Faculty Appointment Guidelines

GUIDELINES FOR OBTAINING AUTHORIZATIONS TO EXTEND AN OFFER FOR PROFESSORS AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS, RESEARCH PROFESSORS AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS, AND CLINICAL PROFESSORS AND CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS, PRIOR TO EXTENDING AN OFFER

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The University recognizes the guidelines set forth by the AAU, the CIC, and the AAUP concerning recruitment of instructional faculty (SPG 201.47-1):

• Firm offers of appointments for the Fall Term should not be made after April 30, or the fourth month preceding the beginning of any other academic term. The offer should be a "firm" offer and not subject to contingencies.
  
  
• An exception may be considered provided the administrative head (usually the dean or designated representative) or the offering unit (school/college/institute) has determined that the date in which the appointment is to take effect is agreeable to the administrative head of the school/college/unit which the individual will be leaving. Note : It is expected that the administrative head of the offering unit will request the AAU waiver from the home institution and include a copy in the offer package when it is forwarded to the Provost’s Office.

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GUIDELINES:

1. The school/college/research unit/academic unit approves the appointment, and

2. Submits the following information (one copy only, do not staple) to the Provost’s Office. (Note: Please provide an original plus one copy if the appointment is with tenure and the candidate does not have tenure at his/her current institution.)

• Prior to forwarding to the Provost's Office, Medical School appointments should be sent to the Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs for approval.
  
  
• For Research Professors and Research Associate Professors only, the appointment requires a review by the Vice President for Research. The appointment package will be forwarded to the Vice President for Research by the Provost's Office.

a. Endorsement letter from Dean/Director.

• The endorsement letter should be written from an evaluative, not an advocacy, perspective and should present a balanced summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the case.
  
  
• Please include the effective date of the appointment.
  
  
• If the regular (not adjunct) Instructional, Research Professor, or Clinical appointment is offered in more than one unit, it should be handled simultaneously by all units. The endorsement letter requires the signatures of the Deans/Directors from all schools/colleges/research units/academic units where the individual will hold Instructional, Research Professor, or Clinical appointments, even if those are “dry” (0% fraction) appointments. Please indicate the fraction of effort for each title -- e.g., Associate Professor, without tenure (100%), and Research Associate Professor (0%).
  
  
• Effective July 2008, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is to be created for all new inter-school and intra-school joint appointments at the assistant, associate, and full professor level for tenure-track/tenured instructional faculty, excluding 0% (“dry”) appointments.  The draft MOU should be submitted to the Faculty Affairs Office for review – ideally at the time of hire but no later than 6 months from the start of the joint appointment.  Please refer to the Faculty Appointment Guidelines on the Provost’s Office website <http://www.provost.umich.edu/faculty/appointment_guidelines/index.html>.  Note:  MOUs are not required for Research Professor or Clinical track hires.
  

b. Candidate’s curriculum vitae.

c. At least five letters of recommendation from “arm’s-length” external reviewers, and more than five are highly desirable.

• All of the external review letters that were received by the appointing unit(s) must be included. These letters should be from reviewers at or above the rank of the appointment being considered. If the circumstances necessitate letters from out-of-rank reviewers, those should be explained.
  
  
• The letters should be truly evaluative and at "arm's length." They should be from persons who are outside the present institution of the candidate and who did not work or train with the candidate at other institutions. While letters from persons who have served as a candidate’s thesis adviser, mentor, co-author, major collaborator, or who are in the same department as the candidate or co-taught a course, can be especially helpful (because they can be presumed to have a good sense of both the person and the work), it is also true that their own reputations are involved in the work being evaluated. If such letters are included, they must be in addition to the minimum requirement of five "arm's length" letters. Letters from persons who may be unknown to the candidate, but who may have a clear sense of the significance of the candidate’s qualifications, are of greater value. Note:  as of August 2008, we will allow letters from persons who have been a co-author or a major research collaborator with the candidate in excess of 10 years prior to the candidate’s expected start date.
  
