Department of History General Guidelines for Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure and Full Professor

1.  The History Department understands that promotion and tenure recognize a faculty member's past accomplishments, and are an investment in the candidate's future successes.  Promotion and tenure decisions have an enormous impact on the candidate, the department and the institution.  Recommendations must be based on a rigorous, fair and equitable evaluation.

2.  The normal workload for History faculty is 40% research, 40% teaching and 20% service.  In the event that a faculty member has a modified workload the tenure evaluation will adjust accordingly.  Faculty will be evaluated based on their individual workload distribution.

3.  Faculty with joint appointments will be evaluated according to the same standards as faculty with 100% appointment.  When History is the tenure home the department standards and processes will be followed, with the addition of a written recommendation from the second department.  When History is not the tenure home, the department will evaluate the candidate and submit a recommendation to the primary department.

Criteria for Promotion to Tenured Associate Professor

The History Department at the University of Missouri expects candidates for promotion from assistant to tenured associate professor to meet the following criteria.

1) Research. Our expectation is that a candidate, at the time of their promotion, will have published, at a minimum, one sole-authored, book-length historical study, ordinarily an outgrowth of the dissertation, with a reputable academic or commercial publisher demonstrating the candidate’s status as an active, respected member of the scholarly community. Please note that while this book is necessary for promotion, it is not sufficient.  Because the University of Missouri is a research university of national standing, we expect candidates to be building a national reputation by presenting at national or international conferences, and publishing shorter original works such as journal articles based on their ongoing research projects.  The candidate’s research should make a significant contribution to the scholarship in his or her field(s) of study.  Evaluation will include the candidate's entire body of work, with an emphasis on publications appearing after their MU hiring date.

We expect the candidate to have an ongoing research agenda and to be an active member of the scholarly community outside the university.  This can take many forms, including the following: participation as a presenter and/or commentator in scholarly conferences or workshops, the publication of book reviews, the publication of essays for reference volumes; active membership in scholarly organizations and networks; serving as an editor or co-editor of a book series or journal or a journal issue; and speaking or writing for the general public on historical topics.  The department also recognizes the significance of alternate forms of scholarship, including public history projects such as curating exhibits or creating digital or audiovisual media.

2) Teaching.  The expected teaching load is 2 courses per semester for faculty who are full-time in the History Department.  Teaching loads for jointly-appointed faculty are adjusted accordingly. 

The candidate should have established a record of teaching excellence.  Teaching excellence can be demonstrated in myriad ways, including the following: student evaluations and peer evaluations, holistically understood; sustained key contributions to the department's curriculum; development of new courses at the introductory, advanced undergraduate, and graduate levels; participation in teaching development workshops or trainings; integrating new methodologies or technologies in the classroom; teaching Writing Intensive and/or Diversity Intensive courses; directing honors theses; producing publications related to pedagogy. 

The candidate is expected to have begun contributing to the graduate program.  This can include offering a graduate course; conducting independent readings with graduate students and serving on graduate committees, which can include working with graduate students from other departments.  It can also include advising graduate students, although this is not necessarily expected for untenured faculty.

3) Service. The candidate should have an active and developing record of service to the university at the departmental, college, campus, and/or system levels.  Given MU's role as a public land grant university, the department will consider service to the state of Missouri and outreach to the public at large to be especially meritorious; this could happen either directly by working with schools, state agencies or other institutions around the state, or indirectly by speaking, engaging with the public about historical matters on social media, or otherwise lending scholarly expertise to general audiences or those communicating with them, such as journalists. 

The department recognizes the importance of service to the discipline, for the reputation of the candidate, the department, and the university.  This includes membership in or leadership of professional societies, serving on editorial boards, refereeing journal submissions, book manuscripts, conference papers, and grant applications, and the publication of book reviews.

4) Internal and External Funding.  While external funding is relatively rare and difficult to obtain in the field of History, the department recognizes how important it is in the higher education environment of the 21st century, and will support and encourage members to seek it where feasible.  Significant and effective funding applications will be considered as service to the department, and if successful, may be credited in other areas such as scholarship or teaching if they apply, for example funding to accomplish a major research project or create an innovative new course.  Internal funding will loom less large, but the department will encourage, support, and sometimes require internal funding applications where they are obviously relevant.

