Promotion from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer Criteria
To be promoted to the rank of Senior Lecturer, the candidate must demonstrate a record of excellence in classroom teaching and a satisfactory level of service in support of teaching.
Excellence in teaching is defined as pedagogy that includes outstanding classroom performances and pedagogical activities that extend beyond the classroom.
Outstanding classroom performances include (but are not limited to):
- Carrying a teaching load that is appropriate for the department/unit;
- Development of detailed and clear course syllabi and instructional materials that are updated as appropriate;
- Professional classroom interactions and constructive engagement with students;
- Focus on learning outcomes for students that are appropriate to university and national standards;
- Adoption of innovations to improve teaching and learning outcomes;
- Results from student assessments and peer evaluations that are sufficiently strong to lend support to a conclusion that the candidate is an outstanding
Pedagogical activities beyond the classroom include (but are not limited to):
- Active participation in curricular development for the unit or school;
- Engaged advising and mentoring of students;
- Supervision of student research and internships;
Very good teaching is pedagogy that includes outstanding classroom performances and pedagogical activities that extend beyond the classroom, as defined above, but which do not rise to excellence in one or more areas, such as teaching load, course syllabi, classroom interactions and engagement with students, adoption of innovations, results of student assessments, curricular development, advising, mentoring, and supervision of student research and internships.
Effective teaching is pedagogy that includes outstanding classroom performances, as defined above for very good, but does not include activities beyond the classroom.
Ineffective teaching is pedagogy that does not meet several measures of excellent classroom performance.
Satisfactory service includes, but is not limited to, participation in relevant committee work for the department/unit and school.
The School requires six (6) solicited letters that testify to the candidate’s excellence in classroom teaching and satisfactory service according to the above-stated criteria. The letters can be solicited from any combination of referees, internal or external to Indiana University. Internal referees should be individuals outside the department/unit who are at a rank comparable to Senior Lecturer or above. External referees can be individuals at peer institutions at a rank comparable to Senior Lecturer or above, or those holding relevant non-academic positions if they are at a level comparable to that of a Senior Lecturer. Referees should not hold any compromising relationships with the candidate (mentor, student, collaborator, former colleague, familial attachments, commercial ties, etc.). There may be exceptions to these rules but they should be justified in the chair (or dean’s) letter. The letters should come from two lists, one proposed by the candidate and one proposed by the department/unit leader (or promotion review committee), and letters in the dossier must include three from each list. Deans must approve all referees proposed in these lists before letters are solicited, and the letters must be requested and received by the department/unit leader.