During the pre-tenure period for tenure-track faculty, the tenure clock may be extended for some types of leaves and interruptions of professional activities.
Some leaves taken by clinical professors and lecturers may, upon request, extend the period until promotion. Please contact vpfaa@indiana.edu for more information.
Paid Medical Leave, Paid Pregnancy Leave, and Paid Family Leave automatically extend the tenure clock for the duration of the leave.
Tenure clock adjustments are cumulative, with 10 months of leave representing one year off the clock. If the clock is stopped for one semester, that typically has the effect of delaying tenure consideration for one academic year (since we have a single review process each year). However, if a faculty member takes an additional semester of leave (for a total of 10 months)that will still only adjust the clock by one year—even if the leaves are taken during separate academic years.
Leaves of Absence without Pay or Leaves of Absence with Partial Pay normally do not stop the tenure clock. Leaves without pay taken for research or teaching at other institutions do not normally extend the tenure clock unless the leave will be detrimental to the faculty member in making progress toward tenure. This must be documented and approved in writing at all levels.
Get more details on faculty leaves and the tenure clockAny request for a paid or unpaid leave by a pre-tenure faculty member must include a completed Understanding on Probationary Status form. Clinical professors and lecturers taking a leave and wishing to extend the probationary period should contact our office at vpfaa@indiana.edu.
Understanding on Probationary Status formAlternative accessible formats of the PDF documents on this page can be obtained by contacting VPFAA at vpfaa@indiana.edu.
