Faculty who are invited to apply for promotion or tenure each year shape the university’s academic reputation for years to come. Each time a faculty member is considered, they are held to the same high standard: a proven record that suggests a sustained career typified by true excellence.
Deadlines for Tenure and/or Promotion
Submissions before the deadlines are very much appreciated.
Nominations for tenure and/or promotion to go into effect July 1, 2026 (for 12 month) or August 17, 2026 (for academic-year appointments) should be submitted to the appropriate vice chancellor’s office by the following deadlines:
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| November 15, 2025 | Deadline for all nominations for tenure and/or promotion to be received in the Office of the IANR Vice Chancellor (see IANR Promotion and Tenure webpage) |
| January 31, 2026 | Deadline for nominations for tenure (with or without promotion) to be received by the Executive Vice Chancellor |
| February 28, 2026 | Deadline for nominations for promotion not connected to tenure decisions to be received by the Executive Vice Chancellor |
Deadlines for Reappointment:
Notification of the decision not to reappoint must be communicated to the faculty member by the stated deadlines. See non-reappointments for more information.
Promotion and Tenure Files
- The Documentation Request outlines the materials to be included in every promotion and tenure file. Every file must be organized with clearly labeled sections in “Documentation Request” order. Files in PDF format should have bookmarks corresponding to each section.
- The following forms are included as part of the Administrative Section of the file, which is to be prepared by the department:
- Apportionment Change Documentation Form
- Waiver of Right to Access Information Form
- Course Listing and Evaluation Form | PDF | DOC
External Reviews
Every tenure and/or promotion file must include at least three external and independent letters of review, from faculty holding appropriate rank at R1 institutions. Any exceptions to this standard must be approved, in advance and in writing, by the cognizant dean and vice chancellor or their designees; exceptions are intended to be very rarely granted. Generally, external reviewers should have full professorial rank, and in any case they must hold at least the rank being sought in the promotion process. Note that it is the responsibility of the department chair/head/school director, the chair of the departmental promotion and tenure committee, or the dean – not the candidate – to solicit these letters.
Reviewers must be chosen who are qualified to judge the quality of the candidate’s work because of their own knowledge of the field. These letters are to be "independent" in the sense that they will be from individuals who have had at most limited professional or personal relationships with the candidate and with each other, and who have been chosen by the department chair/head (or chair of the promotion and tenure committee, or dean, as appropriate) for their ability to provide an objective assessment.
As such, external reviewers should not include dissertation advisors, current or former collaborators, former colleagues, personal friends, or others who have any special relationship to the candidate. In cases where the extreme prominence of a candidate makes independent letters impracticable, special care should be taken to solicit letters from exceptionally prominent reviewers.
Below are sample templates for soliciting external reviews in the most common situations:
Special Circumstances Related to Promotion and/or Tenure
Extensions to the tenure clock
Personal circumstances may prevent a faculty member in a tenure-leading position from performing at the level that is necessary to reach the high expectations of tenure within the timeframe of the probationary period. In such cases, an extension in the tenure clock may be appropriate.
Early tenure applications
For the truly exceptional candidate, award of tenure may be considered prior to the mandatory review date. Early tenure implies that a candidate has, in the shorter time period, built and sustained a record of high-level performance equaling or surpassing that expected over the normal probationary period. As is the case for all tenure candidates, that record must also justify an expectation and prediction of the quality and quantity of a faculty member's future performance. For more information, refer to section VIII.A. of the Guidelines for Evaluation of Faculty.
Tenure credit
The longest possible probationary period (“tenure clock”) without extension is six years, with mandatory review for tenure during the sixth year of employment. Any new assistant professor without prior tenure-track experience is assigned a probationary period of six years. If the new faculty member has prior tenure-track experience, it may be appropriate to offer credit towards tenure in recognition of that prior experience. Tenure credit can only be awarded at the time of hire.
Tenure credit is offered in full-year increments, up to the amount of prior tenure-track experience the candidate has. If tenure credit is offered and accepted by the candidate, then the probationary period is shortened by that amount, requiring the mandatory tenure review to occur at a specified time before the sixth year of employment. The awarding (or not) of tenure credit does not affect whether the faculty member can be considered for early tenure or whether the faculty member can request a tenure clock extension (see above).
Changes in tenure home
The process to change a faculty member’s tenure home or the unit that will review the tenure and promotion dossier begins with a request initiated by the faculty member.
- For tenure-track and tenured faculty, use Request to Change Tenure Home Department form
- For specialized faculty, use Request to Change Department Home form
COVID-19
Course evaluations and COVID-19: Instructors have the option of not having evaluation results for spring 2020 semester considered in merit decisions, including annual evaluations, reappointment, promotion, and tenure. If instructors choose to opt-out of having their student course evaluation results being included in their evaluation portfolios, they need to notify their dean or department chair of that decision.
COVID-19 Impact Statement and Fact Sheet: Faculty may wish to include a COVID-19 Impact Statement and/or the UNL Institutional Pandemic Fact Sheet in their files. Including either or both of these items is entirely optional and at the discretion of the candidate. If included, these items could be placed in the Appendices, or as part of the Candidate Statement (and in that case would not count towards the 15-page limit on the Candidate Statement). Faculty may find this list of prompts helpful in writing a COVID-19 Impact Statement.
Promotion and Tenure Workshops
Workshops are offered once in the Fall and once in the Spring. They are intended for faculty who will be going through promotion and tenure and the academic leaders (associate deans, DEOs, P&T committee chairs) who support the process.
Workshops for 2025-26 will be announced in August 2025.
