It is the goal of the Department of Mathematical Sciences to build strength in areas including mathematics, statistics, computer science, and mathematics education. Recommendations for tenure and promotion will be made relative to this goal. The Department endorses the "whole person" concept and each candidate for tenure will be judged on his/her total impact on the Department and the University. The Department expects high quality performance in all areas of academic life--teaching, research, and service-- and insists on outstanding accomplishment in at least one of these areas.

The membership of the Department Tenure and Promotion Committee will consist of every tenured full Professor and Associate Professor in the Department. In the event that there is a promotion to Full Professor under consideration, the Associate Professors on the Committee are required to not participate in the discussion or decision in order to prevent any conflict of interest. A quorum for this committee is 60% of its membership who are not on leave.

The Tenure and Promotions Committee of the Department hereby sets forth its modus operandi in assessing a candidate's fitness to occupy a permanent berth and/or to be promoted. This instrument will serve as a guide to help the Committee in evaluating performances of individuals.

Excellence in direct instruction and in professionally related activities is the principal reason for the University's existence. Among the criteria relating to this excellence are teaching effectiveness; scholarly and research activities; service to the Department, the University, the community, the mathematical sciences professions, and the needs of the Department. Since each non-tenured faculty member is hired to fill a particular need in the Department, each case before the committee will be considered on its on merits variable weights attached to the different categories in relation to the departmental role assigned to that person.

The responsibility for the preparation of all materials, except for outside letters of recommendation, to be presented to the Committee and succeeding levels of the University Administration is the sole responsibility of the candidate. He/She is urged to solicit aid from colleagues, members of the Committee or faculty from other departments who have some knowledge of this tenure/promotion process. The summary vita, complete dossier, list of publications, list of courses taught, number of students in each class, student evaluations, and all similar data are the ultimate responsibility of the candidate. All applications for promotion and/or tenure must be accompanied by student evaluations of their teaching performance. Candidates for tenure and/or promotion should study carefully the criteria established for tenure and/or promotion by the State Board of Regents, Memphis State University (in its Faculty Handbook), the College of Arts and Sciences, and this Department.

Subject-matter competence in the teaching areas is evidenced in part by the following: a doctorate in one of the mathematical sciences or appropriately related disciplines, and a reputation with one's professional peers. The first is easily documented with transcripts, and the second with written testimony from other members of the Department and outside sources. The Committee chairman may solicit written opinions from other tenured departmental faculty who can supply the most complete information concerning the candidate's command of subject matter. Other tenured members of the Department may be informed of those being considered for tenure and promotion in order to be given the option of furnishing the Committee with written opinions concerning the candidate.

Each candidate will submit evidence of continued growth as it relates to his/her teaching by providing a list of his/her teaching activities. Among these should be included the design and structuring of new courses, the use of innovative techniques of teaching, attendance at conferences in the areas of specialization, reading in related areas, and willingness to keep abreast of new teaching techniques. Any consulting work or research with an impact on teaching might also be listed. Authorship of textbooks, if any, would play a vital role as an indicator of continued growth.

There is no well-defined scale to measure reliably and objectively a teacher's ability to organize subject matter and present it to the students in a logical and meaningful way. Teaching ability manifest itself in different ways, such as the teacher's concern in meeting the course objectives; a willingness to prepare adequately for each class session; a concern for the students; and the reputation with students as a teacher.

Any information bearing on the candidate's teaching ability will be noted by the Committee. The candidate must submit for consideration the results of the Course and Instructor Survey; and may submit copies of unsolicited letters from students, and any recognitions for distinguished teaching which may have been awarded. His/Her colleagues should consider in their evaluation of the candidate's teaching ability, in part, evaluations of colloquium and seminar presentations.

The teacher should have demonstrated some ability to relate effectively to students, both in and out of the classroom, and to colleagues. He/She should display interest in participating informally in discussions about objectives, content, and teaching methods.

Written testimony may be solicited by the Committee from department colleagues who are teaching, or who have taught, courses in the candidate's area of specialization. If the Department has received request from other departments of the University for the teaching services of the candidate, this information should be brought to the attention of the Committee.

The Committee will be interested in the candidate's ability to motivate undergraduate students and to stimulate creativity in graduate students. If he/she has provided directed inquiry or special colloquia for undergraduate students, the Committee should be informed. The names of graduate students, if any, who are presently engaged in research under his/her direction should be listed. Any information along these lines could indicate an ability to stimulate creativity in students.

The candidate should include on the vita a list of scholarly and research activities that have resulted in some national and/or regional recognition. These might encompass invitations from organizations to address professional meetings; invitations to give a colloquia lectures at universities other than his/her own; participation in regional and national conferences and meetings, particularly if the candidate assumed any leadership position; editorship of any professional journals; publications by the candidate in refereed journals, and any articles by others which quote or make reference to the candidate's research or scholarly activity; staff contributions and referee services for professional journals and screening services for the National Science Foundation and similar organizations.

