Tenure Committee

Reporting Line

The Tenure Committee reports to the Provost.

Composition of Membership

The University Tenure Committee consists of three tenured faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences (one from the Arts & Humanities departments, one from the Natural Sciences departments, and one from the Social & Behavioral Sciences departments) and one tenured faculty member from every other academic unit (Business, Education, Engineering and Computer Science, Honors, Law, Libraries, Music, Nursing, Robbins College, Truett Theological Seminary, and Social Work) for a total of 14. Each member shall be appointed for a three-year term, with approximately one-third of the committee rotating each year (i.e., 6-4-4). Unless, due to the limited size of an academic unit, circumstances dictate otherwise, no member shall serve more than one term on the Tenure Committee.

Over a period of six years, the President appoints fourteen members to the Tenure Committee according to the composition specified above. The Faculty, through the Committee on Committees and Faculty Senate, appoints fourteen members to the Tenure Committee according to the composition specified above. Each year, the President shall make his or her selections from the academic units from which the Faculty Senate selected three years earlier. Following the President's selection(s), the Committee on Committees makes its recommendation of faculty members to the Faculty Senate for its approval at its May meeting; these shall be drawn from the units from which the President selected three years earlier.

Therefore, in every six-year cycle, the appointments shall be as follows:

• Year One: President - 3 members, Faculty Process - 3 members (Total 6);
• Year Two: President - 2 members, Faculty Process - 2 members (Total 4);
• Year Three: President - 2 members, Faculty Process - 2 members (Total 4).
• Year Four: President - 3 members, Faculty Process - 3 members (Total 6);
• Year Five: President - 2 members, Faculty Process - 2 members (Total 4);
• Year Six: President - 2 members, Faculty Process - 2 members (Total 4).

Should a vacancy occur on the University Tenure Committee for any reason, the party responsible for the original appointment (President or Faculty Senate) shall make a replacement appointment in a timely fashion for the remainder of any unexpired term and convey the decision to the Chair of the Committee on Committees and to the University Tenure Committee. A member of the Committee who is selected in this way and participates in tenure deliberations for less than three years during the unexpired term shall be eligible to be appointed for an additional full term on the Committee. This member will not automatically serve for the term that immediately follows the term that he or she is completing, but he or she may be appointed to that term or a subsequent one by either appointing party.

Committee Charge Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Tenure Committee are set forth in BU-PP 704: Tenure Policy and Procedures at Baylor University.

Committee Members, 2025-2026