Senior Promotions

Academic promotion in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine recognizes the notable achievements of faculty members in their discipline and contributions to the University of Toronto. Promotion is not granted as a reward for long-term service, but rather to recognize those who have shown sustained excellence in specific aspects of the academic mission.

The successful candidate for promotion will be expected to have established a wide reputation in his or her field of interest (at a national level for Associate Professor candidates and at an international level for Professor candidates), to be deeply engaged in scholarly work, and to show him or herself to be an effective teacher.

In the Department of Psychiatry, the promotion cycle is 18 months, beginning in January of a given calendar year and ending with promotion effective July 1 of the following year.

According to the University of Toronto Policy and Procedures Governing Promotions, promotion is based on accomplishments in scholarship (research and/or creative professional activity), teaching, and service to the University. The greatest weight will be given to excellence in scholarly achievement, which may be expressed in research or creative professional activity (CPA,) and excellence in teaching.

Candidates for senior promotion are first reviewed by the Departmental Promotions Committee (DPC). Candidates recommended for promotion by our DPC are then reviewed by the Decanal Promotions Committee (DecPC) which makes its recommendations to the Dean. The Dean forwards recommendations to the University Vice-President and Provost and, ultimately, the University President. If approved by the University, the promotions are effective on July 1st of the same year.

1. Meet with the following people to discuss your readiness for promotion:
   • Hospital Chief/Head/CMO
   • U of T Division Director
   • The Department Chair

Your hospital Chief/Head/CMO and your U of T Division Director will need to provide letters of support for inclusion in your dossier.

2. Prepare and submit your promotion application for preliminary review (April)
   • You are required to submit their promotion applications to the DPC by the end of April to obtain the DPC’s feedback and recommendations on your readiness to apply for promotion.  
   • Following the DPC preliminary review, candidates will receive written feedback (June).

Complete checklists of all the documents you must include in your application for each pathway to promotion are provided farther down this webpage.

3. Submit your application to the Department of Psychiatry promotions administrator by the end of July.
4. The promotions administrator reviews the applications for completeness (August).
5. The Department solicits external referee letters and student letters for inclusion in each promotion application (August - December).
   • No further changes to the application can be made after this point.
6. Applications are submitted to the Temerty Faculty of Medicine Decanal Promotions Committee (January)
7. The Decanal Promotions Committee conducts their review (January - February)
   • The Department Chair will be notified in February of any deferred applications; deferral notification includes a written outline of the additional information or clarification(s) being requested (i.e., more evidence of wide reputation, more teaching evaluations, or another external referee letter, etc.).
   • The Chair meets with the Decanal Promotion Committee on behalf of all deferred candidates to present the requested documentation (March) and discuss the application.
8. Approvals are shared with the Chair’s office by the end of May and announced by Temerty Faculty of Medicine in June.
9. All successful promotions are effective July 1.
10. All promotions are announced via email to the Department and included in the programme at the Annual Celebration and Graduation Dinner in June.
    

The DPC is comprised of the DPC Chair and senior faculty members in the Department of Psychiatry at the ranks of Associate Professor and Professor. The DPC is responsible for reviewing candidate dossiers in a confidential, fair and transparent process, to provide feedback to each candidate on their application.

The current members of the DPC are:

• Alastair Flint, Professor, Vice Chair Research

• Raj Rasasingham, Associate Professor, Director, CPPD

• Adrienne Tan, Associate Professor, Director, General Psychiatry Residency Program

• Carla Garcia, Assistant Professor, Director, UGME

• Crystal Clark, Associate Professor, Women’s College

• Carole Cohen, Professor, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

• Sophie Grigoriadis, Professor, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

• Mark Hanson, Professor, SickKids

• Zoe Hilton, Professor, Waypoint

• Andrea Iaboni, Associate Professor, University Health Network

• Michael Kiang, Associate Professor, CAMH

• Meng-Chuan Lai, Associate Professor, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

• Sakina Rizvi, Associate Professor, Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael’s Hospital

• Kathleen Sheehan, Associate Professor, UHN

• Karen Shin, Associate Professor, Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael’s Hospital

• Daisy Singla, Associate Professor, CAMH

• Rima Styra, Professor, University Health Network

1. All candidates applying for promotion must read the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Manual for Academic Promotion to Associate Professor or Professor (the Manual).
2. The Temerty Faculty Medicine requires that all faculty members applying for senior promotion use the WebCV format. Any CV not in this format will not be accepted!

Other important links

The University of Toronto Policy and Procedures Governing Promotion

The Temerty Faculty of Medicine Senior Promotions webpage
 

According to the University of Toronto Policy and Procedures Governing Promotions, promotion is based on accomplishments in scholarship (research and/or creative professional activity), teaching, and service to the University. Each of these is described in the promotion manual.

The greatest weight will be given to excellence in scholarly achievement, which may be expressed in research or creative professional activity (CPA,) and excellence in teaching.

The successful candidate for promotion will be expected to have established a wide reputation in his or her field of interest, to be deeply engaged in scholarly work, and to show him or herself to be an effective teacher. These are the main criteria.

However, either excellent teaching alone or excellent scholarship alone, sustained over many years, could also in itself justify eventual promotion to the rank of Professor.

Administrative or other service to the University and related activities will be taken into account in assessing candidates for promotion but given less weight than the main criteria: promotion will not be based primarily on such service.

When completing the candidate information form, candidates must select one area of scholarship as excellent as well as competence in teaching. Candidates may also select competence in any of the other areas of scholarship or administrative service.

Candidates applying for promotion on sustained excellence in teaching with a waiver of external review will not select any other area.