Departmental Tenure and Promotion Guidelines for Women’s Studies

Current Guidelines (PDF)

View Previous Guidelines

Teaching

The Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at Hamilton College believes that an effective record of teaching is essential to a successful candidacy for reappointment, tenure, and promotion. We endorse the Faculty Handbook’s criteria for successful teaching, as “a commitment to teaching; knowledge and mastery of the discipline; the ability to communicate with, stimulate, and evaluate students.” Further, and in keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of Women’s and Gender Studies and with the discipline’s commitment to diversity, we emphasize that effective teaching may take a variety of forms. 

While effective teaching may look different for every instructor, we expect to see candidates for reappointment demonstrate development of the following characteristics in their teaching and candidates for tenure to consistently demonstrate the following in their teaching: 

1. Knowledge and mastery of the discipline 
2. Course design that facilitates student learning and engagement
3. Pedagogy and materials that challenge and stimulate student thinking
4. Inclusive pedagogy and practices
5. Clear and organized communication with students in and out of the classroom environment, in assessment of student work, and in course design and materials
6. Commitment to growth and continued development as a teacher

To assess the development and implementation of these criteria, voting members of the department will rely upon components in the reappointment, tenure, and promotion files including the following:

• The candidate’s personal statement should frame for the readers how the candidate reflects upon and assesses their progress toward the criteria above. The personal statement should address the courses they have developed, taught, and modified; provide insight into how these courses integrate current knowledge and practices in the field; illustrate how course design and inclusive pedagogy have supported student learning and challenged students to engage with and think critically about ideas; describe their growth and development as a teacher including discussion of their commitment to students, participation in curricular development or pedagogy workshops, applications for and/or receiving funding for course development, or other related activities; and describe teaching interactions with students outside the context of classes such as mentoring, informal advising or joint scholarship.
• Course materials such as syllabi, assignments, handouts, and student work may be used to illustrate the candidate’s knowledge of the field and incorporation of recent relevant scholarship and issues; inclusive pedagogical practices; course design that communicates clear course goals, standards of assessment, appropriate flow and scaffolding of materials and discussion, and innovative or imaginative approaches to material and pedagogy; clarity of communication with students, and expectations of high intellectual engagement by students.
• Peer reviews, by both external and internal reviewers, of materials and the classroom observations of voting members of the department (see appendix for departmental policy) should provide information on knowledge of the field, course design, pedagogical practices, and communication between faculty and students.
• Student evaluations, numerical and narrative, as well as select and random student letters solicited by the Dean of Faculty’s Office, can describe how students assess their engagement and learning with the professor in and outside of class and provide information on student engagement and learning, clarity of communication between student and faculty, timeliness and helpfulness of faculty feedback, and the classroom environment.

Scholarship

We recognize and value scholarship that poses research and/or analytical questions relevant to feminist studies; both reflects upon and contributes to disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary field(s); successfully employs interdisciplinary and/or new, cutting edge feminist methods; yields significant results addressing feminist questions and goals; demonstrates innovation that allows the scholar to connect to their readers/audience; and involves critical reflection. A sustained record of scholarship that shows some development beyond the dissertation itself is also a criterion for successful tenure and promotion.

We expect that the form of this demonstration of significant scholarly engagement may vary; however, it should include some peer-reviewed work such as the following:       

• A peer-reviewed, single authored book or monograph
• Peer reviewed major exhibits, installations and/or performances of feminist creative arts
• Peer-reviewed, full-length articles (single or multiple authors) in journals dedicated to women’s and gender studies, feminist criticism, or disciplinary major journals
• Peer-reviewed edited collections, co-authored books, textbooks, and full-length chapters in edited collections

We also consider as important the following demonstrations of scholarly engagement and work:

• Articles and full-length essays (single or multiple authors) in non-peer reviewed journals in any discipline
• Book reviews and brief reports in peer-reviewed publications
• A significant multi-year grant project with external funding awarded to the candidate as the principal investigator
• Public facing scholarship published in state or national venues
• Invitated presentations at national and/or professional conferences such as delivery of plenary and keynote addresses

Supplementary evidence may include:

• Brief articles, reviews and/or commentaries for non-peer reviewed publications; encyclopedia entries; public facing scholarship/commentary in local context
• Papers and moderation of panels at professional conferences
• Invited talks at colleges/universities, government agencies, organizations, etc.
• Participation in projects dealing with content and methodology in the field
• Publication of course syllabi in an edited collection

