March 24 Message to Faculty: Pretenure Extensions in these Extraordinary Circumstances

To: Faculty of Case Western Reserve University
From: Ben Vinson III, Provost and Executive Vice President
Date: March 24, 2020
Re: Extension of Faculty Pretenure Periods Due to Extraordinary Circumstances Impacting the University in Wake of Coronavirus Pandemic

During this unanticipated and challenging period for our campus community, I am deeply appreciative of all our faculty members are doing to continue our students’ learning experiences and maintain our mission of education and research. I am also cognizant that the sudden transitions and changing expectations occurring during this public health emergency have not only had a significant impact on our students, but on faculty members as well.  

Given the extraordinary circumstances for our university brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic, I am granting a one-year extension to the pretenure period of all eligible tenure-track faculty members, as I have been authorized to do under provisions of the Faculty Handbook.

This one-year pretenure period extension is available to current CWRU faculty members holding a tenure-track appointment effective prior to Jan. 1, 2020. It does not apply to faculty members who are going through a mandatory tenure review this year or to faculty with a terminal appointment for this academic year (AY2019-2020) or next year (AY2020-2021). Those eligible faculty members who accept the extension are not precluded from seeking an early tenure review.

Any eligible faculty member wishing to accept this one-year extension of their pretenure period shall provide confirmation of their acceptance via email to the Provost’s office by May 8, 2020, addressed to academicaffairs@case.edu.

Once again, thank you for your efforts during this extraordinary period.