Expectations for Extension Professor Faculty in IANR

Annual Academic Performance Evaluation and Progress towards Promotion

Extension Professors are non-tenure track faculty members with an Extension apportionment of at least 70%. While they are not eligible for tenure, they are promotable through Assistant, Associate, and Full professorial ranks. Their position descriptions should be written in a way that describes their unique faculty roles and responsibilities and their expected contributions to the IANR mission. Position descriptions of these faculty members should facilitate professional development pathways toward promotion. Extension Professors have a specific term appointment, usually three to five years, that may be renewed with satisfactory performance and the continued relevance of the programming area to Nebaraska Extension. 

Extension Professors have a terminal degree, either research or professional, in an area relevant to the needs of Nebraska Extension. Other required and preferred qualifications are determined based on the unique needs of the position. 

Extension Professors are experts in translating research and evidence based (RAEB) information into actionable practices relevant to and Nebraska and elsewhere. They are expected to develop Extension programming and to work with Extension Specialists and Extension Educators in its delivery for maximum impact at the state level. Extension Professors are expected to bring their work to scale, which may include securing external funding, and to publish in peer reviewed professional journals and to present at professional association meetings. Given their unique responsibilities and expected contributions, they may or may not have PI, co-PI, or first author status, so this should not be expected for promotion.  

If they have a research apportionment, the expectations for their research and its funding are different than what is expected for tenure-line faculty members; they are expected to conduct research that is translational in nature and that directly contributes to Extension co-created programming. If they have a teaching apportionment, care should be taken to ensure that credit-bearing courses they are assigned to teach do not infringe on their abilities to fully carry out their responsibilities related to their Extension apportionment.   

Those appointed to an Extension Professor Faculty position are faculty members in an IANR academic unit, and are expected to function as such. This includes expectations that they serve on committees contributing to the faculty governance of the unit and IANR. They are not expected to serve on supervisory committees for graduate students, although they may as long as they have Graduate Faculty status. 

Guidelines for Evaluation of Extension Faculty 

Annual evaluation and promotion process, expectations for promotion, and timelines for Extension Professor Faculty must be explicit, transparent and equitable. Performance evaluation of those on Extension Professor lines must be tied to the person’s position description. Evaluation must follow the IANR Guidelines for Faculty Evaluation and Promotion. While the evaluation processes are the same for tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty, the expectations for performance, accomplishments and impacts may differ depending on the position and the expectations for that position. The primary evaluation criteria for Extension Professors pertain to excellence and scholarship of Extension. Feedback on performance should be tailored to acknowledge and encourage accomplishments that will lead toward promotion. 

Expectations of Extension Professor Faculty 

Expectations of Assistant Extension Professor 

Extension Assistant Professors’ are experts in translating RAEB information into actionable practices relevant to Nebraska and elsewhere. They are expected to collaborate and participate on teams with Extension Specialists, Extension Educators and others. They build capacity in Extension for translational research and team science. They develop RAEB Extension programming, and in collaboration with Extension Educators and Specialists ensure that it is brought to scale to maximize impact. They advance Extension by publishing in peer-reviewed journals and communicate their findings and outcomes with the professional community. Extension Assistant Professors are expected to participate in academic unit faculty meetings and serve on university and/or professional society committees. They are not expected to chair or serve on supervisory committees for graduate students or to fund graduate assistantships. Extension Assistant Professors are strongly encouraged to contribute to grant writing and/or apply for external funding when these activities would help to bring their work to scale. 

Promotion to Associate Extension Professor Rank 

Extension Professors promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor must demonstrate steady growth and professional development in the following. This development should be documented through their annual reports of accomplishments and documentation of their annual performance evaluation and progress toward promotion evaluation.   

1. Independence in developing and contributing to Extension programming and projects, and to the Extension mission of IANR and UNL; 
2. Continuous improvement in their translational research expertise leading toward serving as a model of the same for Nebraska’s Extension Specialists and Educators; 
3. Contributions to the programming areas and projects identified in their position description that advance these areas and projects; 
4. Meaningful contributions to teams and collaborative efforts; 
5. Progress in bringing Extension programming to scale to achieve potential impact evidenced by collaborations, teams, and/or attempts to secure external funding;
6. Author/co-author peer-reviewed publications; 
7. Recognition by entities outside Nebraska—regionally and nationally—of their Extension expertise and contributions (e.g., invited presentations, publications citations, regional or national awards, invitations to participate on multi-institutional teams, review panels, or service with professional organizations or societies); 
8. Outcomes and impacts related to other areas of their apportionment (if applicable) that are consistent with their expectations in those apportionment areas; and 
9. Meaningful contributions to the academic unit and the division that demonstrate good university citizenship (e.g., active participation in faculty meetings and service on committees). 

Promotion to Full Extension Professor Rank 

For promotion from Associate to Extension Professor, in addition to the above, the Extension faculty member should demonstrate: 

1. Advanced leadership including in collaborative efforts and team science, 
2. Continued growth and professional development of their disciplinary expertise and expertise in Extension programming and ability to translate research to practice, 
3. Success in bringing Extension programming to scale through external funding, and 
4. National recognition. 

Timeframe for Promotion 

Faculty must demonstrate that they are able to sustain excellence over time in order to be granted promotion. Regarding promotion to Associate Professor, the UNL Guidelines for the Evaluation of Faculty indicates: “Time-in-rank as an assistant professor is ordinarily at least five years, and typically is six years. Earlier promotion is quite unusual and implies that a candidate has accomplished in the shorter time period what normally would be expected in the longer one.” Regarding promotion to full professorial rank the UNL Guidelines document states: “Ordinarily, in most units, it is highly unusual for faculty to move from associate professor to professor in less than seven years.”