Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion

Swarthmore College provides provisions for appointments to the Faculty with continuous tenure which aim to protect the freedom and integrity of teaching and learning, to foster scholarship in a context of personal and professional development, and to recognize the special responsibility for the institution’s work and welfare implicit in continuing membership of the faculty.  The decision to grant tenure to a faculty member is one of the most important decisions made by the College. Similarly, the College makes provisions for promotion to full professor in order to recognize advanced contributions of faculty members in teaching and scholarship.

The College also recognizes the invaluable contributions of members of the instructional staff not in tenurable positions and provides provisions for review and reappointment of these members of the instructional staff.  

Letter from the Provost: Preparing Tenure, Reappointment, and Promotion Dossiers [pdf]