The School of Arts and Sciences & The School of Engineering Faculty Handbook

TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Tufts Faculty Handbook for Arts, Sciences and Engineering

Chapter 2: Faculty Appointments

Arts, Sciences and Engineering faculty personnel policies and practices derive from a variety of sources, including bylaws and policies of the Trustees and of the Faculty in Arts, Sciences and Engineering and its associated schools. Copies of the Faculty Bylaws and the Trustee Policy on Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Retirement are included in the appendix.

ACADEMIC RANKS AND TITLES

The University recognizes various professorial ranks, which have significance in regard to benefits, rights, and obligations. These ranks are: Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Instructor. The professorial ranks may be modified by the use of words such as: Research, Emeritus, Visiting, Adjunct, and/or Part-time.

All modified professorial appointments and all appointments to the position of lecturer are non-tenure track. Time spent in such appointment does not accrue towards the probationary period of any eventual tenure-track appointment.

Professorial Ranks

Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor are ranks given to faculty who usually have earned the Ph.D. or its equivalent.* Full-time faculty members in the unmodified professorial ranks are expected to participate in all three of the broad areas of activity noted in the various faculty, administration, and trustee statements on tenure and promotion, teaching and advising, scholarship, and University service. (See Chapter 4, Tenure and Promotion, and Chapter 3, Faculty Responsibilities.)
*The University reserves the sole right to determine the measure of Degree equivalencies

Instructors are full-time faculty on the tenure-track who have not attained the doctoral degree. Normally, instructors are expected to be awarded the Ph.D. degree within a three-year period of hiring.

Endowed Chairs

There are a number of endowed chairs in the University. Many were established years ago and do not provide earnings sufficient to pay the salaries of the incumbents. An appointment to an endowed chair may be made from the ranks of Tufts faculty or may be recruited from outside.

Appointment to an endowed chair is an honor, which is recommended by the Dean of the School to the President. All endowed chairs are voted annually by the Board of Trustees.

Modified Professorial Ranks

The ranks of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Instructor may be modified by: research, emeritus, visiting, adjunct, or part-time. Faculty with modified titles are not eligible for tenure. Refer to the bylaws of the associated schools for a definition of the modifiers ''visiting'' and ''adjunct,'' refer below to a definition of ''research'' and ''emeritus''.

Research faculty members are expected to dedicate their full professional commitment to research and associated educational activities. Although research faculty members are not normally expected to teach courses, they may lecture in areas of their specialty, supervise students at various levels in related research projects, and participate in seminars, conferences, and similar activities.
A research faculty appointment requires external support. The faculty member is expected to obtain his or her full compensation and associated indirect costs through external grant or contract sources. The appointment terminates at any time the full external support terminates or is reduced to a level that is insufficient to provide full compensation and associated indirect costs.
An untenured faculty member appointed to a tenure-track position may not switch to a research position at any time. If a person is considered for tenure and tenure is not granted, he/she will not be eligible for subsequent employment at the University as a research professor.
Emeritus faculty: Upon retirement from the University, the department chair and the Dean of the School may recommend that faculty who have served Tufts University in a full-time capacity for at least ten years prior to retirement be appointed emeritus. This recommendation goes to the Provost and President for the approval of the Trustee Committee on Academic Affairs and the full Board. Emeriti faculty are encouraged to remain active in the University community.

Non-Professorial Ranks

A Faculty Lecturer is a full-time member of the faculty who is committed to engage in teaching, advising, and other departmental and University service. Faculty Lecturers are not eligible for tenure nor does any time spent as a faculty Lecturer contribute to any eventual probationary period for tenure. A Faculty Lecturer with a record of particular distinction may be promoted to the rank of Senior Faculty Lecturer. The department chair should contact his/her deans office for the procedure.

An Artist-in-Residence/Lecturer is a practicing artist in his/her field who is given a short-term, non-tenure track appointment as a faculty member, usually in the departments of Music, Drama/Dance, Art and Art History, or English.

A Coach/Lecturer: The policies described in this handbook are not applicable to Coach/Lecturers in the Department of Physical Education and Athletics. The terms of appointment for Coach/Lecturers are set forth in their contracts. Coach/Lecturers are not eligible for tenure and are not eligible for sabbatical leave.