  
• It is important that the Clinical track parallel the Instructional and Research tracks in that it is the regional/national impact on one's field that should justify a senior academic rank. However, “arm's length” letters from persons who may not be known to the candidate, but who have a clear sense of the significance of the candidate's qualifications, are unlikely to tell the story insofar as teaching and clinical work are concerned. Therefore, it would be reasonable, for Clinical track faculty only, to have up to two of the five “arm's length” evaluative letters from local sources (as long as the local sources are outside of the candidate’s department and have seen the clinical work and actual teaching but are not mentors or scholarly collaborators, the two letters from local sources can be from the candidate’s current institution). At least three of the remaining letters would need to be “arm's length” as typically defined.
  
  
• Non-academic reviewers (e.g., employed at the NIH or a major research institute) may be included in the required five "arm's length" letters but only if it is stated that, for those individuals who do not typically hold an academic title, their rank is equivalent or higher to the academic rank for which the faculty member is being considered.
  
  
• Letters from reviewers at the University of Michigan may be included in the offer package but they will not be considered "arm's length."

d. Brief description of the credentials of each external reviewer and relationship to the candidate. Please list external reviewers alphabetically by last name.

• A short paragraph on each reviewer should indicate the reviewer’s position, fields of expertise, important contributions and standing in the discipline, appropriateness of the reviewer to provide input, as well as any close professional associations with the candidate – dissertation committee, post-doc supervisor, co-author, etc.
  
  
• Designate each external reviewer as either "arm's length" or "not arm's length."
  
  
• Please also provide a copy of the letter template (solicitation letter) to the external reviewers asking for their recommendations.

e. Substantive description of candidate’s work and significant contributions to the field – more than a listing of titles.

f. Description of the appointment in the context of the field and the specific needs of the school, college, or department.

g. Evidence of teaching experience and performance

• Please provide an explanation of the teaching evaluation system and where the candidate ranks in the system (quantitative evaluations on teaching).
  
  
• Please include a teaching statement from the candidate.
  

(For Research Professor and Research Associate Professors, the criteria for these ranks is a record of substantial teaching and mentoring within the context of one or more research programs (e.g., laboratory bench science, social science, or other non-classroom setting) with postdoctoral fellows, junior research colleagues, or students at any level, http://www.research.umich.edu/policies/UM/PRS/RPGuidance.html).

h. If the new appointment is to be at the rank of Associate Professor, without tenure, or Professor, without tenure, please include a copy of the draft offer letter to the candidate.

i. Statement of Understanding Regarding Responsibility for Bridging Support. (Only required for Research Professors and Research Associate Professors -- available at http://www.provost.umich.edu/faculty/appointment_guidelines/Bridging_Support_Form.pdf.)

j. A copy of the Appointment Activity Record (AAR) or a waiver from Human Resource Records and Information Services (HRRIS).

3. Once approved by the Provost, the Provost’s Office submits the entire offer package to the President for approval. (For Research Professors and Research Associate Professors only, the Provost's Office also obtains a review by the Vice President for Research.)

4. The appropriate school/college/research unit/academic unit is notified when all evaluations are completed.

5. A copy of the approval (cover sheet with Provost and President approvals noted) is faxed to the school/college/research unit/academic unit.

6. For Professors and Associate Professors Only (both with and without tenure): The school/college then notifies the candidate and makes the offer. Once the offer has been accepted, the school/college prepares a Regents Communication and forwards the following to Academic Human Resources, 2072N Administrative Services Building /1432:

a. Regents Communication (original plus one copy, double-sided with no staples)
b. Original Appointment Activity Record ( AAR)
c. One copy of the curriculum vitae is required (double-sided with no staples)

For Research Professors, Research Associate Professors, Clinical Professors, and Clinical Associate Professors Only: The school/college/research unit/academic unit prepares appointment materials and forwards the following to Human Resource Records and Information Services (HRRIS), 4073 Wolverine /1281:

a. Appointment Request Form
b. Original Appointment Activity Record ( AAR)
c. Copy of curriculum vitae

7. When there is a completed and accepted appointment offer for a new tenure-track faculty member at the assistant, associate, or professor rank, please forward a copy of the accepted letter of offer to Lori Pierce, Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs.

Updated
8/2008

FACULTY APPOINTMENT GUIDELINES