Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Faculty Promotions

Information on the criteria and process for promotion in DPHB.

NOTE: The promotion process can be a lengthy one. A promotion can be delayed at any step of the process. The most common reasons for delay are:

-Bad timing. Promotion nominations should be received in the spring.
-Incorrect referee contact information.
-Slow referee response.
-Not enough referee letters received. If this happens, more names will be requested from you.
-One or more negative referee letters received. If this is the case, usually one or more additional referee letters are solicited.
-Lack of responsiveness from faculty promotion candidate. 

Faculty Promotions

Information on the criteria and process for promotion in DPHB.

Criteria for Promotion (Brown and DPHB)

Clinical Associate Professor and Associate Professor, Clinician Educator are the only ranks for which DPHB has its own additional criteria. 

Clinical Faculty Promotion Criteria

Brown BioMed Faculty Core Criteria Brown Metrics Documents by Track and Rank

Academic Faculty Criteria

Process for Promotion

If you are interested in pursuing promotion to Associate of full Professor level, you should first discuss it with your service chief and/or mentor. If you are unsure whether you meet the criteria for promotion, please contact the Chair of your appropriate faculty committee (Ivan Miller, PhD, Academic Faculty Committee; Tracy O'Leary Tevyaw, PhD, Clinical Faculty Committee) or Holly Wilker for feedback.

The process for promotion is the same for Clinical and Academic faculty tracks. To begin, the following documents must be submitted to Holly Wilker, Manager of Academic Affairs.

  • Updated CV in Brown format.
  • Service chief letter of nomination
  • Personal statement. Maximum 2 pages in length, double-spaced, combination of narrative and outlined by criteria categories. Exact Brown guidelines are: Describes, as applicable, the candidate's teaching philosophy and achievements in education; research program; service activities; professional trajectory and future goals; and passions and interests as a faculty member. Does not reiterate CV. Be sure to include information about your DEI work, as it is required.

Once these documents are submitted, your promotion nomination will be included on the agenda at the next appropriate DPHB faculty committee meeting. If the committee approves going forward with your promotion, the next step is soliciting referee letters. You will be required to submit referee names and other documents (see below referee details for more info). Once enough referee letters are received, your promotion nomination will again be discussed at the next appropriate DPHB faculty committee meeting.  If the committee approves the referee letters, your promotion is now ready to be forwarded to Brown for the Committee of Medical Faculty Affairs approval. A slot on the CMFA schedule has already been reserved. At this point in the process, the Brown BioMed Faculty Affairs office may ask questions for more specific information in order to prepare your dossier fully for CMFA discussion. The DPHB Chair then presents your promotion dossier at the CFMA meeting. You will be notified by the DPHB Chair after the meeting whether or not CMFA approved your promotion.

Referee criteria:

Once the DPHB Committee approves a promotion nomination, the Manager of Academic Affairs contacts the promotion candidate and his/her service chief to request referee names. 

Brown has very specific requirements for referees. (please check your specific rank & track)

Academic faculty – 6 letters required, 12 referee names are requested

Clinical faculty – 4 letters required, 8 referee names are requested

These lists MUST include:

  • referee names, rank, institution, address, phone number, fax number, email address.
  • The list must also include a one or two sentence description of the referee’s area of expertise.

We also request that the promotion candidate include a brief description of his/her “professional relationship” with the referee. If any kind of professional collaboration took place in the past, it should be explained here. If there is no “professional relationship,” that should be indicated.
 

Materials required for Assistant Professor clinical faculty, JUNIOR LEVEL promotion:

  • Letter from the candidate briefly addressing his/her current and future teaching role, # of teaching hours, and the availability of teaching evaluations. Addressed to Audrey Tyrka, MD, PhD, Chair.
  • Updated CV in Brown format.
  • Service Chief memo of nomination (service chief should ensure a teaching role exists). Service chief can also use this Google form.
  • One additional letter of support from a DPHB faculty member
  • Evidence of two hours of training annually that meets the DPHB Faculty Development Requirement
  • Copies of teaching evaluations (DPHB requests that candidates have one year of documented teaching within the Brown system.)

Faculty Appointments

Information on academic appointments within DPHB and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

NOTE: The promotion process can be a lengthy one. A promotion can be delayed at any step of the process. The most common reasons for delay are:

-Bad timing. Promotion nominations should be received in the spring.
-Incorrect referee contact information.
-Slow referee response.
-Not enough referee letters received. If this happens, more names will be requested from you.
-One or more negative referee letters received. If this is the case, usually one or more additional referee letters are solicited.
-Lack of responsiveness from faculty promotion candidate.