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Policy 6-304: University Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee (UPTAC)

Revision 3. Effective Date: February 13, 2024

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  1. Purpose and Scope
  2. Definitions
  3. Policy
    1. Membership
    2. Committee Membership and Alternates
    3. Alternates
    4. Disqualification or Recusal
    5. Duties
    6. Recommendations
  4. Policies/ Rules, Procedures, Guidelines, Forms and other Related Resources
  5. References
  6. Contacts
  7. History

  1. ‌Purpose and Scope‌

    1. Purpose.

      To define the membership and duties of the University Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee.

    2. Scope.

      This policy applies to the formal review processes for all tenure-line faculty.

  2. ‌Definitions‌

    [Reserved]

  3. ‌Policy‌

    1. ‌Membership‌

      1. The University Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee (UPTAC) shall consist of one tenured faculty member from each of the academic colleges and four fully matriculated students, including at least one graduate student.

      2. The Associate Vice President for Faculty and the Associate Vice President for Faculty, Health Sciences or designee(s) serve as ex-officio co-chairs.

    2. ‌Committee Membership and Alternates‌

      1. The members of the University Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee shall be elected by the tenure-line faculty of their respective colleges for three-year terms. One-third of the committee member terms shall expire each year.

      2. The student members shall be selected for one-year terms according to procedures established by and under the supervision of the Associated Students of the University of Utah (ASUU).

      3. Committee members may be reelected and succeed themselves as representatives of their respective areas.

      4. Each academic college shall conduct an election at the end of the college committee member’s term electing the next college committee member and an alternate. The selected candidate must receive a majority of the votes cast in the candidate's college.

      5. No individual who is an ex officio member of the Academic Senate shall be eligible for election to this committee.

    3. ‌Alternates‌

      1. The Academic Senate shall request a college alternate to function in the place of any elected member of the committee who resigns or will be absent from the University for one or more semesters or expects to be absent for such a period. If a duly elected member returns to the University, that member shall assume the committee position and serve out the balance of the term.

    4. ‌Disqualification or Recusal‌

      1. No committee member shall be present during the consideration of any case from a department with which the committee member is associated as a faculty member or a student major, or for any case in which the committee member has been involved in the sequence of review.

      2. In addition, committee members shall decline to participate in the consideration of any case in which they have a personal bias or interest which would preclude their making a fair and objective decision.

    5. ‌Duties‌

      1. Case Review. UPTAC shall perform such duties as may be required under the provisions of Policy 6-303 and Policy 6-321.

      2. Standards. UPTAC shall receive and review the annual report of the Senate Faculty Review Standards Committee relevant to departmental standards. Based on its experience with given departments' standards, UPTAC may recommend that the Senate Faculty Review Standards Committee review the standards of a department.

    6. ‌Recommendations‌

      1. UPTAC shall submit recommendations to the cognizant senior vice president.


        Sections IV- VII are for user information and are not subject to the approval of the Academic Senate or the Board of Trustees. The Institutional Policy Committee, the Policy Owner, or the Policy Officer may update these sections at any time.


  4. ‌Policies/ Rules, Procedures, Guidelines, Forms and other Related Resources‌

    1. Policies/ Rules. [ reserved ]

    2. Procedures, Guidelines, and Forms. [ reserved ]

    3. Other Related Resources. [ reserved ]

  5. ‌References‌

    1. Policy 6-303: Reviews of Tenure-Line Faculty Members (RPT Criteria, Standards, and Procedures)

    2. Policy 6-321: Tenured Faculty Reviews (TFR)

  6. ‌Contacts‌

    The designated contact officials for this Regulation are:

    1. Policy Owner(s) (primary contact person for questions and advice): Associate Vice President for Faculty and the Associate Vice President for Faculty, Health Sciences.

    2. Policy Officer(s): Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences

      See Rule 1-001 for information about the roles and authority of policy owners and policy officers.

  7. History

    Revision History.

    1. Current version. Revision 3.

      1. Approved by – Academic Senate January 8, 2024, and Board of Trustees February 13, 2024, with effective date of February 13, 2024.

      2. Legislative History

    2. Previous versions.

      1. Revision 2. Effective Date. September 16, 1999

      2. Revision 1. Effective Date. August 20, 1987

    3. Renumbering

      1. Renumbered from PPM 9-5.2.

Last Updated: 2/14/24