Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure at Duke University
The quality of its faculty is the most vital determinant of a great university. Further, the highest standards of appointment, promotion, and awarding of tenure are best achieved by a process of careful examination and review. Such review is most effectively accomplished by a collaborative process whereby the faculty itself, through highly respected representatives, provides its best judgment and advice to the responsible administrative officers.
Judgments of academic excellence are complex. They cannot be reduced to a quantitative formula nor can the considerations that must be applied in each individual case be completely described in general terms. At the same time, the criteria to be applied in all cases must represent excellence in the quality of the candidate's performance, especially as a teacher and as a scholar. Scholarly productivity must reflect a serious and sustained commitment to the life of scholarship.
-- Duke University Faculty Handbook