Preamble

Approved by School of Medicine June 6, 2011

The School of Medicine recognizes that faculty members are its most important asset. The quality of teaching, clinical care and scholarship depend upon their contributions. Appointment, promotion retention and tenure guidelines are established to assure that the School of Medicine appropriately recognizes the contributions made by individual members of the faculty. The following points clarify the School of Medicine guidelines.

Faculty are appointed through a process directed by the School of Medicine. The appointment process is designed to assess appropriateness for hire only. Subsequent formal reviews for retention, promotion, and tenure (RPT) are performed according to guidelines that are distinct from the appointment process.

All faculty members except those on the research track are expected to teach and bear some of the administrative burden in the School of Medicine. Some faculty positions are eligible for tenure and some are not. Only one tenure track exists. Faculty members in the tenure track are described by University regulations as “Regular Faculty.”

The School of Medicine recognizes two types of tenure track faculty positions that can be differentiated by the amount of time and effort devoted to the clinical mission. The two types of tenure generating positions are called “scientist-scholars” and “clinician-scholars.” The non-tenure generating faculty positions are designated “clinical”, “research”, and “lecturer”, and are encompassed by the term “Auxiliary Faculty” in University regulations. Below is a schematic of the time and effort spent on the missions of the School of Medicine by the different types of faculty members:

Track	Teaching	Administration	Clinical	Scholarship
Tenure - Scientist Scholars	Yes	Yes	0 to +	+++ to ++++
Tenure - Clinician Scholars	Yes	Yes	++	++
Clinical	Yes	Yes	+++	+
Lecturer	Yes	Yes	0 to +	+
Research	No	No	0	++++

The School of Medicine RPT Committee will consider the relative time and effort spent on the scholarship mission of the School when evaluating the scholarly attainment of an individual. This consideration will involve the volume of scholarship produced, the impact of the scholarship produced, and the type of scholarship produced.

The scientist-scholars are expected to produce a greater volume of scholarship, a greater impact of scholarship, and a more tightly defined type of scholarship than the clinician-scholar and the clinical faculty member. Moreover, the scientist-scholars are expected to be Principal Investigator of extramurally funded grants and/or contracts.

The clinician-scholar (is similarly expected to produce a greater volume of scholarship, a greater impact of scholarship, and a more tightly refined type of scholarship than the clinical faculty member.

Criteria for each rank among the faculty tracks are described later in this document. Expectations described for Associate Professor rank within each track carry forward to expectations for Professor rank. Additional expectations are identified for the rank of Professor.

Recognizing that it is not optimal to force all faculty members to fit into a rigid box, the guidelines are written to allow for flexibility. All attainments listed in the guidelines are qualified by the word “should.” The use of this word is deliberate. The individual faculty member is expected to reach all of the attainments listed and qualified by the word “should.” This is, however, not an absolute. If an individual and her/his department chair feel that it is appropriate to apply for promotion or tenure without reaching all of the attainments listed, it is the responsibility of the individual and her/his department chair to make the case for an exception to the guidelines, without diminishing the guidelines.

The School of Medicine A&RPT Committee may, depending on contextual factors such as administrative duties, teaching load, and service commitment, give more weight to certain accomplishments when evaluating an individual faculty member. For example, a faculty member who serves as a division chief or who is recognized as an outstanding teacher may have that service or accomplishment weighted greater than the faculty member’s contributions in other areas. Outstanding service or achievement can, therefore, act to modify the level of accomplishment required in other areas when an individual is considered for retention, promotion or tenure.

The requirements for achieving tenure are basically the same as those requirements for promotion to Associate Professor or Professor. “Granting tenure is considered the University’s most critical personnel decision” (PPM 6-303.III.A.1.c). With tenure, a permanent relationship between the faculty member and the University is implied. In a decision to grant tenure, careful consideration is given to the faculty member’s past and present teaching, research and scholarly attainments (continuous attainments), professional competence and independence, and involvement in the University community.