5) Entrepreneurial activities.  The department recognizes the importance of research-related entrepreneurial activities and cross-disciplinary and collaborative work in today's academe.  Opportunities for such work are relatively rare in History, and thus cannot be expected in all or most cases, but ought to be encouraged and rewarded if they are attempted and successful.

Early Promotion

In the case of recommendations for promotion and/or tenure before the sixth year (CRR 320.035), the College of Arts and Science defines ‘truly exceptional’ as having significantly exceeded the expectations for promotion and/or tenure. Achieving the expectations for promotion and/or tenure sooner than expected is not sufficient evidence of ‘truly exceptional.’”

For more information about the P&T policies of the Provost’s office, see:  https://provost.missouri.edu/promotion-and-tenure/

Criteria for Promotion to Full Professor

The History Department at the University of Missouri expects candidates for promotion from associate to full professor to meet the following criteria.

1)  Research. The candidate should have at least two sole-authored, book-length historical studies from reputable publishing houses, preferably along with a body of other work that demonstrates the candidate’s status as a well-established professional historian with a strong national or international reputation. This other work could include edited or co-authored books, journal articles, book chapters, review-essays, and contributions to Internet projects, reference works, textbooks, exhibits or other endeavors seeking to bring historical scholarship to a wider public. Taken all together, the candidate’s research should make a significant contribution to the scholarship in his or her field(s) of study.

The candidate should have an ongoing research agenda and be an active member of the scholarly community, with a reputation that extends beyond the university. This can take many forms: participation as a presenter and/or commentator in scholarly conferences and workshops; invited talks, or keynote lectures.

2) Teaching. The candidate should have maintained and expanded upon a record of teaching excellence.  Teaching excellence can be demonstrated in myriad ways, including the following: student evaluations and peer evaluations, holistically understood; sustained key contributions in the curriculum; development of new courses since promotion to Associate Professor; participating in teaching development workshops or trainings; integrating new methodologies or technologies into the classroom; teaching Writing Intensive and/or Diversity Intensive courses; directing honors theses; producing publications related to pedagogy. 

The candidate for promotion to full professor is expected to have contributed materially to the graduate program, in the manner that their field makes possible.  This should include advising graduate students, serving on graduate committees, and teaching occasional graduate courses.  It could also include conducting independent readings with graduate students and working with graduate students from other departments, programs, or other universities.

3)  Service. The candidate should have a significant record of service to the university at the departmental, college, campus, and/or system levels.  Given MU's role as a public land grant university, the department will consider service to the state of Missouri and outreach to the public at large to be especially meritorious; this could happen either directly by working with schools, state agencies or other institutions around the state, or indirectly by speaking, engaging with the public about historical matters on social media, or otherwise lending scholarly expertise to general audiences or those communicating with them, such as journalists.  The department recognizes the importance of service to the discipline, for the reputation of the candidate, the department, and the university.  This includes membership or leadership in professional societies, organizing conferences and symposia, serving on editorial boards, refereeing journal submissions, book manuscripts, conference papers, and grant applications, and the publication of book reviews or reference essays; active membership in scholarly organizations and networks; serving as an editor or co-editor of a book series or journal or a journal issue; and speaking or writing for the general public on historical topics.  The department also recognizes the significance of alternate forms of scholarship, including public history projects such as curating exhibits or creating digital or audiovisual media. 

4) Internal and External Funding.  While external funding is relatively rare and difficult to get in the field of History, the department recognizes how important it is in the higher education environment of the 21st century, and will support and encourage members to seek it where feasible.  Significant and effective funding applications will be considered as service to the department, and if successful, may be credited in other areas such as scholarship or teaching if the apply, or example funding to accomplish a major research project or create an innovative new course.  Internal funding will loom less large, but the department will encourage, support, and sometimes require internal funding applications where they are obviously relevant.

5) Entrepreneurial activities.  The department recognizes the importance of research-related entrepreneurial activities and cross-disciplinary and collaborative work in today's academe.  Opportunities for such work are relatively rare in History, and thus cannot be expected in all or most cases, but ought to be encouraged and rewarded if they are attempted and successful.

For more information about the P&T policies of the Provost’s office, see:  https://provost.missouri.edu/promotion-and-tenure/