• A tenure track position is a long-term appointment and is defined in the Handbook for faculty. Faculty Guidelines This appointment allows you to apply for tenure and its associated benefits from the University. These benefits and duties associated with tenure are described in the Handbook and may be subject to change each year. This track requires excellent scholarship, teaching, and service to the university. Promotion to associate and full professor requires independent scientific activity and grant generation, as well as national recognition for scientific contributions.
  

• Full time Clinician (non-tenure) track involves a year by year appointment. Service and some clinical teaching are required, with scholarship usually limited to activities in professional organizations and presentations. Promotion to associate and full professor require regional or national recognition.
  

• Research (non-tenure) track involves year by year appointment. For this track, the focus is on scholarly, especially grant-related activities. Grant participation as well as publications and presentations are important, with service and teaching a plus, but not required. Teaching usually involves supervision in the research setting. Promotion to associate and full professor requires independent scientific activity and grant generation, as well as national recognition for scientific contributions.
  

• The Clinician Educator (non-tenure) track has previously allowed 3 or 5-year appointments at the associate and professor level, respectively. This track focuses on excellence in teaching and scholarship. Original research is not a requirement but can serve as evidence of scholarship. Promotion to associate and full professor require national or international recognition.
  

• The "AT" track was previously used for individuals who had off-campus appointments, but is not currently used for new appointments. Individuals may be promoted in this track, however, or may change to the Clinician Educator or the Full-time Clinician track.
  

• Changes in track, i.e., from research track to tenure track, are possible. However, it is important to realize that the requirements vary for each of the tracks. Promotions to higher rank occur in all tracks and many of the same basic requirements must be met. It is generally not possible to leave the tenure track and then return to it.
  

• Choose a mentor/advisor, preferably someone in your department on the same track, but in a higher rank. This person should understand the issues and general requirements for promotion and be willing to provide you with pertinent advice. A list of assigned advisors for each department is also available from the Committee on Faculty.
  

• Meet with your mentor regularly to review your progress in meeting the requirements for your track and level. Goals and progress toward those goals should be reviewed at least twice a year.
  

• Talk with your departmental chair about your goals and your progress. Your department chair should meet with you annually to discuss these issues. The chair will then prepare a written report to the administration at that time. A copy of this report should be provided to you for your records.
   
  Tenure is often granted along with promotion to associate Professor but may also be granted several years after this promotion. Newly arrived faculty must generally wait 3 years before they are eligible for tenure. Time in rank at other institutions has no bearing on the "clock" for Georgetown.

• The spring prior to your application, discuss your plans for promotion or tenure with your department chair or supervisor. Since letters of reference are part of the requirements, you should provide a list of individuals whom you would consider appropriate to evaluate your credentials. It is also usually necessary to ask for letters of recommendation from Department members and/or have votes by department members. Since these take time to obtain, planning ahead is recommended.
  

• In the late summer check on the progress of the application. Application forms are available from the Executive Vice President's office Application forms and Dates and should be completed for submission in early September. Application deadlines are available from the same office/web site.
  

• Once your forms have been submitted, the Committee on Faculty (Medical School) will review the application. The results of this committee's vote are then sent to the Executive faculty (Departmental Chairs) for their approval. Tenure track applications are sent on to the Rank and Tenure committee (which handles promotion and tenure evaluations for the University as a whole) for additional review and recommendation. These committees and the executive faculty, in consultation with the EVP, make a recommendation to the President of the University. For tenure track decisions, the process for evaluation is lengthy and announcement of the results of the committee considerations occurs usually in the following spring.

• There are several potential reasons why your application might not receive enthusiastic support. Although this is uncommon, it most often has been an issue with regard to grant of tenure. Your faculty evaluations may tell you if there is a problem, so talk to your chair or a mentor to find out what they advise. But this must be done in a timely fashion in order to make the recommended changes in your career path.
  

• Talk to your colleagues. Sometimes there may be a personal disagreement between you and your chairperson that does not correctly reflect your promotion status and/or tenurability.
  

