Promotion and Tenure
Tenure-Line Policies, FAQs, and Guidelines
University Policy AC23 (formerly HR23): Promotion and Tenure Procedures and Regulations
2024-2025 Administrative Guidelines for Policy AC23 (formerly HR23): Promotion and Tenure Procedures and Regulations (Updated July 1, 2024) (PDF, DOCX)
2024-2025 Promotion and Tenure FAQs (PDF, DOCX) (updated 9/12/2024)
2024-2025 Summary of Revisions to the Administrative Guidelines and FAQs for Policy AC23 (PDF, DOCX)
Guidelines for Immediate Tenure Reviews
Guidance for Administrators and Members of P&T Committees
Guidelines for Staying of the Provisional Tenure Period
Early Tenure Review Guidelines
University Policy ACG17 (formerly HCG17): Requests for Reduction of Prior Tenure Credit
Guidelines for Sharing Elements of the Dossier Following Formal Reviews for Tenure-Line Faculty
Standard Practice for Tenure-Line Faculty Members Seeking to Change Lines or Tenure Home
Alternate Tenure Review Processes (including Immediate, Hybrid, and Out-of-Sequence)
Changes to the Assessment of Teaching Effectiveness (to be included in College guidelines by July 1, 2025)
Non-Tenure-Line Policies and Guidelines
University Policy AC21 (formerly HR21): Definition of Academic Ranks
2024-2025 Non-Tenure-Line Administrative Guidelines (PDF, DOCX)
Changes to the Assessment of Teaching Effectiveness (to be included in College guidelines by July 1, 2025)
Activity Insight
Activity Insight is an online software tool designed to help faculty members collect, organize, and display their data for the purposes of annual reviews, promotion and tenure, and more.
Activity Insight at Penn State
Executive Summary: Activity Insight (Updated April 26, 2021) (PDF)
COVID-Related Guidance
Considerations for Non-Tenure Line Promotions in the Time of COVID-19 (Updated June 30, 2022) (PDF, DOCX)
For tenure-line faculty in their probationary period in Calendar Year 2020:
- Guidance regarding a one-year extension due to COVID-19 (PDF , DOCX)
- FAQs Pertaining to the Guidance (Updated July 1, 2022) (PDF, DOCX)
- COVID-19 extension fact sheet (PDF [December 2023]; PDF [June 2022])
- Relinquishing the COVID Extension (PDF, DOCX )
The Impact of the COVID Pandemic on Research at Penn State (Informational Report, Senate Committee on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, July 9, 2024) (Report, Presentation)
Committees and Committee Documents
Workshops, Presentations, and Reports
Faculty Promotion Reports
Tenure Flow Annual Reports – This report presents data regarding rates at which provisionally appointed faculty members achieve tenure.
2024 Report – 2016-17 entering cohort
2023 Report – 2015-16 entering cohort
2022 Report – 2014-15 entering cohort
2021 Report – 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14 entering cohorts
Non-Tenure-Line Promotion Reports – Because non-tenure-line faculty are not hired in a “cohort” like tenure-line faculty, this report presents a snapshot of promotions that took place in a particular academic year. For example, the promotion report published in 2021 discusses promotions that took place during the 2019-2020 academic year.
2023 Report
2022 Report
2021 Report
2020 Report
Workshops
Promotion and Tenure Workshop Series by the Office of Faculty Affairs