Instructors
Tenure Track Instructor
Should only be used for faculty who have not completed the terminal degree requirement or medical board exams.
Three-year term - advertising required - yearly portions may count or not count toward pre-tenure probationary period.
Full-time Clinical Track
Instructor (Clinical) No term limit - advertising required.
Research Track
Research Instructor No term limit - advertising required.
Lecturer Track
Instructor (Lecturer) No term limit – advertising required.
Visiting
Should only be used for faculty who have not completed the terminal degree requirement or medical board exams.
Visiting Instructor Three-year term – advertising not required – yearly portions may count or not count toward pre-tenure probationary period. Must fulfill advertising requirements if moved to tenure, clinical, research, or lecturer faculty. May not utilize expedited promotion process.
Adjunct
Adjunct Instructor No term limit - no advertising required.
The Instructor rank (in all tracks) is a faculty appointment used as an entry-level position for individuals who have not quite achieved their terminal degree, or board certification, or may be serving a fellowship. At times, the Instructor rank may be used for chief residents and housestaff.
DUAL HOUSESTAFF APPOINTMENTS
Any requests for instructor appointments for residents or fellows under the GME office must obtain approval in writing from the GME Committee before they will be processed in Faculty Administration. The purpose of giving housestaff Visiting Instructor appointments is to enable them to hold hospital privileges, be eligible for University malpractice coverage, and bill for services.
If an Instructor (in any track) is formally admitted to a degree program in the same college/school, the individual must resign their Instructor appointment immediately, unless an exception to this requirement is granted in writing by the President of the University.
Expedited Process for Promoting Instructors to Assistant Professors
- Expedited Promotion checklist
This policy applies for promotion within the tenure and auxiliary categories. Departments cannot use expedited promotion process to move visiting instructors to the tenure, clinical, research, or lecturer tracks.
Effective January 9, 2006, an expedited promotion procedure (no letters of recommendation or faculty vote required) for advancing faculty members from Instructor to Assistant Professor is available for the following situation and only for the following situation.
- The faculty member was appointed to the rank of Instructor rather than Assistant Professor because he/she had not completed the terminal degree or medical board exams.
The expedited procedure may be used if the promotion is because the person completes the requirement(s) and is occurring within three years of the initial appointment in the Instructor rank.
The chair's letter recommending the move from Instructor to Assistant Professor must state the reason/occasion for the promotion. (If the faculty member is tenure-track, the letter should also state if the faculty member is choosing to count the years as Instructor toward the probationary period or not.)
Tenure-track faculty should be appointed as Instructors only for this reason, but auxiliary faculty may be appointed at the Instructor level under other circumstances.
If the initial appointment of an auxiliary faculty member (regardless of category) is at the Instructor rank for any reason other than unfinished credentials and the faculty member is later promoted to Assistant Professor, then, in addition to the chair's letter, a faculty vote is required and two letters of recommendation are required if the auxiliary appointment is a paid appointment. (Letters are never required for unpaid appointments.) This policy applies regardless of how soon the promotion from Instructor to Assistant Professor rank occurs because it is a true promotion and not just the expected completion of credentials.
If an auxiliary faculty member is appointed at the Instructor rank because of unfinished credentials and then takes more than three years to complete them, the promotion to Assistant Professor may not use the expedited procedure.
A tenure-track Instructor will be terminated without formal review if the credentials are not completed within three years unless there are the extenuating circumstances equivalent to those that may extend the probationary period itself, as provided for in PPM 8-6, Sec. 3. C. 2.
How to Count the Pre-tenure Clock for Instructor Applicants
Instructor for three years. Chooses to not count the time
- Promoted to Assistant Professor at the end of the three years.
- Begins as Assistant Professor after three years as Instructor with a full seven-year pre-tenure probationary clock.
Instructor for three years. Chooses to count the time.
- Promoted to Assistant Professor at the end of the three years.
The pre-tenure probationary clock begins at the time of hire as Instructor, leaving four years of the seven-year clock.