FULL-TIME FACULTY STATUS

Full-time faculty status in the ranks of Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor is not distinguished from part-time status by the number of courses taught. Full-time status permits one to vote in deliberations of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences and Engineering and in the appropriate faculties of the associated schools. Full-time faculty status in the unmodified professorial ranks commits one to engage in teaching and advising, scholarship, and university service, although the proportion of time and effort devoted to each area may vary among individuals and through time even for the same individual.

Status as a full-time Faculty Lecturer or Senior Faculty Lecturer is also not distinguished from part-time solely on the basis of the number of courses taught. Full-time faculty Lecturers are eligible to vote at faculty meetings; however, scholarly work is not a condition for continued employment as a Faculty Lecturer.

Joint and Secondary Appointments

An individual may hold only one primary faculty appointment at Tufts, but may have more than one other faculty appointment (traditionally referred to as a secondary appointment).

In order to clarify the meaning of titles, a University-wide Joint Appointments Committee has recommended the following definitions to be used by all colleges, schools, departments, and centers of Tufts University.

Joint Appointment: A major fiscal and time commitment in more than one school, college, department, or center at Tufts University. If the faculty member is eligible for tenure, such tenure may be earned only where the faculty member holds the primary appointment.
Secondary Appointment: A meaningful research, teaching, or graduate student supervisory commitment in another school, college, department, or center at Tufts University which does not involve a major fiscal or time commitment; it may or may not involve a salary commitment.

RECRUITMENT AND APPOINTMENT PROCEDURES

Criteria for hiring full-time faculty at Tufts normally include: evidence of scholarly excellence, teaching and advising effectiveness, capacity for leadership and service within the University. Ordinarily, recruitment and hiring procedures for full-time faculty entail:

Authorization of the position by the Dean of the School.
Advertisement of the opening only after the approval by the Dean of the School and the Affirmative Action Officer.
Submission to and approval of the Affirmative Action Officer for the list of candidates to be interviewed.
Interviewing of qualified candidates by members of the department and the Dean of the School when the position is tenure track.
Approval of search procedures by Affirmative Action Officer, and acceptance of the final candidate by the Dean of the School before an offer is made.

An affirmative action manual, which includes details of the above procedures, may be obtained from the Office of Diversity, Education and Development, Ballou Hall - 3.

Approval of Appointments

Some faculty appointments require final approval by the Dean of the School, others by the Provost and/or President and still others by the Academic Affairs Committee of the Trustees and/or by the full Board of Trustees. The following procedures are in effect for approval of appointments.

Appointment to the untenured position of Instructor, Assistant Professor, or Associate Professor on the tenure track is recommended by the department, approved by the Dean of the School and reported to the Provost.

Appointment to the untenured position of Professor is recommended by the department, the Dean of the School, the Provost, and the President, and is subject to approval by the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Appointment to the tenured position of Associate Professor or Professor is recommended by the department, the faculty Committee on Tenure and Promotion, the Dean of the School, the Provost, the President, and the Trustee Academic Affairs Committee, and subject to approval by the Board of Trustees.

Appointment to the untenured position of Assistant Research Professors or Associate Research Professor is recommended by the department, approved by the Dean of the School and reported to the Provost.

Appointment to the untenured position of Research Professor is recommended by the department, the Dean of the School, the Provost, and the President, and is subject to approval by the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Appointments of full-time faculty with modified professorial ranks, appointments to the rank of Faculty Lecturer or Senior Faculty Lecturer, and appointments of part-time faculty at all ranks, are recommended by the department and subject to the approval of the Dean of the School.

FACULTY CONTRACTS

Contracts for tenure-track and non-tenure track appointments are issued to faculty members by the office of the appropriate dean at the time of:

Initial appointment
      Appointment renewal
      Award of tenure
      Change in rank
      Change in time status (i.e. from full to part-time or vice versa, but not from
      one fraction part-time to another). REVIEWS AND CONTRACT RENEWALS FOR TENURE-TRACK FACULTY

Ordinarily the initial appointment for tenure-track position is for a period of two years. In the second year of the appointment, the department reviews the faculty member (see below) and, if approved by the School Dean, the faculty member usually receives a three-year renewal. In the fourth year, counting from the date of hire, the department again reviews the faculty member, and if approved by the School Dean, a two-year renewal contract is usually issued.

