Promotion Process for Tenured Faculty

Promotion to Professor with tenure is made when an individual of widely recognized excellence is found to fill a scholarly need that is demonstrably vital to a discipline central to the University purposes.

 CU Faculty Handbook​

Promotion to Professor with tenure should be reserved for those tenured Associate Professors whose contributions are recognized nationally and internationally. Research, scholarship, teaching, and service should be of the highest caliber. Promotions to the rank of Professor require careful evaluation by the individual school and/or departmental appointment and promotions committees.

Promotions to Professor with tenure effective January 1 or July 1 based on when they are approved by the Trustees. Those approved after September and before February would be effective January 1, and if approved after February and before August would be effective July 1.

The promotion from Associate Professor (with tenure) to Professor (with tenure) begins with a nomination by the faculty member’s School and/or Department.

As part of the evaluation of the nominee’s qualifications, the Department/School is required to solicit letters from experts in the nominee’s field as a way of obtaining candid and objective assessments of her/his achievements and productivity since being granted tenure, which will assist in review for promotion.

If approved by the department, materials and referee letters are submitted for the Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s Committee on Appointments and Promotions (CUIMC COAP) Review.

Once the candidate’s department submits a completed dossier to the Office of Faculty Affairs, a COAP review is scheduled in accordance with guidelines. The individual’s school dean or department chair presents the candidate to the CUIMC COAP, focusing on the candidate’s achievements since attaining tenure.

Final approval of the promotion is delegated to the CUIMC COAP and endorsed by the Trustees’ Academic Affairs Committee of Columbia University.