OSU faculty are making rapid and significant adjustments to their typical work practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and OSU’s shift to remote instructional delivery for spring 2020 term. These adjustments are essential to the continued progress and academic success of undergraduate and graduate students and the health and safety of all members of the university community. However, in some cases, faculty members’ teaching schedules and modes, research and creative work, and extension and engagement activities have been seriously disrupted. Those disruptions may have particularly significant implications for those faculty working toward tenure and promotion within a specified and mandatory time period.

In response, OSU will approve automatically a one-year extension of probationary periods for all eligible tenure-track faculty who request that extension. All tenure-track faculty who are in their probationary period during the 2020 spring term, and who currently are not being reviewed in the 2019-20 cycle, are eligible. Faculty members who already have been granted a tenure clock extension are eligible for this additional one-year extension.

Faculty members whose mandatory tenure review is scheduled for the academic year (AY) 2021-22 must request the tenure clock extension no later than May 1, 2021. Faculty members whose mandatory tenure review occurs in AY 2022-23 or later have until May 1, 2022, to request a COVID-19 extension.

Eligibility:
  • All tenure-track faculty who are in their probationary period during the spring 2020 term, and who are not currently being reviewed under a mandatory tenure timeline, are eligible.
  • Faculty members who have already been granted a tenure clock extension are eligible for this additional one-year extension.
Process:
  • Faculty who wish to request an extension should discuss their request with their unit head.
  • While all requests will be automatically approved, faculty must complete and submit this form via email to the Office of Faculty Affairs at faculty.affairs@oregonstate.edu.
  • Approval of all requests for COVID-19 tenure clock extensions will be communicated to the faculty member and unit head.
Deadlines:
  • Faculty members whose mandatory tenure review is scheduled for the academic year (AY) 2020-21 must request the tenure clock extension no later than May 1, 2020.
  • Faculty members whose mandatory tenure review occurs in AY 2021-22 or later have until May 1, 2021 to request a COVID-19 extension.
  • Faculty members whose mandatory tenure review occurs in AY 2022-23 or later have until May 1, 2022 to request a COVID-19 extension.
  • Faculty needing additional time to respond to this opportunity may request an exception directly to the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.
Further guidance:
  • Faculty with questions about whether to request this tenure clock extension are advised to contact their academic unit leader and dean.
  • If a faculty member requests this extension and later decides they do not need the additional year in their probationary period, they may request to be reviewed for promotion and tenure during their originally planned timeline following the guidelines in the Faculty Handbook.