Promotion to Full Professor

Promotion Process

1. Candidates must first inform the Departmental Chair/School Director they are interested in applying for promotion. Note: Contact your departmental administrator to find out about internal departmental deadlines.
   
   For Departmental contact information, please consult your Department, School or Unit.


2. Candidates submit their promotion dossiers to their departments.


3. The Departmental Promotions Committee (DPC) evaluates the Promotion Dossier, and for approved promotions, the chair writes a recommendation letter.


4. The Department submits candidate's CV, Personal Statement and signed external evaluator list to the Academic Affairs Office (AAO) prior to Spring/Fall deadlines.
   
    Academic Affairs Office solicits letters from external evaluators the week this list is received so that the Faculty Promotions committee (FPC) will have as many letters as possible for their meeting.


5. Departmental Chairs/Directors forward the Chair’s recommendation letter to the Academic Affairs Office (AAO) prior to Spring/Fall deadlines. 


6. The Faculty Promotions Committee evaluates the Dossier. Candidates will be informed of the committee’s recommendation.


7. Academic Affairs Office (AAO) continues to receive External Evaluator letters until at least 4 strong letters are received.


8. Recommendations are made to the Provost.


9. The Statutory Selections Committee evaluates the Dossier.


10. The Board of Governors grants their approval of promotion to Full Professor.


11. Candidates will receive official approval of their promotion from the Provost.


12. Appointment Form will be processed by the Academic Affairs Office after the promotion has been approved by the Provost's Office.

Criteria

Please consult pages 8-10 of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Academic Promotions Guidelines.

Dossier Requirements

Refer to: Employment of Tenure Track and Tenured Academic Staff, Regulations Relating To

It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure the dossier is appropriately prepared.
 

Promotion Dossier (Promotion to Full Professor)

1. A curriculum vitae, including list of publications; (Suggested CV Format)
2. List of 8 External Evaluators**

• Ensure that all evaluators hold the rank of Full Professor
• At least 2 of the evaluators must be from outside of North America. Evaluators from outside Canada are strongly encouraged for the other 6 names.
• Ensure that evaluators are at “arm’s length” (see description on List of Proposed External Evaluators). If an evaluator is not deemed be sufficiently distanced from a candidate, the candidate will have to replace the name and the Chair will need to re-approve the list.

3. The written recommendation of the Chair of the Departmental Promotions Committee
4. The candidate’s personal statement, covering contributions to research, teaching and other contributions to the University and scholarly communities; (4-6 pages with a focus on international scholarship)

- For specific examples of academic duties for Tenure Track Faculty: Appendix 1
- For specific examples of academic duties for Contract Academic Staff: Appendix 2

Note:  Do not include publication reprints in the dossier.
 

**Important Information about External Evaluators

You must use the form List of External Evaluators found here: https://www.mcgill.ca/secretariat/tenure-promotion/information-promotion

This list must be signed by the candidate and reviewed and signed by the Chair(s) of departments/schools to which the candidate is appointed. The Academic Affairs Office shall solicit these letters on behalf of the candidate and the letters shall be forwarded to the Secretariat for inclusion in the candidate’s dossier.

When completing your list of External Evaluators:

• Ensure that all evaluators hold the rank of Full Professor
• At least 2 of the evaluators must be from outside of North America. Evaluators from outside Canada are strongly encouraged for the other 6 names.
• Ensure that evaluators are at “arm’s length” (see description on List of Proposed External Evaluators). If an evaluator is not deemed be sufficiently distanced from a candidate, the candidate will have to replace the name and the Chair will need to re-approve the list.

Dossier Submission:

All documents should be in PDF format.  The complete dossier should not exceed 85 pages **

The Chair/Director forwards the CV and External Evaluator list to the Academic Affairs Office by October 3rd. 

The Personal Statement and Chair’s Recommendation Letter should be sent by October 17th.

**The dossier should not exceed 85 pages when submitted to the Academic Affairs Office.  This is because the Statutory Selections Committee wants the dossiers to be maximum 100 pages.  The Academic Affairs Office will be adding the letters from External Evaluators and the Associate Dean's Recommendation, which will bring the page total for the dossier up to 100 pages.

Frequently Asked Questions from Candidates

What information are the External Evaluators sent?
When we request an evaluation from an external evaluator, we only send them a copy of your CV and your Personal Statement.  They do not receive any of the other documentation submitted.

What about appendices?

Try to keep the appendices to a minimum (respect the maximum dossier length below). Documents that demonstrate your "international reputation" or letters of reference are accepted.

Do not include publication reprints.  Do not include appendices such as: scans of notes from students, photos of award plaques, invited lecturer invites, diagrams of research, posters from conferences etc.
 

How long should my dossier be?
The dossier should not exceed 85 pages.  Please note that many people get promoted with dossiers that are much smaller than 85 pages.

Do candidates need that online teaching activities report?
No, this is no longer a part of the promotion dossier documents. It should not be submitted.
 

How long does it take to get promoted to Full Professor?

From the time the Faculty receives your dossier from the Department, until you receive the official approval of promotion from the Provost can take from 8 months to 1.5 years.

Once the Faculty receives the dossier from your department, we request the external evaluator letters, receive the letters and the Faculty Promotions Committee (FPC) makes their recommendation.  If we do not receive 4 strong external evaluator letters, we may need to request more names from you.  The final Faculty level decision is not made until at least 4 strong letters have been received.  If the Faculty Promotion Committee recommends promotion, the recommendation is sent to the Provost (generally this happens within 3 months of receiving your dossier from the department).  The Secretariat then arranges for a Statutory Selections Committee (SSC) to review your dossier. There can be delays in scheduling SSC meetings. Once the SSC reviews the dossier and makes a recommendation, the Board of Governors then need to approve the promotion.  A letter will then be sent approving your promotion.

Note: If the Faculty Promotions Committee has deferred recommending promotion, you will receive a communication from the Vice-Dean, Faculty Affairs, within one month of the Faculty Promotions Committee meeting.

When submitting Promotions Dossiers

Please remember the following when submitting your dossier:

1. Use, complete, and sign the External evaluator form.
2. Ensure that the Departmental Chair approves/signs external evaluator form (BOTH Chairs in the case of a joint appointment).
3. External evaluators listed must hold the rank of Full Professor.
4. External evaluators must be "arms length" (i.e. they have NOT collaborated with the candidate in the past 6 years).
5. Dossier excludes publication reprints (dossier requirements specifically indicate that reprints must not be included.
6. Dossiers respect the maximum length.