Committee on Academic Personnel

Advancement of Associate Professors, Step IV

The rank of Associate Professor IV is one of the so-called "overlapping steps" designed for use only in particular circumstances. In the past, CAP has used this step very reluctantly in rare cases where a faculty member was judged not yet ready for promotion to full professor, but deserving of a merit. After some discussion with the Vice Provost about the proper uses of this step, CAP has agreed to the following:

1. The title of Associate Professor IV should be reserved for faculty who enter the rank of Associate Professor at a high level (step II or above) and who, therefore, need additional years at rank to establish a record appropriate to the title of full Professor.
2. Faculty who have completed normative time in rank as Associate Professor by moving at normal intervals from Step I to III should be considered next for promotion to full Professor, Step I rather than for advancement to Associate Professor, Step IV. In the event that a review for full Professor fails to win approval, advancement to Associate Professor, Step IV, may be recommended if evidence in the file supports it. An example of such a case would be one in which external reviewers recommend promotion following the publication of a work just completed or in progress, or if external reviewers suggest that works in progress promise to support promotion in the near future. Conversely, if external reviewers and the record suggest that a faculty member is not moving toward promotion, no recommendation for a merit will be made.

Given this understanding of the appropriate circumstances for considering Associate Professor, Step IV, CAP recommends that ALL such cases be reviewed by CAP and not by its subcommittees.