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    If there's a tenure-track opening at your institution, you can always apply to it, so in that sense there's always a possibility. I don't know that most institutions will have a policy on switching tracks (and even so, policies can change), but I would guess it's usually handled on a case-by-case basis. Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 21:38
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    I've seen this done at my institution and others. If you do a good job as a non tenure track faculty member then the search committee is likely to at least give serious consideration to you as a candidate for a tenure track position because you're already in place and a somewhat known quantity. . However, the competition for tenure track positions can be some extreme that you might not reasonably have a chance of becoming a finalist. Commented Jun 18, 2016 at 3:00
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    There is something unclear about your question, to my mind: when the people changed departments, presumably also your non-tenure-track friend somehow became tenure-track? The reason I ask is that when departments evaporate, sometimes the tenured positions evaporate, too, though this is "not nice". So "switching tracks" might mean "changing departments without risking loss of tenure", which itself can be a serious issue. It mildly surprises me that non-tenure-track "switches" to tenure-track (in the U.S.) because there's more-intense competition for tenure-track... Might have to recompete? Commented Jun 18, 2016 at 17:32
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    I am a research postdoc in a mathematics dept. here in the US and I somewhat recently applied for a tenure track open search in my dept. I was on the shortlist, interviewed, etc. but was not offered the position. One thing that came up during the process: my application received much higher scrutiny from outside the dept. (administrators, deans, etc.) because they want to avoid nepotism. Commented Jun 18, 2016 at 17:35
  • @paulgarrett, it also surprised me that he was able to "switch" to tenure-track, hence the original question. But, he is very productive (as is the entire research group), so that may have been a factor. I should also note that the other 2 tenured professors in that group got promoted to full professor with the switch, which I think is also unusual. Commented Jun 20, 2016 at 16:31