• Seek and the listen to advice on your application from several mentors. Is it too premature for you to apply or is your application weak in a specific area? You can withdraw an application after it is submitted rather than have a negative vote. However, it may be better not to submit prematurely. Again -timing can be a significant issue and planning ahead is wise.
  

• Look for another job.
  

• It is important to note, however, that applications may be submitted without the support of the chair.

1. For tenure and research track appointments- the emphasis is on original peer-reviewed research as demonstrated by papers, grants, books, review boards, editorial boards, international and national scientific reputation, presentations [lectures, posters, workshops] at professional meetings and other institutions, scientific awards, invited articles or editorials in regional or national publications, participation in research or training projects outside of Georgetown- anything which shows you are an outstanding professional in your discipline).
For clinical educator track appointments- - the emphasis is typically on books, reviews, chapters, lectures and is not dependent on original research.
 
2. Demonstration of teaching commitment and skills (teaching/supervision of residents, medical and graduate students, lectures, discussion groups, labs, Problem Based Learning (PBL), course directorships, program and course development, curriculum design, teaching awards, clinical rounds, clerkships). It is essential to have student evalu
 
3. Demonstration of professional and administrative service inside and outside of the University (departmental, medical school and university committees, boards, public service [writing national board questions, volunteer lay lectures, consultation to academic projects outside of Georgetown, judging science fairs, positions in professional organizations like officer, program or membership chair]).
 
4. For the clinical tracks, demonstration of excellence in clinical service is required (medical directorship positions, heading a clinical service, clinical honors [e.g., Best Doctors in Washingtonian], referrals from outside of the DC area.
 
Collegiality is also important. Do you fit in to the department, the school? Do you work collaboratively with other faculty? This is reflected in the letters of recommendation submitted by other Georgetown faculty.

• Personal history- this is limited, you are not required to provide marriage status or number of children.
  

• Educational History- where and when, undergraduate and graduate degrees, postdoctoral training, residencies, clinical training
  

• Employment history- where and when for positions held in the past
  
• Scholarly accomplishments
  
• Teaching accomplishments
  
• Administrative service
  
• Clinical service

The last four topics can be in any order but the information for each of these topic area should be grouped together under the appropriate heading.

Also note that you can, and should, UPDATE YOUR VITA AT ANY TIME, EVEN AFTER IT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED AND IS IN THE REVIEW PROCESS. Additions are occasionally pivotal in establishing qualifications for rank in a specific area of endeavor (see below), particularly when the application may have been weak or marginal in this area originally.

Publications should be separately listed. Within this category, peer-reviewed articles should be further sub-divided from other publications (book chapters, invited articles, commentary, etc.) Information should be in chronological order, either earliest to latest or vice-versa. Abstracts should be separately listed as well. Do not mix abstracts with full publications.

How many papers?
This is a sticky issue and one that can be subjective and depends on your track. It is clear that published papers are essential for promotion and tenure in research and tenure track. What is judged are number of papers, the journal, first-authorship articles from your lab or research group and work in progress (Abstracts, in press etc…). The issue of gender differences here is real and statistics still demonstrate that women publish less than male faculty. The reasons for this difference are not obvious but are thought to be tied to "home and hearth" care that women provide compared to men. Regardless, as a young faculty of either gender you will need to PUBLISH, PUBLISH, PUBLISH, especially in the tenure and research tracks. . How many papers per year are required varies by track, but factors in addition to the number of publications, such as the stature of the journal and the type of research, are used for evaluation.

Scientific Presentations should be listed chronologically as well, separating out invited lectures and addresses from workshops and other presentations, and local or regional from national from national and international events. Lectures to students should not be included (see teaching). List the title of your presentation, the date, to whom it was

Why are presentations important?
This information is important for acknowledgement of a national or international scientific reputation. In addition, the people who invited you may also be asked to be a reference.

Grant funding should be carefully delineated. Information to include is funding agency, mechanism (RO1, RO3, KO1, etc.), the principal investigator, candidate's role on project (if not PI), % effort, % salary, information about the level of funding, with what the dollar figures represent (e.g., total direct costs, direct plus indirect costs per year, etc.), and time period covered.

