Special Types of Faculty Appointments

University of Louisville 

Special Types of Faculty Appointments 

I. Adjunct Appointments and Clinical Faculty 

Adjunct appointments are appointments for persons who principal employment is outside the University of Louisville and who are part-time persons at the University having the same qualifications as full-time persons of the same rank. Persons holding these appointments may be chiefly employed by a school or university other than the University of Louisville or they may be employed in the community in other than an educational institution. They hold academic rank from adjunct instructor to adjunct professor and may receive promotions on the same basis as regular faculty; but they do not acquire tenure or receive fringe benefits reserved for full-time faculty. They may or may not be compensated for their services. Clinical faculty as in the Health Sciences Center (gratis) also hold rank in the same manner as the adjunct faculty and they do not receive compensation for their services. Other part-time persons ordinarily hold the rank of lecturer. 

II. Dual Appointments 

Dual appointments are simultaneous academic and administrative or special service appointments. Persons already having academic appointments who are appointed to administrative or special service posts, unless there is an agreement to the contrary, continue to hold their academic rank and to acquire tenure as do all full-time faculty members. Persons who are brought in to the University for the purpose of filling an administrative or special service post may receive a simultaneous academic appointment on the initiative and recommendation of the department involved. 

Administrators of academic units such as deans, assistant deans or department chairmen, who are expected either to do some teaching or research or to keep closely in touch with developments in teaching and research in their units will be given the same consideration as other faculty members in terms of promotion in academic rank and the granting of tenure. 

Other administrators and persons occupying special service posts such as the personnel in the Dean of Students Office, the Academic Services Office, and Ombudsman are given academic rank by appropriate departments only if they qualify for such rank and are acceptable to the department involved. In these cases, the department specifies requirements for continuation and promotion in academic rank. When these requirements are met, the faculty member acquires tenure in the same manner as all other faculty members. 

III. Joint Appointments 

Joint appointments are defined at the University of Louisville as appointments of fulltime faculty members in more than one academic department or unit. Such appointments involve a division of assignments and responsibilities requiring formal designation. These appointments are to be distinguished both from adjunct appointments and from dual appointments which are defined above. 

Joint appointments are of two kinds: 

A. A faculty member may have a primary appointment in one department and a secondary appointment in another. The term department here also refers to undepartmentalized academic units and to institutes and divisions which function as academic departments. Departments involved may or may not be in the same major academic unit. Where this kind of appointment is made the following rules apply: 

1. The appointee holds rank in both departments though not always the same rank.
2. He has full voting rights in the department which has his primary appointment and he is counted as a member of that department in calculating Senate representation and in providing statistical data where faculty appointments cannot be duplicated.
3. He appears in the budget of both departments according to agreement, and the head of the academic department having the secondary appointment may assign the work load of the appointee according to the part-time arrangement specified in the budget breakdown. The department holding the secondary appointment determines the degree of the participation in faculty decisions in that department.
4. Recommendations for appointment, salary, promotion, and raises should normally originate in the Department having the primary appointment, but either department may make such recommendations on its own initiative provided that the other department has been consulted and its views are forwarded with the recommendation. Differences in rank are possible, but the salary rate must be the same in both units and where there is a difference in the recommendations, the matter must be adjudicated by the academic administrator having responsibility for both units.
5. Either department sharing a joint appointment may give notice of the termination of such appointment for a non-tenured faculty member in the same manner as for any full-time faculty member, i.e., before the stipulated date for notice of termination prior to the expiration of a contract period. At such time the other department involved has the option either of providing in another manner for the services of the faculty member or of concurring in the notice of termination.
6. Both departments must make a decision on the granting of tenure more than one year before tenure would be acquired. Should either department be unwilling to grant tenure, it must follow the provisions indicated above for the termination of services. If neither department involved in a joint appointment has exercised its option to terminate the appointment prior to the acquisition of tenure, both departments must assume responsibility for tenure and the joint appointment can be terminated only with the approval of both departments. 

B. A second type of joint appointment is the appointment of a full-time faculty member from one department as an “Associate” in another. When this appointment is made, the following rules apply in the department where the “Associate” rank is held: 

1. The “Associate” is not in the budget of the department as an individual and can be assigned work only with his consent and that of the chairman of the department where he has his full-time appointment. It is presumed, however, that when the appointment as “Associate” is made certain arrangements have been mutually agreed upon concerning services as consultant, thesis or project director, research associate, or guest lecturer and that the limits of these services have been generally defined. Where the arrangement involves regular teaching assignments over a long period of time the “Associate” rank is not appropriate.
2. The “Associate” may be listed in the department under that title in the catalogue, but the “Associate” has only those faculty privileges which are extended to him by courtesy (e.g., attending and voting in faculty meetings, right to office space, access to equipment and supplies).
3. Since changes in rank and salary are not involved, no recommendations will be made other than for the appointment and the termination of the appointment as “Associate.” Each school will specify the term of the appointment in its unit.
4. There is no implication of tenure in the appointment of an “Associate” and the department having his full-time appointment need not consult the department where he is an “Associate” in making personnel recommendations, except as a matter of courtesy. 

It is understood that informal arrangements sometimes exist in closely related departments or between any two departments on a very temporary basis whereby the services of faculty members are shared. The formal arrangement of a joint appointment is desirable when the relationship is long range or complex, but where it is temporary or has worked well on an informal basis, there is no absolute requirement for a joint appointment. Under the Organization of the University of Louisville, service in the Graduate School or University College never calls for joint appointments as long as the assignment in these units is in the same department as that of the undergraduate or professional school involved. Where a department serves more than one major academic unit (other than the Graduate School or University College), all faculty members of that department should have their primary and secondary appointments clearly designated as existing in one school or the other so that the rules outlined above clearly apply to each individual. It is not possible to have a joint appointment without a primary designation in a department, or in the case of a department serving two units, in a school or college of the university. 

February 15, 1972 

William F. Ekstrom 

Vice President for Academic Affairs