(FKA 5.90.1)

1. Promotion and tenure decisions are the means by which NMSU rewards and retains its most valued scholars, sustains excellence in its instructional disciplines, and fulfills its mission to advance knowledge. The quality of faculty accomplishments in teaching and advising (or its equivalent), scholarship and creative activity, extension, outreach and service largely determines the quality of the university as a whole. The granting of tenure or promotion to associate or full professor represents a prediction by the university that the individual concerned will continue to make substantial contributions to the profession and the university.
2. The processes involved in promotion and tenure rely upon basic principles in order to be effective. Above all, the promotion and tenure processes must be fair, transparent, and participatory. These values mean that decisions must be made without regard to race, national origin, gender, gender identity, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, special friendships, or animus towards candidates, taking care to avoid conflicts of interest, structural, institutional, or habitual thoughts and patterns that could lead to discrimination. NMSU values the richness that inquiry based upon intellectual and cultural differences brings to the university community.
3. Each principal unit must develop written standards by the end of the Spring Semester of 2008 based on criteria developed by that principal unit subject to the approval of the dean or equivalent administrator. Criteria and procedures must be clear and readily available to all participants and must be followed by all participants at each level of the process (See Combined P & T Rules Through 08/12/2018 or Combined P & T Rules After 8/12/2018). Therefore, it is imperative that clear standards for annual performance evaluation, promotion, and tenure be articulated and broadly publicized. Applicants for tenure or promotion must be judged on their performance of the duties assigned to them, following agreed-upon allocations of effort. The process needs to involve broad consultation by groups and individuals with successively broader views of the mission of the university, and provide the opportunity for appeal. In order to achieve fairness, transparency, and broad-based participation, all of the parties must base decisions on the documentation called for by this rule.
4. This rule relies on the four types of scholarship defined by Ernest L. Boyer (1990) in his book “Scholarship Reconsidered”, namely, the scholarships of discovery, of teaching, of integration, and of engagement. Broadening the definition of scholarship (See ARP 9.24 Part 2 Scholarships and Creative Activity) reflects the changing roles of faculty members in teaching and advising, scholarship and creative activity, extension, outreach and service.
5. This rule (formerly policy) takes effect at the beginning of the Fall Semester, 2008.