"Tenure" is the employment status awarded by a president to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in teaching, research and service in accordance with criteria established by each university. The status of tenure creates a legitimate claim of entitlement to continued employment unless the tenured faculty member is dismissed or released in accordance with ABOR Policy 6-201H., J., or K., (Conditions of Faculty Service, Post-Tenure Review, Dismissal or Suspension, or Release of Faculty for Reorganization Caused by Budgetary Reasons or Programmatic Changes), of these conditions.
To further elaborate - each faculty member hired on to a position leading to consideration for tenure (known as tenure-track) serves a probationary period to a maximum of six years. Following that period the university makes a decision to grant tenure or not. In order to make that determination, each university has a policy on tenure and then each college and, in most cases, departments, have policies that further specify the expectations faculty must meet in order to be recommended to the Provost and President for the awarding of tenure. All of these criteria are approved by the Provost and President.
The process for review usually involves soliciting up to 10 letters from nationally and internationally recognized experts in the discipline of the faculty member being reviewed and then a dept peer committee reviews the file, followed by the dept chair, college peer committee, dean, and university-wide peer committee. With all of these recommendations the Provost and President make the final determination.