Tenure Consideration

Tenure consideration for tenure-track professors and librarians is mandatory at a certain point in their McGill careers. Staff members may put forth a dossier for early consideration, if advisable. The earliest possible consideration date, at rank, is as follows:

• Assistant Professor/Assistant Librarian - in the third year on tenure-track or at any time with consent of the staff member
• Associate Professor/Associate Librarian - at any point on the tenure-track, prior to the fifth year
• Full Professor/Full Librarian - at any point on the tenure-track, prior to the fourth year

Consult your department for additional dates related to the preparation and submission of your tenure dossier. 

Timelines for mandatory tenure consideration are as follows:

The tenure dossier shall be compiled by the candidate and consist of the following documents:

1. The internal package, which shall be compiled by the candidate and includes:
   • The candidate’s curriculum vitae;
   • The candidate’s personal statement in support of her or his candidature;
   • A record of the candidate’s teaching (including graduate and professional supervision as appropriate). Information about the candidate’s teaching shall be prepared in accordance with the Teaching Portfolio Guidelines (Appendix A of the Regulations related to the Employment of Tenure Track and Tenured Academic Staff);
   • A record of the candidate’s research, scholarship and professional activities and contributions). Information about the candidate’s research shall be prepared in accordance with the Research Portfolio Guidelines (Appendix B of the Regulations related to the Employment of Tenure Track and Tenured Academic Staff);
   • A record of the candidate’s general contributions to the University and scholarly communities. Information about the candidate’s contributions to the University and scholarly communities shall be prepared in accordance with the Service Portfolio Guidelines (Appendix C of the Regulations related to the Employment of Tenure Track and Tenured Academic Staff).
   • Any other materials the candidate may wish to submit;
2. All reports received from external evaluators;
3. The list of external evaluators and the written justification for the choice of each of them;
4. Additional items submitted in accordance with the Regulations related to the Employment of Tenure Track and Tenured Academic Staff.
5. The external package consists of the same documents as the internal package, with the exception of information about the candidate’s teaching.

The University Secretariat administers the process of tenure assessment. Tenure dossiers are evaluated by Departmental Tenure Committee (DTC), the faculty-level University Tenure Committee (UTC), and by the President or her delegate who, in turn, recommends dossiers for the grant of tenure to the Board of Governors.

Deferring Tenure Consideration

A staff member who has taken an authorized leave (e.g., parental leave, disability leave, leave of absence) of three months or more prior to their mandatory year of tenure consideration may elect to defer their year of tenure consideration. To do so, staff members must inform the Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) via an email to the academic.personnel [at] mcgill.ca (Academic Personnel Office) by June 1^st of their year of mandatory tenure consideration. Only two deferrals are permitted per staff member. All leaves relating to the same event (e.g., a maternity leave and extended parental leave) are treated as a single authorized leave.

Additional resources

Please consult the Secretariat website for additional information.