Faculty promotion processes can be challenging to navigate, and summarizing years’ worth of clinical, teaching, research and service activities can be a daunting task. So it is never too early to start preparing for advancement.
Faculty of all ranks are invited to join “Promotion & Tenure Essentials,” a workshop from the UNMC Office of Faculty Development, on Nov. 10 from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. The session will be facilitated over Zoom by Teri Mauch, MD, PhD, chair, and Wally Thoreson, PhD, vice chair, of the UNMC College of Medicine’s promotion and tenure committee.
In contrast to other universities’ “up-and-out” systems in which faculty must be promoted to associate professor on a specific timeline or leave their position, UNMC’s health professions track does not require promotion to remain at UNMC. Additionally, UNMC allows exceptionally talented faculty to apply for promotion after only four years, which is much shorter than other institutions.
According to Dr. Thoreson, these two factors afford UNMC the best of both worlds — to reward exceptionally productive faculty while also recognizing some faculty may want to delay promotion due to life circumstances.
When it comes to the application process, Dr. Thoreson said preparation is key. “The most challenging applications are those that have been poorly prepared, lacking key information about the nature of various activities.”
Dr. Mauch said it can be unnatural for someone to write their own narrative and prepare their portfolio, so she recommends either pretending faculty are writing it for someone else or to get a friend to help.
Dr. Mauch also recommends keeping a CV up to date in real-time, so the process is less daunting when the time comes to apply for promotion. “I keep a copy of my CV on my desktop, so I can add things to it as they occur. It’s a lot easier than trying to remember everything six months later.”
Faculty can attend the Nov. 10 session to better understand the promotion process and to get tips in preparing a strong promotion package. Registration for the workshop is available here.
Additionally, the UNMC College of Medicine Promotion & Tenure Planner workbook is available on the UNMC Office of Faculty Development website. (Log in with UNMC credentials.)