Literature and Creative Writing

Teaching

In considering faculty for tenure, Hamilton places its highest premium on excellence in the classroom. Thus the successful candidate will have established a record of good teaching. It is not possible to win tenure at Hamilton with a mediocre (let alone poor) teaching record.

Like most colleges and universities in the U.S., Hamilton makes use of student evaluations in the assessment of teaching. We urge newly-hired faculty to look them over carefully to get a sense of how students are asked to judge the success or failure of a course, and we expect junior faculty to consult regularly with the chair about how to interpret their course evaluations. However, because student evaluations are an imperfect measure of teaching success, the department supplements them with its own system of peer classroom observation. Procedures for observations before the third-year reappointment are described in detail in the guidelines for reappointment; after a candidate’s successful reappointment, colleagues who have not yet had the opportunity to acquire the first-hand information about teaching specified in the Faculty Handbook.

will attend classes as arranged in consultation with the department chair, who will ensure that the visits occur in a timely fashion and are arranged so as to create the least possible disruption to the candidate’s classes.

While there are many ways of demonstrating excellence in teaching and many different kinds of teachers, colleagues observing classes will be attending to

1. the thoughtfulness and clarity of course design as expressed in the course materials,
2. the candidate’s ability to foster discussion, to create an intellectually challenging environment, and to motivate students to develop their own critical voices,
3. the candidate’s ability to raise interesting questions that encourage students to be more self-aware and flexible with respect to their fundamental values, assumptions, and ideological commitments,
4. the candidate’s ability both to model and to encourage careful literary and theoretical analysis appropriate to the level of the course,
5. the pedagogical thoughtfulness of assignments and their appropriateness to level of the course.

More generally, the department expects candidates to develop an appropriate suite of courses that reflect developments in their areas of expertise in ways that will engage students, as well as to contribute to the development of departmental courses that overlap with their expertise and interest.

Successful candidates for tenure will have established a record consisting of favorable departmental observation reports and student evaluations that lie well within college-wide norms. The successful tenure candidate will have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to good teaching since reappointment. Since the overall trajectory of a candidate’s teaching record is a consideration in the decision to award tenure (a trajectory that includes not only good performance in the classroom and attention to student writing, but also the development of new courses or the revision of existing ones), it is not inconceivable that a candidate who presented an acceptable record at reappointment might present an unacceptable one at tenure.

Scholarly/Creative Work

The Department of Literature and Creative Writing offers concentrations in the study of literature and the art of creative writing, and we have full-time faculty in both fields. The department is aware of the differences in scholarly and creative venues and procedures for publication, and our standards for publication in scholarly and creative work take those structural differences into account. As literary study has become increasingly interdisciplinary, work in cognate fields (e.g. art history, film studies, music) and work that expands the boundaries of the discipline are encouraged and count toward tenure and promotion in the same way that work focused on a more traditional conception of literary study would count.

While the department does not demand “the tenure book,” candidates in literature and creative writing will not be recommended for tenure without a record of publication and strong evidence that continued publication is likely. The file should demonstrate that the candidate has a clear professional trajectory.

For tenure in literary study, such a record could be demonstrated in this manner:

1. publication of 4 or more scholarly essays in peer-reviewed journals (print or online), or in edited collections published by university or commercial scholarly presses that employ peer review. A publication record consisting only of essays published in collections may be acceptable if the quality of the essays and the collections (taken as a whole) is judged sufficiently high by the department and external reviewers; or:
2. a book published by, or under contract with, a university or commercial scholarly press that employs peer review; or:
3. a record consisting of fewer than 4 published essays combined with a book manuscript nearing completion, or with some other scholarly work, such as an edited collection of essays or primary texts, an edited translation of a text, a digital archive, etc. Given the time-lag in publication, work accepted will be treated as if it were published.
   
   Also, recognizing changes in publication venues, digital publication and work in the digital humanities will be judged in the same manner as print publication. Publication of creative nonfiction, essays about pedagogy, or essays focused at a general public, and editorial work at a journal will count as part of the record but should not constitute the bulk of the candidate’s production.

