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ACTING APPOINTMENTS

Reference: Handbook, Vol. II, Chapter 24

Dean's Office contact: Sue Barnhart

Qualifications for appointment

Length of term and limits on reappointment

Conversion to a permanent position

New appointment procedures and documentation

Reappointment procedures and documentation

Qualifications for appointment. The acting title denotes a temporary appointment for properly qualified persons at the Instructor or professorial ranks. It is commonly used for persons who are on the faculty for a year or less or for persons who have not yet completed the requirements for a regular appointment. In the latter case, the acting title is dropped when the requirements are completed. A faculty member whose appointment as Instructor or Assistant Professor has not been renewed may not be given an acting title.

Length of term and limits on reappointment. Acting appointments are for one year or less and are limited to four years in any one rank or six years in any combination of ranks.

Appointment to a regular faculty rank from an acting appointment is not permitted if no prior national search was made. In such cases a new position will be considered open, and a national search must be conducted. The acting appointment holder may be a candidate for the position.

If the acting appointment is a temporary one, see Temporary appointments.

Conversion to a permanent position. Note the following points when an acting appointment is intended to be converted to a permanent position--usually an Acting Assistant Professor who has not yet completed degree requirements.

When considering the renewal of an Acting Assistant Professor appointment, the departmental faculty and chair should assess the individual's progress toward completion of a professional degree. Continued appointment for a third or fourth year requires increasingly careful justification. Failure to complete a doctorate within three years usually means that the individual's qualifications were misjudged originally, and the appointment should be terminated at the end of the fourth year. Beyond the fourth year, special justification is required for reappointment (which must be at a different rank).

When the degree is awarded, an Acting Assistant Professor may be recommended for appointment to an initial three-year term as Assistant Professor. This term will begin on the date of the conferral of the degree (or on the first day of the following quarter, if the department wishes). The degree award date must be certified by the graduate dean or registrar of the university awarding the degree. A letter from a supervisory committee chair or department chair is not acceptable evidence of degree completion.

The chair should send a memo recommending the change of title and the effective date, together with a copy of the degree award, to Sue Barnhart in the Dean's Office. The first appointment year will count toward the mandatory tenure review only if the Assistant Professor title is held for six months or more during the academic year.

New appointment procedures and documentation. For an acting appointment that is intended to be a permanent one, see “New permanent appointment” in the New appointments section. For the required documentation, see New appointment documentation.

Reappointment procedures and documentation. The reappointment decision must be made six months (or for an initial annual appointment, three months) before the appointment expiration date. Reappointment recommendations are due in the Dean's Office in mid-November and mid-February. See the Reappointments section for departmental procedures and required documentation.