I. System of Titles and Appointments in the Faculty of Medicine as Approved by the President and Fellows, November 16, 1981, and the Board of Overseers, January 31, 1982, and as Modified in 1989, 1991, 1997, and 1998

A. Status, Ranks, Titles, and Terms of Appointments

1. Status

a. Full time
Individuals in this status have teaching and/or research and/or clinical scholarship as their primary commitment. Each appointee will be recommended for evaluation by either Investigator or Clinician Teacher Criteria by the head of the appointing department at the time of the first voting and each subsequent appointment. The designated criteria will be used in making the appointment (see section IV) but may be changed at the time of subsequent appointments in keeping with the individual's activities.

b. Academic part time
Individuals in this status contribute to the academic programs of the Faculty of Medicine but have a major commitment to professional activity apart from the academic programs of Harvard Medical School (HMS), Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM), and their affiliated institutions.

c. Visiting
Individuals in this status are scholars visiting the university for teaching, learning, and/or research for variable periods. Appointments of up to one year are made at the rank equivalent to that at their home institution. Ordinarily, appointments are renewed only once. Appointments to a term or permanent HMS or HSDM faculty position following a visiting appointment must be in compliance with the usual procedures for a first appointment in the school, including a full and documented search process.

2. Ranks

Professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, lecturer, clinical assistant.

a. Full time

1. Assistant/associate/full professor of department, e.g., assistant professor of medicine.
2. Assistant/associate/full professor of clinical department (basic science discipline, not necessarily the name of an appointing department), for scientists in clinical departments, e.g., assistant professor of surgery (immunology). This title will be used when a preclinical department or program has not participated in the recruitment but has given its academic approval to the appointment.
3. Assistant/associate/full professor of preclinical discipline in the clinical department, e.g., assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics in the Department of Medicine. This title will be used when there has been active participation by a preclinical department in the recruitment of the candidate. The basic science department may invite the person to participate actively in its academic and teaching programs.
4. Professor of preclinical discipline. This title will be used only when there is a commitment for support of the academic salary and its associated fringe benefits and the consent of the preclinical department; this will be required at a hospital or other institution as well as on the quadrangle. The appointment will ordinarily be made without limit of time (tenured).

b. Academic part time

Assistant clinical/associate clinical/clinical professor of department

c. Other appointments

1. Instructor (full time), usually a first appointment after clinical or research training. It may also be used as a teaching appointment in a clinical setting. This appointment involves responsibility for service, teaching, or research of an independent nature. It does not necessitate the candidate being identified with either of the full time sets of criteria.
2. Clinical instructor (academic part time) for physicians who participate in clinical teaching, but whose primary commitment is to professional activity outside HMS and HSDM and their affiliated institutions. Reappointment at this rank is dependent on contribution to and successful performance in educational and/or research programs.
3. Lecturer (full time) for individuals who make a significant contribution to the academic programs of HMS and HSDM (teaching, research, or administration), but whose activities cannot adequately be described by other titles.
4. Lecturer (academic part time) for recognition of academic contributions to HMS and HSDM by persons whose primary academic appointment is in another faculty or institution.
5. Senior lecturer (full time or academic part time), for individuals who make long term commitments to the academic programs of HMS and HSDM, who have previously held senior appointments in other institutions.
6. Clinical assistant (academic part time) for physicians or dentists who teach a limited amount of time, usually at sites other than the major HMS and HSDM affiliates.

d. Visiting

1. Visiting assistant/associate/full professor of department or
   Visiting assistant/associate/full professor of discipline in the department.
2. Visiting research fellow for graduate students from other universities who do some of their thesis research with faculty at HMS.
3. Visiting lecturer for scholars from other universities or medical schools who do not have a title similar to those at HMS.
4. Visiting scientist for persons coming from non-university scientific institutions who do not hold an academic title.

4. Terms of Appointments

a. Professor
1. Full time: without limit of time (tenure) (WLT), or of indefinite duration (nontenure) (OID), or under special circumstances, five (5)-year term renewable
2. Academic part time: appointments of unspecified duration (OUD) with reviews of continuing contributions every five (5) years

b. Associate Professor
1. Full time: five (5) years, or, rarely, without limit of time
2. Academic part time: five (5) years

c. Assistant Professor
1. Full time: three (3) years
2. Academic part time: three (3) years

d. Instructor
1. Full time: one (1) year
2. Academic part time: one (1) year

e. Lecturer and Senior Lecturer
1. Full time: one (1) year or three (3) years
2. Academic part time: one (1) year or three (3) years

f. Clinical assistant
Academic part time: one (1) year

g. Visiting appointments
Up to one (1) year

Note: Under special circumstances an appointment may be for a period of time shorter than that listed above.

