Faculty members who hold probationary assistant or associate professor appointments may find that they are not ready for the mandatory review for promotion and tenure due to any number of circumstances. The Tenure Regulations state:
For reasons of health, requirements of childbirth or child care, or similar compelling circumstances, a faculty member holding a probationary term of appointment at the rank of assistant professor or associate professor may request a written memorandum of amendment extending the term of the current appointment and thereby the maximum probationary period with no resulting change in normal employment obligations, in order to provide the faculty member additional time to demonstrate fully his or her professional qualifications for reappointment or permanent tenure. Extensions under this subsection (iii) may be granted in increments not to exceed 12 months, up to a maximum of 24 months (including any extensions that may have been granted under subsection (ii), above). [Amended May 20, 2004.]
Timing Of Request For Extension
Any request pursuant to the above must be initiated not later than 24 months before the end of the term to which it is to apply and must be approved by the EVC&P. A second request for 12 months following the initial request (of 12 months) requires the same paperwork. The extension granted cannot exceed a total of 24 months. A request for extension initiated during the third or fourth year of an initial probationary term at the rank of assistant professor shall be granted only upon the condition that the initial appointment is renewed.
The provisions above do not apply to informal temporary adjustments of the regularly assigned duties of faculty members by the department chair that is responsible for their direct supervision; nor to the granting by the University of extended leaves of absence with or without compensation.
Procedure
Tenure clock extension requests should be routed through the normal EHRA administrative channels, including your internal Dean’s Office (if that is part of your school’s internal TCE policy), to the Office of Faculty Affairs.
Requests should be submitted using the Review Deferral Request Form to facultyaffairs@unc.edu. Once the Office of Faculty Affairs has communicated its tenure clock extension decision, if the action is approved, a ConnectCarolina Edit Existing Job ePAR should be entered using the date of the approval notice as the effective date of the action (rather than the next day after current appointment’s original end date).
When completing this ePAR, add one year to the Expected Job End Date. The purpose of the Edit Existing ePAR is to reflect the approved tenure clock extension formally in the faculty member’s on-line record and to permit extension of the faculty probationary period end date.
Documents Required to Process a Tenure Clock Extension in ConnectCarolina
- The approved Review Deferral Request Form from the OECV&P (or designee)
- Use the following action/action reason codes to process a tenure clock extension in ConnectCarolina