Whatever the candidate’s profile of publication, in all cases the quality of the work must be judged sufficiently high by the department and the external reviewers.

For tenure in creative writing, we would expect a record of publication resembling this:

1. publication of 4 or more stories or 8 or more poems of substantial length (i.e., over 2,000 words in fiction, 10 lines in poetry) in nationally distributed journals or in edited collections published by university, commercial, or respected small presses. A publication record consisting only of stories/poems published in collections may be acceptable if the quality of the creative work and the collections (taken as a whole) is judged sufficiently high by the department and external reviewers; or:
2. a book (short story or poetry collection, or novel) published by, or under contract with, a university, commercial, or respected small press; or:
3. a record consisting of fewer than 4 published stories or 8 poems combined with a book manuscript (short story or poetry collection, or novel) at an advanced stage of production.

As with scholarly work, creative pieces accepted will be treated as if they were published.

Also, recognizing changes in publication venues, digital publication will be judged in the same manner as print publication. Scholarly essays and conference presentations by creative writing candidates, as well as items such as encyclopedia entries and book reviews, may enhance a file; such material is not, however, a substitute for creative work.

Whatever the candidate’s profile of publication, in all cases the quality of the work must be judged sufficiently high by the department and external reviewers. Since it is not difficult to imagine acceptable records of publication different from the ones outlined above, we urge candidates for tenure who have questions or concerns to consult with the chair.

Service

The Faculty Handbook makes clear that college service, while a necessary aspect of any successful tenure case, is distinctly less important than good teaching and a solid record of publication. Thus the department protects its untenured faculty from unduly heavy service both inside and outside the department. We expect, though, that candidates will have established a record of academic good citizenship. This is accomplished by good attendance at, and participation in, department meetings and activities and events (which would include readings and presentations by students as well as visiting scholars, poets, or novelists), and by good attendance at the college's monthly faculty meetings. We also expect that, if asked to participate on a job search committee, the candidate will give thoughtful, reliable service. Finally, the successful tenure candidate will have accepted his or her fair share of work within the department, such as organizing events and reviewing entries for various departmental writing prizes. As faculty members grow in their fields, it is to be expected that they will participate in the larger professional community through activity at conferences and in professional organizations.

Standards for promotion to full professor

The quality we most value as a standard for promotion to the rank of Professor is leadership, manifested in teaching, in scholarship, and in service to the community.

In teaching, leadership means engaging students in the intellectual enterprise. It means innovation, developing new courses or new ways of teaching older courses—a continual reconsideration of what we do. It implies holding one’s students and one’s self to high standards. And it implies mentoring: exchanging ideas with colleagues to improve the quality of teaching in the department and the college.

In scholarship, leadership implies engagement, achievement, and recognition. A scholar or creative writer worthy of promotion to the rank of Professor shows evidence of continuing engagement with scholarly or creative work over a considerable time. Current and past work is part of something larger: a body of work devoted to the discipline or genre in which the scholar or writer is engaged, developed over a sustained period of time. The quality of the scholarship and writing is important. The department's evaluation of the work has weight, but we also look for evidence of a scholarly or creative reputation beyond Hamilton: recognition by one’s peers at other institutions, acceptance of one’s work in refereed or nationally distributed journals, and publication by well-regarded presses. In evaluating scholarship, we believe that journal articles can be as significant as a monograph. In evaluating creative writing, we believe that individually published stories and poems can be as significant as a novel or a collection. Similarly, we accept the MLA’s stipulation that work that is complete and in press be considered equal to work already published and that completed work under review by a publisher be taken into consideration by the department; we judge digital publication in the same way that we judge print.

In the community, leadership means not merely service on committees but taking an active and prominent role in guiding the department and the institution in defining its goals and achieving them. It also implies mentorship of colleagues.

