Abstract
The standards for promotion and tenure in higher education have changed over the years, particularly with regard to the importance of research and scholarship to promotion and tenure decisions. This study was undertaken to determine the current state of promotion and tenure expectations in graduate social work programs and to establish whether or not these programs felt pressure for increased performance in research and scholarship. Peer review committees and the peer review process also were examined. The major findings show that research/scholarly productivity has become the central criterion for making promotion and tenure decisions and that tenure is clearly tied to rank at the associate professor level.