Stopping the Clock on Review for Promotion
I. Childbirth- or Adoption-based Stop the Clock
An Assistant Professor on the tenure track or an untenured Associate Professor on the tenure track who becomes the parent of a child by birth or adoption twelve months or more before the date on which the University is required to make promotion notification (to the faculty member) will be granted a one-year extension of the current term appointment for each pregnancy or adoption as long as the faculty member confirms in writing to the Department Chair, Director, or Dean their wish to take this one-year extension. An Assistant Professor on the tenure track or untenured Associate Professor who becomes the parent of a child by birth or adoption within the twelve-month period immediately preceding the date on which the University is required to make promotion notification may take the one-year extension as above. An Assistant Professor may opt instead to be provisionally granted a one-year extension of their anticipated second term as an Assistant Professor. Such an extension would only be granted if the reappointment for a second term is approved. Any extension is optional and must be requested in writing to the Department Chair, Director, or Dean.
This policy applies to all parents and includes same-sex, registered domestic partners.
A faculty member who elects to opt out of the term extension granted for childbirth or adoption must also confirm this choice in writing to the Department Chair, Director, or Dean.
The Assistant Professor or Associate Professor must notify the appropriate Dean, Director, or (in the case of the Divisions) Department Chair in writing of the birth or adoption within nine months of the birth or adoption of the child. The Director or Dean must notify the Provost's Office in writing immediately afterward so that proper records for the promotion case are maintained, whether the extension is taken or not. Chairs, deans, directors, and the Provost’s Office appreciate advance notice whenever possible.
In the case of twins or other multiple births or adoptions, only a single one-year (not a multi-year) extension is provided.
When both parents are untenured members of the faculty, each is individually eligible for a one-year extension as described above upon written confirmation that they wish it.
II. Illness-based Stop the Clock
An Assistant Professor on the tenure track or an untenured Associate Professor on the tenure track may request a one-time, one-year extension to care for a sick or disabled immediate family member or to attend to their own illness or disability. Requests to “stop the clock” must be addressed in writing to the appropriate Dean, Director, or (in the case of the Divisions) Department Chair as soon as the circumstances justifying the request are known. All such requests will be granted at the discretion of the appropriate Dean with the approval of the Provost.
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Effective: 1 July 2009
Last revised: 5 July 2023
Last revised: 5 July 2023