Tenure Track Faculty

Tenure Track 

There are three ranks in tenure track appointments: Assistant, Associate, and Full Professors.

New Faculty Hiring (tenure-track) 

The Associate Dean for Faculty (ADF) appoints the faculty search committee chair(s) and members. Positions are published through various public outlets, and searches are national or international in scope. UMSI complies with all University hiring policies and requires all search committee members to participate in STRIDE training every three years.

After a search candidate has made an on-campus visit for an interview, the Fac­ulty Search Committee collects feedback using a survey. Then, in timely manner, the committee meets and prepares a detailed assessment of the candidate, which is then shared with the rest of the vote-eligible faculty. The vote-eligible faculty then meet to discuss the candidate, and vote. This vote focuses on whether each voting faculty member judges that the candidate's work meets UMSI standards for quality. The Dean’s Advisory Committee (DAC) then discusses the candidate. In addition to the faculty vote on the quality of the candidate's work, the DAC considers strategic issues such as the school’s needs, the timing of hires, and interactions or synergies among candidates and existing faculty. The DAC then makes its own hiring recommendation to the Dean; this recommendation concerns whether or not to extend an offer to the candidate.

In rare cases, a candidate will be considered without the standard search; these cases arise due to dual career considerations as well as from idiosyncratic opportunities to recruit exceptional quality candidates at all ranks. Both the candidate and the school will benefit from carefully considered procedures for target of opportunity (TOp) hires as these safeguard against numerous concerns. Additional information about TOp hires can be found here.

Assistant, Associate and Full Professor Appointments

Assistant Professors are typically hired for three years, with a renewable term appointment for another three years. Associate Professors are hired either with tenure and an open-ended appointment or without tenure for a (usually three-year) renewable appointment.  For information about promotion and tenure see below. 

Appointment Information

Those in tenured or tenure-track professorial ranks are hired as university year employees, and their appointments typically begin either August 31 or January 1. In university year appointments, professorial faculty are paid for the academic year i.e., September through May and they are paid for these 9 months over a 12-month period (July through June). 

Summer Salary

Tenured and tenure-track faculty are also eligible to receive additional summer salary during June, July, and/or August. Summer salary is not the default, but can come from various sources depending on the work commitment of the faculty member. Some obtain sponsored grants to conduct research, and often those grants will pay salary for one or more summer months. Sometimes faculty will receive salary from UMSI general funds for extra service that they perform for the school, or as compensation for teaching an overload in another semester. 

Recently, the university's standard practice guide explains the limit on the amount of summer salary faculty can receive from various sources. Any exceptions require the approval of the dean. Please read this policy carefully: http://spg.umich.edu/policy/201.04

Promotions and Reviews

For information on Third Year Reviews, click here.

For information on Promotion and Tenure Reviews, click here.

Faculty Annual Review , click here .