her letter, Dr. Jackson did mention the basis of her decision to be my “accumulative years of service” at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Alabama A&M University, which was five (5) years plus four (4) years, respectively, equal nine (9) years total (until my joining KSU. According to the relevant policy in the Faculty Handbook that I am quoting in the paragraph below, this is the number that should be counted toward promotion. Note: Dr. Jackson’s letter erroneously states this number as eight (8), but because I received her letter in hand months after I started working at KSU, I had no way to have her rectify this error. Thus, to prove all my prior years of service, starting from Fall 2008, I provided the following three documents in my dossier, appended to the Cover Letter in Section II, Sub-sections 3, 4, and 5, respectively:
3 - Letter_from_DeptChair_at_AAMU_proof-of-start-of-tenure-track_1
4 - Letter_from_ResearchDirector_at_AAMU_proof-of-start-of-tenure-track_2
5 - Sample_StudentEval_from_AAMU_proof-of-start-of-tenure-track_3
sub-heading “Professor” (Pages 53-54) of the Faculty Handbook states: “For promotion from the rank of associate professor to the rank of professor, the highest academic rank, the candidate’s academic achievements and professional reputation should be superior. This rank can be earned only by the faculty member who has a cumulative record of teaching effectiveness, substantial peer-reviewed publications and/or peer-reviewed creative achievement, professional contributions and service, and who has ten (10) years of teaching experience in an institution accredited by one of the accrediting agencies recognized by the US Dept. of Education (or its equivalent as determined by the academic unit/division and the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs).”
As amply evidenced in my dossier, I had met the requirement enshrined in this policy as early as when I applied for promotion in the 2018-19 cycle, and most certainly in this current (2020-21) cycle. The policy clearly states that the minimum ten (10) years of teaching experience has to occur at “an institution accredited by one of the accrediting agencies recognized by the US Dept. of Education (or its equivalent…).” Apparently, the matter of ‘approval’ has to do with the equivalency to one of the accrediting agencies recognized by US Dept. of Education (as indicated in the parenthetical portion of the policy); and, as I am showing below, the two institutions wherefrom I fulfilled that requirement for past service, are both fully accredited accordingly. Thus, it is clear that the question of ‘approval’ is not relevant in my case.
The following website lists all US Dept. of Education-recognized accrediting agencies: https://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation pg5.html#Nationally Recognized Both of the US institutions where I taught prior to KSU are listed on the above website. Relevant details follow.
University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) is accredited by: Higher Learning Commission