CALS Administration

    College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

    UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN-MADISON UW-MADISON

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    Faculty Affairs

    September 8, 2025

    Process for Incorporating Feedback from Partnering Schools/Colleges on Split Appointments – College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

    Across the University, there are many examples of faculty that have split appointments between two schools/colleges. The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (Nelson) have made this process document to outline how career stage reviews will be conducted for faculty in such split appointments. Although some appointments are 50:50 with a lead school/college designated, future appointments will have a clearly designated lead established by an unequal split (i.e. 60%:40% or 75%:25%). In all cases, the lead school/college is referred to throughout this document as Lead S/C and the other referred to as the Partner S/C.

    Overview of Expected Cases

    Each fall, the CALS and Nelson Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs (ADFA) will provide an overview of expected cases in each of the categories below to their counterpart ADFA. This overview is based on default timelines, with added resolution when provided by department chairs. For Tenure and promotion to Professor dossiers submitted prior to the default year, the list may not perfectly reflect the cases submitted as there are dynamic factors that influence final decisions to submit promotion documents.

    PTRs

    Process

    • The PTR process will follow the process of the Lead S/C.
    • When the PTR review committee is designated in the fall, the department chair will reach out to the ADFA of the Partner S/C who will be able to appoint one review member from their S/C to work with the two members of the home department. During this initial conversation, the department chair and the ADFA will discuss the timing of each department’s executive committee meetings.
    • Once received, the Lead S/C ADFA will share the PTR document with the Partner S/C Dean and ADFA. A letter will be requested from the partner S/C Dean or Dean’s delegate upon receipt of the PTR document.
      • An initial sufficiency approval will be required within 14 days by the Lead S/C and a letter will be requested from the Partner S/C with a 2-to-4-week timeline when done on a rolling basis (flexible if needed until the final deadline approaches, hence the initial discussion regarding department executive committee schedules).
    • Letters are provided to the Dean for consideration during review. A synopsis of the Partner S/C letter will be incorporated into the Lead S/C memo along with their feedback.
    • Any misalignment between the Lead and Partner S/C will warrant a discussion prior to the decision.
    • After the review is completed, a sufficiency memo be shared with the tenure home department and Partner S/C, reflecting the collaborative review and clearly outlining the timeline of future PTR reviews.

    Tenure Dossiers

    Process

    • When the mentor committee is formed, it will contain at least one faculty member from the Partner S/C to participate in the ongoing mentoring of the faculty member.
    • Tenure dossiers must meet the requirements of the respective Divisional Committee, regardless of which S/C is Lead or Partner.
    • The timeline for S/C review prior to Divisional Committee submission of the Lead S/C must be followed.

    Third Year Reappointment, Pre-tenure

    • Once shared with the Lead S/C, the reappointment report will be shared with the Partner S/C.

    Tenure Review

    • At the beginning of the year of the tenure vote for each candidate, the Lead S/C will contact the Partner S/C to discuss the executive committee schedules of each S/C.
    • Upon receipt by the Lead S/C, the full dossier will be shared with the Partner S/C. A letter from the Partner S/C must be shared by the Partner S/C within two weeks of receipt, hence the initial discussion regarding executive committee schedules.
      • Given that we only have a 4-week timeline to review, this is a hard deadline.
      • At this stage, the Partner S/C will have access to “arms-length” chair and mentor committee letters, which would not be included if done earlier in the process.
      • The Lead S/C will conduct a concurrent review giving initial and substantive feedback on the format, etc., so the final version may differ slightly from what is originally shared.
    • The Partner S/C will submit a letter to the Dean of the Lead S/C for consideration. If the Partner S/C agrees with the departmental assessment their letter may be brief and indicate concurrence.
    • Any misalignment between the Lead and Partner S/C will warrant a discussion, prior to decision.
    • When the ADFA provides feedback to the chair, the Partner S/C letter will also be included so that it can be incorporated into the tenure dossier.

    Promotion to Professor

    Process

    • The full promotion document will be shared by the Lead S/C ADFA with the Partner S/C ADFA upon receipt.
    • The faculty member must follow the guidelines and timeline for the Lead S/C.
    • If there are additional requirements in the Partner S/C guidelines, those must be included (i.e. interdisciplinary statement required by Nelson, peer teaching evaluation required by CALS).
      • The two ADFA’s will work to align the respective S/C processes.
      • For CALS: the promotion to full professor committee will be reviewing the document.
        • Full Professor documents are typically due to the college on February 1 and faculty should submit their document to CALS by the deadline regardless of who the Lead or Partner S/C is.
        • If CALS is the lead, the document will be shared with the Partner S/C upon receipt. A letter from the Partner S/C will be requested within 3 weeks so that the Partner S/C letter can be provided to the committee prior to the review discussion for reference.
          • If the Partner S/C agrees with the departmental assessment, their letter will be brief and indicate concurrence.
        • If CALS is the Partner S/C, the committee will review the document and provide their assessment which will advise the college letter of support to be provided to the Lead S/C for their review process.
      • The Dean will consider the Partner S/C letter, together with the committee’s recommendation, when making the final decision. Any misalignment between the Lead and Partner S/C will warrant a discussion, prior to the decision.

    Compensation Discussions

    • Any proposed salary changes outside of standard career stage salary adjustments must be approved by both S/C prior to implementation and will be navigated by the ADFA of both S/C.
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