In exceptional cases, the chair of a department may nominate a faculty member for promotion prior to meeting the stipulated timelines in his/her rank. In such cases, the faculty member is deemed to have substantially exceed the minimum promotion requirements, including excellence in teaching and scholarly activity. The department chair consults with other chairs within the SOM prior to putting such a faculty member up for early promotion. Specifically, the department chair provides the supportive documentation to the Senior Associate Dean of basic sciences or clinical studies, who then initiates a meeting of all department chairs within the basic sciences or clinical years to discuss the candidate.
One of the SOM department chairs electively serves as the chair of the meeting. If a consensus for early promotion eligibility is reached, then the chair of the SOM chairs meeting issues a letter of support as part of the promotion package, and the Chair of the Department can put his/her faculty member up for consideration for early promotion.