Approved April 2021

When a faculty member receives a written offer for a position at another institution or one appears imminent, the Department Chair will consult with senior faculty (including, but not limited to, the Executive Committee, Associate Chairs, and/or Professors/Teaching Professors) on the merits of making a retention offer with a broad view toward equity. In particular, the Chair will do due diligence to consider wider impacts of the retention offer (e.g., whether the person has contributed to perpetuating or challenging individual, institutional, or structural harms and how the person’s academic record has benefited or suffered from systemic bias). The decision to make a retention offer will require high standards, including an outstanding academic record and significant contributions to University and Department Programs relative to the rank of the faculty member. Retention offers will only be considered if offers are received from peer academic institutions and require a minimum of 3 years since the last retention offer was made as per University policy.

Pre-retention offers, if made available from the College of Engineering, may also be considered for faculty who have a consistently outstanding record of research, teaching, and service for tenure track faculty, or teaching and service for teaching track faculty or faces equity issues (regarding salary, promotion, or hiring) within the department. The Chair will negotiate any retention offer with the Dean of the College of Engineering.