To enumerate the specific ways in which these qualities can manifest themselves—for example, by specifying a number of publications or committee memberships—would be a mistake: it would reduce the flexibility to recognize merit when it appears in unexpected or innovative forms. We recognize that no member of the faculty has all these qualities in equal measure. Some excel in one category and some in another, and at different times in one's life and different stages in one’s career one may emphasize one area of leadership over another. But in all cases, demonstrated leadership is the fundamental and irreducible requirement for promotion to the rank of Professor.

Standards and Practices for Reappointment

This page is intended to guide newly hired faculty toward a successful third year reappointment. Departmental standards and practices for tenure and promotion are described in a separate document.

Teaching

The successful candidate for reappointment and tenure will have established a record of good teaching. In considering faculty for tenure, Hamilton places its highest premium on excellence in the classroom. Thus newly hired faculty do well to attend to their teaching during the first three years of their appointment.

Like most colleges and universities in the U.S., Hamilton makes use of student evaluations in the assessment of teaching. The online evaluation form is standard across the college. We urge newly hired faculty to look it over carefully to get a sense of how students are asked to judge the success or failure of a course, and we expect junior faculty to consult regularly with the chair about how to interpret their course evaluations.

Because student evaluations, important as they are, will always be an imperfect measure of teaching success, the department supplements them with its own system of peer classroom observation. Classroom observations of newly hired instructors by tenured colleagues give the department a first-hand means of reaching that level of understanding of a candidate’s teaching required by the Faculty Handbook for all cases of reappointment (see Chapter VI, section F.1). Regularly gathered, specific information about a candidate's teaching helps the tenured members of the department write concrete and compelling recommendations for reappointment. Our goal is to have each tenured member of the department observe at least one course before the candidate stands for tenure. And just as the department imagines these observations as a way for us to make our best tenure case for our junior faculty, so our junior faculty should see them as opportunities to learn more about effective teaching at Hamilton.

During a newly hired faculty member’s first semester of teaching, classroom visits will happen only at the faculty member’s request. Each semester thereafter, a tenured member of the department will visit a course taught by the candidate (senior seminars are usually visited only at the request of the instructor and will not count as the visited course). The department chair assigns classroom observers. The visits take place at a time in the semester agreed to in advance by the candidate and the observer (toward this end, the candidate should provide the observer with a copy of the course syllabus as early in the semester as possible). The observer is expected to visit a consecutive week's worth of classes. Observing for a full week gives the tenured faculty member a clear sense of how the candidate organizes class material and interacts with students while removing the pressure on the candidate to produce a single brilliant class meeting. Candidates teaching 100-level Literature courses and Creative Writing 215 should also provide the observer with a set of marked and graded essays or creative assignments from the entire class. The department believes that evaluating and commenting on student writing is such an important part of our job that the candidate’s work in this area deserves special attention.

Following the classroom observations (and, in the cases of Creative Writing 215 and 100-level Literature courses, the review of graded student papers), the observer drafts a report that will be read by the candidate and by other tenured members of the department. The observer's report becomes a part of the candidate’s internal departmental file. Candidates are allowed to read the report before it is filed and to discuss with the observer any concerns they may have; if necessary, the candidate may also bring those concerns to the department chair.

Since the report remains at the departmental level (i.e., it is not read by the Dean or by the members of the Committee on Appointments), it may include advice about teaching as well as its evaluation. Candidates are encouraged to work with the department chair to address issues that may arise. Candidates should not feel shy about asking for explanations or—if they feel it necessary—requesting different language. The chair will negotiate any substantive disagreements between the candidate and the observer.

While there are many ways of demonstrating excellence in teaching and many different kinds of teachers, colleagues observing classes will be attending to

1. the thoughtfulness and clarity of course design as expressed in the course materials,
2. the candidate’s ability to foster discussion, to create an intellectually challenging environment, and to motivate students to develop their own critical voices,
3. the candidate’s ability both to model and to encourage careful literary and theoretical analysis appropriate to the level of the course,
4. the candidate’s ability to raise interesting questions that encourage students to be more self-aware and flexible with respect to their fundamental values, assumptions, and ideological commitments,
5. the pedagogical thoughtfulness of assignments and their appropriateness to level of the course.