For example: Title of Grant. Dr. X, Principal Investigator, Your name (Co-Investigator, 35% effort/salary). Project period: 1-1-00 to 12-31-03. RO1 CA77777, National Cancer Institute. Direct costs - $3,000,000 for 5 years.

Why is funding important?:
If you are Tenure track or Research track, the receipt of peer reviewed grants is used as a index of your professional skills and your standing in the research community- generally, the more grants, the better (see these web sites for grant information- NIH grants or GrantsNet). The problem remains, however, that grant writing skills are frequently a factor and you could be an outstanding scientist and still have difficulty in obtaining consistent funding. If this is a problem, there are potential solutions…. Attend grant writing seminars, have colleagues who have a strong record in funding read your grant proposals, talk to the funding agency personnel about the type of project, where it should be directed etc., submit grants frequently, sit as an Ad Hoc on an NIH review panel and read bad and good grants. Although NIH RO1s are the "Holy Grail", other agencies are also very important. For those on the tenure track, demonstration of continued support of an active research program is essential and there is no substitution for serving as PI or having continuous funding. Collaborators help a great deal and co-PI status on a grant is also important. For Full -time Clinician track and Clinical Educator track, grants are a plus but are not viewed as essential for promotion.

Teaching All types of teaching (classroom, bedside or lab/bench) need to be included. List all courses directed, including those for residents and other departmental trainees, medical students, graduate students, and undergraduate students. List courses in which lectures are given (with approximate number of lectures) and all teaching activities in which you participate or have participated. Include the hours of contact in discussion groups, Problem Based Learning (PBL), with residents or any other formal student/teacher situation. Informal teaching such as clinical or research supervision should also be listed, as well as training activities outside of Georgetown which you may have been involved while at Georgetown (for example, giving a lecture in an NIH course). Include the name and dates of graduation/exit for each graduate and post-doc student that you advised (current position and address are useful if available); medical /undergraduate students trained in the lab and your thesis committee memberships. All faculty, regardless of track, should demonstrate some commitment to teaching. However, the amount of time spent and commitment to teaching is viewed differently for Research Track and Full time Clinician track faculty and can be less than for Tenure-track or Clinician Educator track faculty. Teaching evaluations must be included.

Why do you need teaching evaluations?
Teaching evaluations are required for promotions and tenure to evaluate the scope and quality of your teaching skills. For formal courses, evaluation forms should be obtained on a regular basis, and should be either copied or summarized for your promotion and/or tenure dossier. For large courses, it is recommended that the evaluations are summarized, giving range, mean and median of ratings, numbers of students involved, course taught, and time of course offering. Separate comments should be appended. For smaller courses, the evaluations themselves can be included, but the time of the course and the number of students need to be indicated. For informal teaching, as in research or clinical supervision, letters from those individuals for which you are the supervisor are recommended.

Service Make an effort to be placed on committees even if your chair does not encourage these actions. Involvement in university service is important, and counts toward promotion, but over involvement with committees can be detrimental to a young faculty's career progress, so it is important to achieve a balance. All Georgetown committees served on should be listed, including departmental, the college, or the university committees. Each entry should include dates of committee memberships and roles (e.g., member, chair).

Regional, national, and/or international service should be listed separately from Georgetown service. This includes membership on review committees, ad hoc reviewing, editorships, editorial boards, ad hoc journal reviewing, positions in professional organizations, especially elected positions, and consultation to specially convened committees or task forces.

Describe why your contributions are important. This is particularly important because areas of specialization are just that, not everyone is an expert in the area in which you work.

Additional tips:

• Ask for teaching evaluations and if the course director does not provide them, obtain them yourself.
  
• Maintain a file of hard data--- student evaluations, letters of praise/achievements, invited presentations with your name on it. This can be used later to remind you as well as to provide information to Department chairs.
  
• If there are areas where you aren't getting enough exposure or experience, ask your chair to recommend appropriate action for you. This could include, but isn't limited to, appointment to committees, teaching in courses, reviewing for a journal.