B. Upper Limits of Reappointments and Financial Underwriting

1. Full time

a. For individuals in preclinical departments there shall be a limit of eleven years at voting faculty rank prior to appointment as professor (or associate professor) without limit of time.

b. Individuals whose stability of support is to be assured by a hospital or other institution, who have no clinical duties and who are evaluated by Investigator criteria must achieve the rank of associate professor within eleven years of their first voting faculty appointment. Individuals whose stability of support is maintained by a hospital or other institution, who have clinical duties, and who are evaluated by Investigator, or Clinician Teacher criteria may be reappointed in any rank without limit to the number of reappointments.

Note: Extension of the eleven-year rule has been promulgated in recognition of the present under-representation of women in the faculty and the conflicting obligations of parental and career responsibilities. It is the policy of the Faculty of Medicine on the occasion of the birth or adoption of a child to grant an automatic one-year extension of time to the current appointment and also to the eleven-year rule for tenure consideration to a faculty member who takes the major responsibility for parenting in a family. Since tenure committees often have no way of knowing that a break in productivity might be due to parental responsibilities, such an extension should be noted on the curriculum vitae.

2. Academic part time
No limit to number of reappointments in any rank for academic part-time status.

3. Annual appointments
No limit to number of reappointments, subject to contribution to and successful performance in academic programs, except for visiting appointments. (See XI. Policies Regarding Visiting Appointments in the Faculty of Medicine.)

C. Overview of Appointments Process

1. Appointments by search or evaluation to the position of professor, or, rarely, associate professor, without limit of time, will be initiated by an appointing department with the approval of its executive committee(s), and the institution's Board of Trustees, then forwarded to the dean. Proposals for permanent professors are considered by the Preclinical Council (for appointments in preclinical departments), the Council of Social Science Departments (for appointments in social science departments), or the Council of Academic Deans (for appointments in clinical departments). Subsequently all proposals are considered ad seriatim by an ad hoc search or evaluation committee, an ad hoc review committee (for searches only), the Subcommittee of Professors, and the dean. Recommendations of the dean are forwarded to the Joint Committee on Appointments of the Governing Boards of Harvard University for final approval.

If funds become available for the purpose, appointment to the position of professor or associate professor without limit of time can be made from the position of professor or associate professor of indefinite duration upon petition to the dean by the appointing department and upon guarantee of the academic salary and fringe benefits by the hospital or other institution. No further academic review is required. The dean's subsequent recommendation is forwarded to the Joint Committee on Appointments of the Governing Boards of Harvard University for final approval.

2. Appointments to the position of clinical professor, academic part time, will be initiated by an appointing department/affiliated institution, reviewed by the executive committee(s) of the department, by the Council of Academic Deans, by an ad hoc committee, by the Subcommittee of Professors, and by the dean. The Council of Academic Deans may choose at their first consideration to recommend the appointment of an ad hoc committee, or to recommend that the Subcommittee of Professors choose either to act as a committee of the whole, or to recommend the appointment of an ad hoc committee. Recommendations of the dean are forwarded to the Joint Committee on Appointments of the Governing Boards of Harvard University for final approval.

3. Appointments to the position of assistant professor, associate professor, lecturer and senior lecturer (three-years) are initiated by an appointing department, considered by an executive committee(s), and reviewed for the dean by the Committee on Promotions, Reappointments, and Appointments (a standing committee of the Faculty of Medicine). Recommendations of the dean are forwarded to the Joint Committee on Appointments of the Governing Boards of Harvard University for final approval.

4. Annual academic appointments including instructor, clinical instructor, lecturer (one year), senior lecturer (one year), clinical assistant, visiting positions, clinical or research fellow are initiated and reviewed by the department, then transmitted directly to the dean.

D. Voting Membership in the Faculty

Professors, associate professors, assistant professors, senior lecturers, and three-year lecturers are voting members of the faculty. Other institutional or administrative personnel and principal associates may be appointed to voting faculty status on an individual basis.