Story by Bee Goodman and Audrey Palladino.
On February 8, 2025, United States District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. signed a memorandum opinion and order of the court for Tennessee Tech University to promote Dr. Kristen Deiter to the rank of full professor retroactive to August 1, 2021, and to adjust her pay grade and employee benefits accordingly.
Deiter applied for promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor in Fall 2020. According to the memorandum, “Her application was subject to two promotion policies: the English Department’s tenure and promotion policy at the department level, and TTU Policy 206.”
Policy 206 states for an individual to be considered for promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor, there are three levels an individual up for consideration must have: teaching, research and scholarship, and service/outreach. According to the memorandum “At the time of Dr. Deiter’s application for promotion, neither the English Department promotion criteria, nor the TTU Policy 206 criteria, required an Associate Professor to publish a specific number of articles in refereed or peer-reviewed journals to be eligible for promotion with respect to the research and scholarship factor.”
The approval process begins with department peers reviewing the applicant’s dossier, then it goes for approval to the department chair, then to the dean of the college, then to the provost and lastly to the university president.
The English Department conducted its review of Deiter’s dossier in Fall 2020. According to the memorandum “On November 11, 2020, Dr. Deiter’s peers in the English Department voted six to two to recommend Dr. Deiter for promotion. On December 21, 2020, Dr. Deiter’s Interim Department Chair, Dr. Linda Null, recommended her for promotion to Dean Paul Semmes, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.”
On May 20 2021, Dean Semmes recommended Deiter for promotion to Provost Lori Mann Bruce. Then, on May 25, 2021, Provost Bruce presented against her promotion to TTU President Dr. Phil Oldham. According to the memorandum, Bruce’s decision was based on her “assessment that there is not adequate documented evidence to satisfy TTU policy 206.”
During Oldham’s review, he felt Deiter was sufficient in service/outreach, and teaching but not in the frequency of her scholarship/research. On May 25, 2021, Oldham wrote a letter to Deiter stating his agreement with Bruce not to promote Deiter.
On June 15, 2021, Deiter filed an appeal with the faculty affairs committee, requesting the decision be overturned. Before the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester, on August 20, 2021, the Faculty Affairs Committee wrote President Oldham a letter regarding Dr. Deiter’s appeal. According to the memorandum “The letter concluded stating that the “Faculty Affairs Committee
unanimously voted to recommend that the Provost’s denial [be] overturned, and Dr. Deiter [be]
promoted to Professor.’”
This was rejected by Oldham on September 16, 2021.
According to the memorandum “On April 1, 2022, Dr. Deiter filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), alleging discrimination on the basis of sex when she was denied a promotion to a Full Professor position. Dr. Deiter believes she
experienced discrimination because two men with fewer achievements than she, Dr. Brian
Williams and Dr. Mark Loftis were promoted.” The EEOC issued Deiter a right-to-sue letter on April 26, 2022, and Deiter filed suit against TTU on July 5, 2022.
According to the memorandum, “Following a four-day trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict finding that TTU discriminated against Dr. Deiter because of her sex—and therefore violated Title VII—when President Oldham denied her application for promotion in rank from Associate Professor to Full Professor. Although the jury found TTU liable for discrimination, it
determined that Dr. Deiter was not entitled to recover any compensatory damages.”
Tech has been ordered to pay her $43,133.22 to compensate her for the amount she would have earned, plus prejudgment interest, absent Tech’s unlawful discrimination.
