PRINT DISCLAIMER: Official version of this document is accessible in the online policy library at https://policyoffice.ku.edu/. Printed copies may not reflect the most recent updates.
DOCUMENT TYPE:
Policy
PURPOSE:
To articulate the standards and procedures for promotion and/or tenure for the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
APPLIES TO:
Faculty within the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
CAMPUS:
Lawrence
POLICY STATEMENT:
1.0 Promotion and Tenure
EECS will follow the School of Engineering Rules and Regulations on Promotion and Tenure. In addition, EECS establishes the following department criteria.
The following criteria are exemplary and not definitive. Tenure/tenure track faculty are referred to as Regular Faculty.
The EECS Department conducts an annual evaluation for all Regular Faculty as described in Section 3 of the EECS Faculty Evaluation and Promotion and Tenure Plan. Untenured Regular Faculty are reviewed every fall as described in EECS Tenured and Tenured Track Faculty Evaluation Plan. Each untenured Regular Faculty member has a senior faculty member as a mentor for day-to-day guidance and advice.
When considering Regular Faculty for Promotion and Tenure, The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science considers the following:
(1) Does the candidate teach well at the undergraduate and graduate level?
(2) Has the candidate conducted and organize a research program including graduate students?
(3) Has the candidate provide service to the university and the discipline?
(4) Is the candidate's work recognized outside the university?
(5) Has the candidate contributed to the overall success of the department?
1.1 Criteria for Promotion and Tenure to Associate Professor
For promotion and tenure to Associate Professor, the department expects that the candidate is an effective classroom teacher and student advisor, that they have established a productive, independent, sustainable research program, and demonstrated service to the Department, School, University or the profession at large.
Teaching: Candidates for promotion are expected to have demonstrated effective teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels and advising undergraduate and graduate students. Effective teaching can be demonstrated in multiple ways. Evidence of mentoring of post-doctoral research associates will also be considered, but is not required.
Scholarship: It is the department’s expectation that the candidate should have developed a mature, productive and sustainable research program. Such programs exhibit a mix of the following characteristics:
1. The candidate has mentored students in their research area and students have completed graduate degrees.
2. The candidate has multiple scholarly publications in the area, generally with students and as lead or mentoring author. The significance of author order is determined by each discipline.
3. The candidate has secured research support.
4. The candidate’s work is recognized as a contribution to the discipline.
The evaluation of research and scholarship is based on publishing customs in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science.
Faculty in the School of Engineering/EECS Department are expected to conduct scholarly research leading to publications in prestigious journals and conferences, involve graduate students in their research, and obtain sufficient funding to support students and research facilities. Faculty members are encouraged to work together and with graduate students in well-focused areas of research. Professional consulting is encouraged and is considered to be the equivalent of professional performance and service in their disciplines. Experience in industry and with government research agencies is also encouraged and valued as a contribution to research.
Research results are disseminated in many forms including papers in journals, conference proceedings, workshop reports, and technical reports. Conferences are used for publication of mature research results while journals tend to be more archival in nature. It is not uncommon for journal articles in to take 18 to 24 months from submission to acceptance.
It should be noted that in the computing discipline, conference publications are exceptionally important and are frequently equated with top journals. Workshop publications in computing tend to be less rigorous and are on par with conferences in other disciplines.
Top journal and conference publications in EECS related fields are frequently sponsored by: (i) IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (ii) ACM (Association of Computing Machinery); and (iii) Lecture Notes in Computer Sciences (LNCS). Other organizations publish outstanding journals as well, but IEEE and ACM are the primary societies for electrical engineering and computer science. The evaluation of publications is conducted on the basis of the quality of the individual journal or conference. Publications of the IEEE and ACM are well known to have rigorous review processes and thus research published there is of high quality. For conferences, the society sponsoring the conference and the acceptance rate, i.e. the percent of papers accepted for publication in the conference proceedings, are a factor in the evaluation. (In this regard, many IEEE and ACM conferences have acceptance rates under 15% and exceptionally rigorous review processes.) Generally, a conference with an acceptance rate at or under 20% is considered of exceptionally high quality. Unless otherwise stated, all publications considered as a part of the evaluation process are peer reviewed.
Service: Candidates for promotion are expected to demonstrate service to the University and the profession at large. Such service should include, but is not limited to invited talks; reviewing for conferences, journals, books and funding agencies; serving on national and international policy making committees; serving as program managers for governmental funding agencies; serving on organizing and program committees for conferences; and serving on the editorial staffs of journals.
1.2 Criteria for Promotion to Professor
An Associate Professor in EECS considered for promotion to Professor has demonstrated leadership roles in the department, the school, the University, the research community, and/or the nation. The candidate must continue to meet the criteria of the department described above.
Teaching: Candidates for promotion to Professor should demonstrate a sustained commitment to teaching, innovation in the classroom and curricula, advising undergraduate and graduate students, and leadership in developing the department and its curricula.
Scholarship: Candidates for promotion to Professor should demonstrate a sustained commitment to research and the education and development of graduate students. They have established a scholarly publication record in conferences and journals appropriate to their field of research. They have established themselves as leaders in their area of expertise. They have led collaborative research efforts and developed new areas of scholarly research. They have expanded their interests and expertise through sabbaticals and collaborations. They have secured funding as a principal investigator.
Service: Candidates for promotion to Professor have demonstrated sustained commitment to service in the department, the school, the University, the research community, and/or the nation. Typical activities are to take leadership roles on service committees including editorial boards, conferences, review panels, task forces or workshop panels, or serving at a federal or international agency.
CONTACT:
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
1520 West 15th Street
2001 Eaton Hall
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045-7608
785-864-4620
RESPONSIBLE UNIT:
School of Engineering
APPROVED BY:
EECS Faculty
APPROVED ON:
2013-04-17
EFFECTIVE ON:
2013-04-17
REVIEW CYCLE:
3 year
CHANGE HISTORY:
03/02/2026: Updated to reflect 2019 approval and current practice.
10/02/2025: Updated formatting.
04/08/2025: Migration to TeamDynamix from Drupal.
08/01/2024: Converted PDF Policy Statement to live text Policy Statement.
10/29/2021: Uploaded accessible document.
04/18/2014: Technical edits.
TITLE:
School of Engineering Promotion and Tenure, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science