Standards & Procedures for RP&T

 

I. Introduction

A. Purpose

The purpose of this document is to set forth the college's standards and procedures for reappointment and for awarding promotion and/or tenure to College of Architecture faculty members. The document has been prepared by the College of Architecture Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee, in consultation with the dean of the college as constituted in the college Governance Document. It is based upon the policies of the Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, and the Georgia Institute of Technology as they relate to Promotion and Tenure Standards and Procedures (1). It became operational only after approval by a majority of the tenure-track and tenured faculty members and the dean of the College of Architecture.

Several working assumptions were identified during the course of the document's preparation. A set of promotion and tenure standards and procedures for the College of Architecture should:

1. be compatible with standards and procedures operating at the Institute level;
2. clearly identify those qualities which are common to the college's various programs of study, but which may be distinct from those of other academic units within the Institute;
3. focus on standards which can be implemented in a spirit of consistency and fairness across program or departmental lines.
4. reflect the collective understanding and will of the College of Architecture faculty regarding their responsibilities as members of that faculty;
5. establish standards which ensure maintenance of the highest degree of excellence within the college's various professions, disciplines, and programs;
6. provide a meaningful role for peer review, thereby further safeguarding the collective interest of the College faculty;
7. provide meaningful guidance and assistance to the Dean of the College, department or program directors, and the faculty as a whole in matters of faculty evaluation in the process of reappointment, promotion, and tenure.
8. be stated in a clear and unambiguous manner, thereby minimizing the dangers of confusion and misinterpretation.

B. The College of Architecture

1. The College of Architecture's Approach to Education.

Since its inception in 1974, the College of Architecture has been charged with, and has accepted, a unique role within the Institute. The College is an assemblage of independent disciplines which find common ground and language in the creative application of art and science to the enrichment of the human condition.

The College is presently composed of the academic programs in Architecture, Building Construction, City Planning, and Industrial Design. In addition, the Music Department is located in the College of Architecture and also serves all academic programs within the institute. Each program accepts as its primary mission the production of well-prepared graduates who are equipped to function in their respective professions at a high level of competence and distinction. The College also encourages and supports interdisciplinary cooperation on matters of mutual concern, both internally among the design, planning, and development professions, and externally with other disciplines represented at Georgia Tech. As a group, the college's programs present their students with a liberal education program which emphasizes those artistic, scientific, and technological capabilities essential to the practice of their respective professions, tempered by a strong sense of public responsibility. Each program, department, and discipline requires a total commitment, by faculty and students alike, to responsible professionalism and service to society. These standards and guidelines are drawn in the belief that a capacious and inclusive view of scholarly activity is in the vital interest of the individual, the college and the Institute, as well as to society as a whole. As such, the college affirms the principle that knowledge is acquired, disseminated, and ultimately valued through various avenues of scholarship: research or discovery, synthesis or integration, application, and teaching.(2)

Each of our disciplines is recognized as making an important and unique contribution to the College's rich and diverse academic environment. These disciplines are bound together, however, in their attention to the common spirit of creative and imaginative concern for the human environment as revealed in the following objectives:

1. to provide an organization for direct interaction among students, faculty, and professionals involved in all aspects of the visual arts, design, construction, and the planning of structures, communities, and environments;
2. to improve educational opportunities for the increasing number of people entering programs in the design, planning, and construction professions;
3. to provide opportunities for all students at the Institute to undertake studies in the fine arts, design, and the built environment.
4. to foster creative thought, scholarship, and research on an interdisciplinary basis as well as on an individual basis;
5. to serve as a planning, design and construction resource for the Institute, the community, the state, the nation, and the world.

2. Implications for Promotion and Tenure.

Promotion in rank is a matter of critical importance to the professional development and personal growth of each faculty member. The College of Architecture presents its candidates to the Institute for evaluation on the basis of evidence submitted in response to clearly-defined standards. A decision on promotion and/or tenure is made on the basis of both the Institute's standards and those which are unique to a particular college. The following statements further define the academic environment of the College of Architecture, and are intended to establish the framework within which faculty evaluation for reappointment, promotion, and tenure, will be carried out.

1. The college commits itself to the highest standards of excellence in its teaching programs, as well as in the research, scholarship, creative and service activities of its faculty members. The College of Architecture faculty recognizes the role that continuous improvement in knowledge, experience, and ability plays in their ability to instruct and influence students within its constituent disciplines and professions. Excellence in teaching and research is of paramount importance to the fulfillment of the Institute's mission, while high-quality achievement--continuous and visible--in creative works, research, scholarship, and service is an obligation in all faculty positions. In the promotion process, programs, departments, and candidates are jointly responsible for the development and presentation of evidence which manifests these standards of excellence.
2. The College of Architecture recognizes the equivalency of significant professional and creative involvements with scholarly activities, when such involvement contributes to academic excellence. Each of our programs and disciplines is characterized by a diversity of academic and professional specializations. Our promotion standards must reflect this diversity. The faculty recognizes the symbiotic relationship among, and significant contributions of, each of our various orientations; the college benefits from an appropriate balance among these educational elements. The full range of art, design, planning, and construction-related activities--whether scholarly productivity, artistic or design creativity, or unique formulations or applications of theory--will be considered equally significant as potential contributions to academic excellence.
3. The College of Architecture recognizes the role of its faculty in contributing creatively to the arts, sciences, and technologies of their respective disciplines in concert with their academic duties. In the belief that theory leads to practice and practice leads to theory, the expectation of the College and the Institute is to encourage and maintain an active faculty which is continuously striving to advance knowledge and to enhance the quality of professional practice. Subject to college, Institute, and Board of Regent's Policies, involvement in current professional activities is basic to academic excellence. Documentation of a candidate's participation in his or her profession or discipline will be an important element in evaluation. Professional activity alone, however, is not considered equivalent to scholarly activity. Only when the professional activity contributes to public discourse and value does it warrant consideration as scholarly activity. Evidence of the public value of professional activity is necessary for advancement in rank and for tenure. Examples of such evidence are given in section II.B of this document.

 

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(1) Section 3.2.1 Institute Policies, Faculty Handbook, Georgia Institute of Technology       return to text
(2) Ernest L. Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1990.      return to text