all courses, but language courses in particular;
- Giving attention to all levels of students, including those who come from backgrounds in which they have studied Latin and/or Greek and those who may not have had such backgrounds and need more encouragement and assistance;
- Instilling in students a love for the ancient world and all it has to offer while at the same time making them aware of the reverberation of the Classics in the world we live in;
- Making courses intellectually rigorous and demanding;
- Allowing for open discussion in which all students feel comfortable and safe in expressing their opinions and voices;
- Promoting better writing through careful attention to multiple drafts of papers
Scholarship
Scholarship will be evaluated with respect to the following: published books, peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, pedagogical articles, reviews and review articles; unpublished manuscripts under consideration or in progress; lectures and papers delivered; conferences, panels and workshops organized; and grants received (in that order of importance). Promotion to full professor will require clear evidence of a strong and enduring commitment to research and scholarship that goes significantly beyond the requirements for promotion to associate professor. This can take many forms, but we are most concerned that the candidates give evidence of active participation in the field (attending meetings, giving talks, contributing to panels, being invited to give talks and contribute to volumes, writing books and articles, reviewing books). Above all, candidates should show ongoing engagement with the field.
To enumerate the specific ways in which these requirements can be met—by specifying, for example, an exact number of publications—would be a mistake, since it would reduce the flexibility to recognize merit when it appears in unexpected or innovative forms. Different people have different strengths. It is also true that different kinds of research lend themselves to different forms of publications, so that each person will differ in where and in what form he or she publishes. Some classics journals are more traditional and publish more strictly philological research while others publish more theoretical and contemporary approaches; one is not better than the other. Peer-reviewed, open access venues, which are coming to the fore in Classics, are another possible option. In all cases, the quality of the work should be judged to be high by evaluators in the field.
Service
Candidates must have agreed to run for and serve on committees, both departmental and college-wide (appointed and elected, assuming eligibility), and must have a record of advising and mentoring students. Service to the college remains necessary and will therefore be recognized and honored. Departmental service is also important: serving on committees, advising students, advising the honor society and Classics Club, and active participation in departmental affairs, meetings and searches.
Candidates for promotion to full professor must have established a distinguished professional profile outside of the college - i.e., they will be expected to have compiled a strong record of professional service and recognition. This may involve a number of the following: active membership in regional, national and international professional organizations (involving, for example, serving on committees or holding an office); service on committees for advanced-placement examinations; participation in significant outreach activities; refereeing articles for professional journals; editing or serving on the editorial board of professional journals.