Service

We expect candidates for reappointment, tenure and promotion to participate actively in traditional avenues of service at the College such as in committees and governance structures of the department and of the College; candidates for tenure and promotion should move beyond such traditional expectations for service work in ways that help develop and foster an understanding of women’s and gender studies and feminist community work. The Department’s assessment of service will be made on the basis of observation by colleagues or statements about such work from students, colleagues, or members of community groups. Service activities, beyond expected college-wide participation on committees and program governance, could include the following:

• Providing leadership in the academy and/or community groups concerning women’s and gender studies and feminist concerns.
• Advising extracurricular student groups focused on issues in the field.
• Serving on national or regional committees or task forces in the field of women’s and gender studies, as an elected officer in such organizations, or on women’s and gender  studies groups in other disciplinary organizations.
• Serving as a peer reviewer for a journal or publisher in the field.
• Consulting with other women’s studies programs or departments for program reviews or development purposes.
• Appearing in the media to foster understanding of women’s studies or feminist concerns.
• Arranging visits of external speakers and/or installations related to women’s studies or organizing internal workshops, colloquia, or installations.
• Developing or coordinating community-based and/or non-profit organizations or workshops connected to the field.

Promotion to Professor

For promotion to Professor, we expect candidates to be distinguished teachers with a sustained record of success as scholars or artists and increased participation in service. In addition to the types of criteria and evidence considered during the tenure review, we add the following:

• In regard to teaching, candidates should provide evidence of continued dedication to and success in distinguished teaching as demonstrated by the development of new courses and pedagogies, the revision of course syllabi, and evidence of students’ rigorous intellectual or creative engagement in the candidates’ classes.

• In regard to scholarship, candidates must continue to be active and visible scholars or artists. Although candidates may, if they choose, continue in the same area of scholarly or creative work as before tenure, they must demonstrate that they have moved beyond the body of work submitted during the tenure review. This new work should show sustained progress on a major project or projects and result in significant publications or exhibits, installations, or performances.
• In regard to service, candidates should demonstrate a greater willingness to undertake significant service on and/or off of the campus. Increased participation or leadership in college committees, governance structures of the department, appropriate community groups, or the broader academic community will be evidence of important service.

 

Appendix

WMGST Peer Observation of Teaching

The Women’s and Gender Studies Department is committed to the highest standards of teaching and to helping its members become the best teachers they can be. Classroom visitations for candidates for reappointment, tenure, and promotion are designed to provide guidance, support and helpful written feedback as well as provide information for the purposes of annual reviews and reappointment, tenure, and promotion processes.

Our current procedures for such observation are as follows:

1. The department chair oversees the process in order to assure that continuing non-tenured faculty are observed at least once per year. Normally, each voting faculty member should have observed a minimum of one course session in the two years before reappointment, tenure, or promotion.
2. Faculty in their first semester of teaching will be reviewed by one colleague for formative purposes only; no written documentation of the first semester review will be generated. Following the first semester, pre-tenure faculty will normally be observed once per semester but no more than twice per semester, and each classroom observation will be conducted by one colleague only. Faculty members standing for promotion to Professor will normally be observed once per year. Faculty in non-tenure-track appointments will normally be observed for peer review once per year. Any faculty member may request more frequent observation as well.
3. Prior to a personnel action, observation should be spread over the various courses offered when possible so that observers have some familiarity with the different courses the faculty member teaches.
4. The faculty being observed and the observing faculty member arrange the timing of the classroom visit and discussions. The two parties will meet before the observation to discuss the goals for the class session, share the syllabus for the course and any relevant materials specific to the course session, and determine if the instructor has any specific areas or issue for which they would like feedback.
5. Following the observation process, the two faculty members should meet to discuss the observation.
6. The observing faculty member should subsequently provide the chair and department member with a memo that documents the observation and discussions.  The memo should review both the materials and the observation itself. The observing faculty member should include relevant discussion of our criteria for reappointment, tenure and promotion. Faculty members are encouraged to write a response to the chair, especially if they believe the written memo to be inaccurate or inappropriate, and faculty members are encouraged to work with the chair to address any concerns.
7. The memo should be provided within four weeks of the observation and the chair will keep a copy of the memo and any response by the faculty member for personnel files and future personnel actions. The written report will be shared with voting members of the department and becomes part of the instructor’s department file.

---

Approved by COA: 4/25/25