7.1. Initial Appointments, Job Descriptions, Contract Length

We found that, in general, the basic duties of the initial appointment, such as teaching load and advising for teaching faculty or research responsibilities for research faculty, are clearly understood. However, detailed job descriptions and criteria for performance evaluations and promotion are rarely discussed at initial appointment. The criteria and the process for selecting NTT faculty are also not well documented. Appointments are made sometimes through a formal search and sometimes opportunistically in an ad hoc process. As a rule, professorial appointments require national/international searches, and we believe that this practice should continue and include standard, Clinical and “of the Practice” professorial ranks.

Recommendations:

• Searches: Open national searches should be held for all positions of professorial ranks. Research professorial appointments present a special case in that they are further constrained by the terms and duration of grant funding. Appointments at a lecturer rank should generally be conducted through local searches; if schools and colleges occasionally opt to search for Senior or Master Lecturers (as well as promoting faculty internally to these positions, which should be their primary use), a national search may be appropriate.
• Schools and colleges should clarify the criteria and process for selecting and appointing NTT faculty and prepare written guidelines specific to standard, research, and clinical professorial ranks as well as to lecturer ranks.
• Along with the appointment letter, new faculty should receive a job description that clearly outlines their responsibilities and rights, performance expectations, and renewal process.
• Contract lengths for initial appointments of NTT faculty should fall into the ranges shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Contract Length—Initial Appointment and Reappointment at Same Rank of NTT Faculty

	Initial	Reappointment	Initial	Reappointment	Initial	Reappointment
Lecturer	Lecturer		Senior Lecturer		Master Lecturer
	1 year	1–3 years	2–3 years	2–5 years	2–5 years	3–7 years
Unmodified	Asst. Professor		Assoc. Professor		Professor
	1 year	1–3 years	2–3 years	2–5 years	2–5 years	3–7 years
Clinical	Clinical Asst. Professor		Clinical Assoc. Professor		Clinical Professor
	1 year	1–3 years	2–3 years	2–5 years	2–5 years	3–7 years
Of the Practice	NA		Assoc. Prof. of the Practice		Prof. of the Practice
			2–3 years	2–5 years	2–5 years	3–7 years