Just as students can affect their grades by keeping close tabs on their performance and comparing their notes against teachers' evaluations, faculty members can manage the evaluation of their work in a manner that increases their ability to influence the process. If you keep a complete and accurate vita, ask for evaluations at every step of the way, take a realistic approach to the review process, and respond to evaluation feedback received, you can increase your chances of identifying problems early enough to avoid a negative decision at a terminal point, such as the tenure decision. In most institutions, the vote of the departmental chair is crucial to the final outcome. Therefore, keeping your chair informed of your progress at every point is important. If the chair does not call for annual meetings with you, you should request them and be ready to chronicle your contributions for the past year in each of the areas in which you will ultimately be evaluated.

1. The vita as the basis for your evaluation

When the time comes to prepare your documents for tenure and/or promotion, you need to have a complete, written, and accurate record of your accomplishments. Keeping careful track of achievements and accomplishments and updating your vita to reflect them will enable you to use your vita as the basis for your tenure or promotion file. "A clear and precise vita is of utmost importance, especially when it is to be read by others not in the discipline or in a related field and when it is used in a reappointment, tenure, and/or promotion review...Your curriculum vita is a document of advocacy" (Butler, 1996).

You should review the file of someone who was recently promoted or tenured as an example of how to organize the materials. Some departments keep promotion or tenure files available for review. If this is not the case at your institution, find out who is the most recently promoted or tenured professor and ask him or her if he or she will share the information with you. In some (usually smaller) institutions, untenured faculty may have the opportunity to sit on promotion and tenure committees even prior to their own promotion and/or tenure. If you have the opportunity to participate on such a committee, you can gain a great deal of valuable information about how the process works. This will be very helpful when the time comes to prepare your own promotion and tenure materials. Preparing a complete and professional file is a valuable step toward the successful outcome of your review.

A file that tells a cohesive story of your work is powerful. Descriptions of your work should be presented in such a way that the various parts can be seen as building upon one another. If your teaching, research, and service are related, you can show the building process easily. If not, you must provide a coherent view of how seemingly disparate pieces may reflect a larger theoretical interest or perhaps a change in the direction of your work.

Early and regular reviews of every aspect of your performance affecting your chances for tenure or promotion will give you multiple opportunities to respond to any negative reviews. In preparing for such reviews, keep a running record of your activities rather than waiting until it is time for the review to reconstruct a year or more of activity. Ask to be given a written evaluation after each review. If a review is negative, decide which aspects reflect legitimate weaknesses and which are inaccurate. Both should be addressed. You should discuss the valid points with your department chairperson, and the two of you should jointly develop a written plan to ameliorate weaknesses. You must also take responsibility for challenging any unfounded criticisms. Provide written materials to refute negative points and substantiate how they are erroneous (for additional suggestions, see Quina, 1986).

Be wary of performance evaluations deemed "administrative" or "bureaucratic" during which you are told that you need not be concerned about low ratings because they will not affect your chances for tenure or promotion. Not only may this not be the case, but also any evaluation could serve as a vehicle for assessing and improving your functioning as a faculty member. Therefore, the feedback you receive should be specific enough to address in behavioral terms, and you should consider it relevant to your success as a member of the faculty.

The annual review and review for tenure and promotion are anxiety provoking for most faculty. You should view the annual review as an opportunity for you and your departmental allies/supporters to illustrate and document your strengths on a regular basis. It is far easier to counteract negative misperceptions of a faculty member early in the tenure process, rather than during the last 2 years before applying for tenure. Keep written documentation of this annual review in a file for future reference in developing a tenure packet.

The faculty review process is not the time for reticence or modesty about accomplishments. Although it may be difficult for some women and ethnic minorities to highlight directly their own accomplishments, self-effacement can affect how colleagues evaluate your successes and failures. Do not hide your achievements and be sure to communicate how your accomplishments have contributed to the field, your department, and university. There is a delicate balance between sounding too brash and boastful versus merely conveying strengths. Unfortunately, cultural stereotypes may produce a different perception of the same behavior when exhibited by women and minorities versus White males.

Know what the process of solicitation and selection of expert peer reviewers for your promotion and tenure application may be. Your external peer reviews are a significant part of your evaluation. While the department will ask outside reviewers to write letters evaluating your candidacy, you can secure letters from reputable scholars who know your work. It is wise to ask these potential letter writers in advance about their willingness to respond to a request from your department. The more respected the person writing the letter is, the more credence will usually be given to his or her input. In addition, it is essential that these external references address your strengths from as wide and firm a base as possible while keeping in mind issues of fit and departmental mission.