Tenure is a permanent employment contract offered to faculty members in North American universities, granting job security and protection from dismissal except in cases of misconduct. Tenure tracks include assistant, associate, and full professor positions, with senior appointments allowing for immediate tenure. Non-tenure track positions do not offer permanent employment. The assistant to full professor progression is generally reserved for tenure range designation.
In the US and Canadian university setting, the three typical types of occupation positions are assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. Tenure tracks can also be distinguished by outer and senior positions. Although education systems in many other countries offer their teachers a type of permanent employment contract, it is in North America that position-specific wording as tenure is traditionally applied.
Tenure is the extension of a permanent offer of employment to a faculty member, typically in a college or university setting. This type of job security is also granted, particularly in some US states, at different academic levels in some school systems, but the traditional use of this type of permanent employment is in the field of higher education. The grant of tenure means that a professor cannot be dismissed by the university, except in extraordinary circumstances that typically involve unusual misconduct.
Teachers working in a higher education environment are hired in tenured or non-tenured positions. The distinguishing feature between the two types of employment is that an employee holding the non-tenure track does not expect to be offered a permanent job from the school. Teachers who are not in possession roles may remain employed by the school, year-to-year, at will, for perpetuity, but are not eligible for a permanent contract.
The most basic distinction in the types of tenure lane positions is in the manner in which an eligible tenure line is filled. When a college or university decides to add another tenured professor to an academic department, it hires a recent Ph. . The second type of appointment is called a senior appointment and places the new faculty member directly into a tenured position without having to wait the typical five years for tenure review.
Outside faculty members eligible for tenure are typically hired as assistant or associate professors. These two titles are the traditional positions of the tenure ranges that lead to a tenure review after approximately five years and the eventual designation of full professorship. There are many other faculty titles in use at colleges and universities, such as adjunct professor and professor, but the title progression from assistant to associate to full professor is generally reserved as the tenure range designation.
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