Second-Year Review

During the second year of a faculty members appointment at Tufts, the tenured members of the department meet formally to review his/her activities, and the department chair sends a written report to the School Dean. The report contains an evaluation of the faculty members accomplishments in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service. The School Dean notifies the department chair of the administrations decision and the chair, after consultation with the School Dean, informs the candidate of that decision.

Fourth-Year Review

The fourth-year review provides a mid-point in the probationary period for a department and faculty member to assess thoroughly the faculty members accomplishments in the areas of scholarship, teaching, and service. The fourth-year review is conducted by the tenured members of the department and should reflect a thorough evaluation, based on an examination of published works, works in progress, grant proposal activities, teaching evaluations, and the candidates department and university service record. Departments may also solicit outside reviews. In addition, the tenured members of the department must formally vote to recommend whether the faculty member should or should not have his/her contract renewed through the year of mandatory tenure review. The department chair sends a written report, including the vote, to the Dean. The Dean notifies the department chair of the administrations decision, and the chair, after consultation with the dean, informs the candidate of the decision.

REVIEWS AND CONTRACT RENEWALS FOR TERM CONTRACT FACULTY

Faculty on term contracts are given either a non-renewable appointment, usually one year, or a renewable appointment. If the appointment is renewable, the department meets to review the faculty members teaching evaluations and activities and informs the appropriate dean in writing of the department recommendation regarding contract renewal.

POLICY ON APPOINTMENT OF FAMILY MEMBERS

It is University policy that spouses or other relatives of current family members may hold academic appointments at the same time as their relatives without regard to these family relationships and with the usual prerequisites of appointment. However, the hiring of one family member does not obligate the University to hire another.

SEPARATION FROM THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL

Notice of Non-Renewal of Contract

In accordance with the Trustee Policy on Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Retirement, Tufts University observes certain requirements for the advance notice of non-renewal to full-time faculty members. The length of advance notice is related to the length of time served at the University and the termination date of the current appointment.

The Board of Trustees has affirmed that in all cases not involving permanent or continuous tenure, if a full-time faculty member is not to be reappointed following one year or more of service, the University shall give written notice to the faculty member that he or she is not to be reappointed as follows:

Not later than March 1 of the first academic year of service in the University if the appointment terminates at the end of that year or, if an initial one-year appointment terminates during the academic year, not later than three months prior to the date of its termination.
Not later than December 15 of the second academic year of service in the University if the appointment terminates at the end of that year or, if an initial two-year appointment terminates during an academic year, not later than six months prior to the date of its termination.
Not later than twelve months prior to the date of termination of an appointment if the appointment terminates subsequent to the completion of more than two years of service in the University.

If an individual requests leave without pay during his/her terminal year at Tufts, the granting of leave will not extend the appointment beyond the year for which the appointment was originally made; that is, the year of the leave will constitute the individuals terminal year.

Termination

The policy with regard to termination for cause of an appointment prior to the expiration of a contract is contained in the Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Retirement Policy of the Trustees, which is included in the appendix. In part, that policy states:

In the case of a termination for cause of appointment with permanent or continuous tenure, or a dismissal for cause prior to expiration of a term appointment, the faculty member concerned will be entitled to a hearing upon request. In such event, the faculty member shall be informed in writing before the hearing of the charges against him/her, and shall have the opportunity to be heard in his/her own defense by all bodies that pass judgment upon the case. He/she will be permitted to have with him/her an advisor of his/her own choosing who may act as counsel. There shall be a full stenographic record of the hearing available to both the University and the faculty member unless both the University and the faculty member waive the requirement. In the hearing of charges of incompetence, the testimony should include that of teachers and other scholars, either from his/her own or from other institutions. A faculty member having an appointment with permanent or continuous tenure who is dismissed for reasons not involving moral turpitude shall receive his/her salary for one year from the date of notification of dismissal whether or not he/she is continued in his/her duties at the situation.

Under the Trustee policy mentioned above, the services of a faculty member may also be terminated because of extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigencies or program discontinuance.

Resignation

It is expected that a faculty member who intends either to resign at the end of an academic year or to decline an offer of renewal will notify the department chair, in writing, sufficiently in advance so that the department can provide for the hiring of a replacement without any break in the continuity of the departments activities. The effective date of the faculty members resignation should be the termination date of his or her current appointment. Except by express agreement with the Dean, a faculty member should not plan to vacate a position during the academic year.

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