More generally, the department expects candidates to develop an appropriate suite of courses that reflect developments in their areas of expertise in ways that will engage students, as well as to contribute to the development of departmental courses that overlap with their expertise and interest.

Junior faculty are welcome to ask any departmental colleague (tenured or untenured) for permission to sit in on one or more of his or her classes. The colleague is free to comply with or decline this request.

Successful candidates for reappointment will have established a record consisting of favorable departmental observation reports and student evaluations that lie well within college wide norms.

Scholarship/Creative Work

The Department of Literature and Creative Writing offers concentrations in the study of literature and the art of creative writing. Consequently, we have full-time faculty in both fields. The department is aware of the differences in scholarly and creative venues and procedures for publication, and our standards for publication in scholarly and creative work take those structural differences into account. As literary study has become increasingly interdisciplinary, work in cognate fields (e.g. art history, film studies, music) and work that expands the boundaries of the discipline are encouraged and count toward tenure and promotion in the same way that work focused on a more traditional conception of literary study would count. In addition, the department values creative non-fiction, translation, textual editing, and work on pedagogy.

While the department does not demand “the tenure book,” candidates in literature and creative writing will not be reappointed without a record of publication and strong evidence that continued publication is likely. To that end, we advise candidates to develop a clear professional trajectory.

An acceptable record of publication for reappointment in literary study could look like this:

1. 2 scholarly essays in peer-reviewed journals (print or online), or in edited collections published by university or commercial scholarly presses that employ peer review; or:
2. a completed book manuscript under review at a university or recognized commercial scholarly press.
3. an article in print as in item 1, with another article or articles under review and/or a substantial manuscript in progress, or some other scholarly work, such as an edited translation of a text, development of a digital archive, etc.

All written or published work must be judged by the department to be of sufficiently high quality. Given the time-lag in publication, work accepted will be treated as if it were published. Also, recognizing changes in publication venues, digital publication and work in the digital humanities will be judged in the same manner as print publication.

Presentations at conferences are certainly part of any successful candidate's research portfolio. They are not, however, a substitute for publication. Encyclopedia entries and book reviews may count towards publication but should not constitute the bulk of the candidate’s file. In creative writing, an acceptable record of publication for reappointment would involve:

1. publication of 1-2 stories or 4-5 poems of substantial length (over 2,000 words in fiction, 10 lines in poetry) in nationally distributed journals or in edited collections published by university, commercial, or respected small presses; or:
2. a completed book manuscript (short story or poetry collection, or novel) under review at a university, commercial, or respected small press.

Given the time-lag in publication, work accepted will be treated as if it were published.

Also, recognizing changes in publication venues, digital publication will be judged in the same manner as print publication.

Again, all written or published work must be judged by the department to be of sufficiently high quality. As in literary scholarship, a book manuscript nearing completion is also acceptable if the department finds it likely to be published. Scholarly essays and conference presentations by creative writing candidates, as well as items such as encyclopedia entries and book reviews, may enhance a file; such material is not, however, a substitute for creative work.

Since it is not difficult to imagine acceptable records of publication different from the ones outlined above, we urge candidate for tenure who have questions or concerns to consult with the chair.

Service

The Faculty Handbook makes clear that college service, while a necessary aspect of any successful tenure case, is distinctly less important than good teaching and a record of solid publication. Thus service on a standing committee of the college is not necessary for reappointment in the Department of Literature and Creative Writing. We expect, though, that candidates will establish a profile in academic citizenship that indicates a potential for good service. This is accomplished by good attendance at, and participation in, department meetings and activities and events (which includes readings and presentations of students as well as visiting scholars, poets, or novelists), and by good attendance at the college’s monthly faculty meetings. Finally, the successful candidate for reappointment will accept and will responsibly oversee his or her fair share of work within the department, such as organizing an event or judging entries for departmental prizes.

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Updated March 2020