Chapter 3: Promotion and Tenure Rituals: Where They Have Taken Us and Where We Are Going

Promotion and Tenure (P&T) is a core process for validating hiring decisions and for long-term employment stability. Given the strong link to the academic disciplines, P&T forms a critical relation between disciplines and departments—and thus to institutional structure. The process is immersed in centuries of strong—one could say “sacred”—traditions that pose impediments to change, often seen as having a negative impact on adaptation to the changing environment of higher education. But there are strong positive sides too, one being that employment stability provides competitiveness in faculty hiring and retention, given that compensation is much greater in the business and other sectors. It also provides security for faculty who do high impact research that is long-term, risky, and often challenges what is already “known.” There are pluses and minuses for P&T, but on balance the positive effects are critical to the success of higher education.