The candidate will furnish the Committee with a list of his/her publications, papers accepted by not yet published, description of research in progress, and abstracts of formal lectures, short papers, and informal talks.

The Committee will solicit from outside the Department, as well as from the candidate's departmental colleagues, written opinions regarding any significant production by the candidate in his/her field. These opinions should comment on the originality, depth, and importance of the candidate's research. Evaluation should compare the candidate's work with the work of others of comparable experience, and should note the amount of interest the work stimulates among other mathematical scientists. These confidential outside recommendations will be r requested by the Chairman of the Department from lists provided by the candidate, the Department Chair, and members of the Committee. All tenure and/or promotion applications must have at least four confidential letters of recommendation from outside the department.

The candidate's potential for continued growth and development will be judged on the complete record of scholarly activity and the written opinions solicited by the Committee from experts in the candidate's field.

Attached to the candidate's vita should be copies of reviews, if any, or his/her articles in professional journals and of his/her books. For its evaluation, the Committee will rely upon these reviews, written opinions solicited from experts in the candidates' field, and any additional written materials containing evaluation of the candidate's publications. Departmental evaluations of journals, proceedings, etc. will be made as each application for tenure/promotion is submitted.

The candidate should provide in the vita a list of University activities, if any, that relate to public service and/or continuing education programs. For example, a list of conferences directed by the candidate or in which there was participation might be listed, courses that were taught or especially designed to meet specific community needs, or any consulting services provided by the candidate for University-community projects.

The Committee will rely for its evaluation principally on written and oral testimony from those faculty and administrators who have the most complete information about the candidate's performance in these areas. This might include the Provost, The Dean of the College of Art and Sciences, The Chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and/or the chairs of other committees (Department, College or University) on which the candidate has served.

Committee memberships for current and previous years should be listed by the candidate in his/her vita. This list should be arranged chronologically at the departmental, college, and university levels, with any chairmanships on committees indicated parenthetically. Other kinds of departmental, college, and university services should be mentioned.

As evidence of the candidate's activity and leadership in professional organizations related to his/her own discipline or to the profession of university teaching, the candidate should list in the vita memberships, and offices held, if any, in these organizations. He/She should mention any committee services, visiting lectureships, refereeing, editorship of any professional journals, and/or reviewing of professional literature that may have been performed for professional organizations.

The Department assumes that every teacher will provide effective advisory service to its students as part of the teacher's assignment and obligation. The candidate may mention in the vita any special advisory services which were provided to students.

Each tenure-track faculty member will be subject to a mid-term review, the purpose of which is to provide a progress report to the candidate. The candidate will be asked to submit a short vita and materials such as (i) teaching evaluations, (ii) preprints/reprints of research articles, (iii) evidence of service activities, (iv) a letter of reference from a recognized person in the candidate's field. Additional information may be sought by the committee and/or chair.

A full Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences is expected to (1)hold a doctorate in one of the mathematical sciences or appropriately related disciplines, (2) have ten years appropriate professional experience in one of the mathematical sciences, (3) have demonstrated that he/she is an effective teach, (4) have a national -- perhaps international -- reputation in his/her field, (5) have produced a substantial body of important research in the mathematical sciences, (6) have demonstrated ability or sufficient research experience to guide graduatestudents to the attainment of a doctorate in one of the mathematical sciences, and (7) provide departmental leadership in his/her specialty or area of current interest. Among the evidence of the candidate's performance in meeting these criteria would be the quality of students' research produced under his/her direction, the individuals own research activity and production, the guidance provided for other research activity and production, the guidance provided for other researchers in this area, and participation in seminars in the candidate's own discipline.

An Associate Professor in the Department is expected to (1) hold a doctorate in one of the mathematical sciences or an appropriately related discipline, (2) have five years appropriate professional experience in one of the mathematical sciences, (3) have demonstrated that he/she is an effective teacher, (4) have a regional--perhaps a national-- reputation in his/her sub-area ofmathematics, (5) have published sufficient research to have gained this reputation and to give a strong indication that continued scholarly productivity will continue, (6) have the ability to assist in the direction of doctoral dissertations, and (7) be able to contribute to departmental decisions in the areas of program changes, policy changes, personnel selection, etc.

An Assistant Professor in the Department is expected to (1) hold a doctorate in one of the mathematical sciences or an appropriately related discipline, (2) be an effective teacher, (3) have the potential to exercise some leadership within the Department.

The Committee will use the same procedures that it uses in tenure decisions in the gathering of evidence for departmental promotion.