Faculty Ranks and Tracks

Summary of Ranks and Tracks

Faculty members have titles that indicate academic rank and track.

Faculty Ranks are instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. The title of teaching associate is given to faculty members who do not hold terminal degrees and who participate in teaching under supervision (see Handbook for full definitions).

Academic Tracks. Faculty members are appointed to a specific academic track. Each of the academic tracks- Tenure, Regents’ Contract, and the two Specialty Tracks - have criteria for advancement that reflect the professional and academic achievements expected of faculty in various roles (see Handbook for official guidelines on promotion and tenure) (view the SOM Virtual Mentor for additional links to information on Understanding Ranks & Tracks, matrices regarding working towards promotion with recommendations for accomplishments by the end of Year 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and the Abridged Promotion Guidelines by academic track).

The Tenure Track is available for full-time appointments and has a probationary period that requires application for tenure during the sixth year of appointment. The award of tenure is usually linked to the promotion to associate professor. Titles of tenured and tenure-track faculty members are unmodified.

The Clinical Scholar track is designed as a career pathway for clinical faculty who serve the School of Medicine through their commitment to clinical service, education and scholarship. "Scholarship" is understood to have a broad definition including both basic and applied research (discovery), but also incorporating other domains of intellectual and academic activity (integration and application) as described by Boyer (1990) and others.

Clinical Scholars are characterized by excellence in clinical practice and dedication to the development of learners in their area of clinical expertise. They play significant roles in the design, implementation, evaluation, and on-going development of the educational programs of the School of Medicine. This requires that they seek and maintain high levels of competence in both clinical and educational domains. Clinical Scholars are committed to understanding health issues and raising the standards of clinical practice in order to be effective teachers. They disseminate professional knowledge and skills through teaching, presentations, publications, and service to professional organizations and strive to enhance the reputation of their School for clinical education.

Most faculty members on this track will be physicians or other health professionals, but the track may be appropriate for other professionals with significant educational and clinical responsibilities. Those individuals may be appointed to the Clinical Scholar Track with the permission of the Executive Dean of SOM (and if appropriate, the Dean of the Wichita campus).

More details about the Clinical Scholar track are available on the KUMC Academic Affairs web site..

Two specialty tracks, clinical and research, have titles and expectations for academic promotion reflecting the roles and responsibilities of these faculty members (see guidelines). The Clinical Track emphasizes professional service and education in clinical settings. These full or part-time appointments are renewable annually and have titles modified by the prefix "clinical". The Research Track emphasizes research (not limited to basic sciences but including clinical, policy, history or philosophy of medicine or other areas). These full or part-time appointments are renewable annually and have titles modified by the prefix "research".

Volunteer faculty members have titles with a prefix indicating their area of expertise and suffix indicating volunteer status. Most clinical preceptors have the title "clinical assistant professor (volunteer)".

Visiting modifiers are prefixed to the titles of faculty members appointed for up to one year and usually intending to return to another institution.

Courtesy modifiers are prefixed to the titles of faculty members who are employed by the University in some capacity and are not paid for the service provided to the School of Medicine department in which the courtesy title is held.

Adjunct modifiers are prefixed to certain groups of volunteer and part-time faculty members.

For summary of all academic titles see the Handbook.

Emeritus, Named and University Distinguished Professorships

Emeritus Professorship
The title and privileges of professor emeritus may be granted to faculty members who have held full professorial rank for at least ten years and have demonstrated distinguished service. Nominations are initiated by the appropriate department chair and require approval of the Executive Dean and Executive Vice-Chancellor (see Handbook for Emeritus Designation information).

Named and University Distinguished Professors
Faculty members who are truly distinguished as scholars may be nominated for a distinguished professorship. In addition to an international reputation for scholarship, individuals should be noted for -commitment to the development of colleagues, students, and the institution - interest in activities outside their major field of scholarship - involvement with the community and State Nominations are usually prepared by colleagues and must be supported by the Executive Dean and Executive Vice Chancellor (see Handbook for Named and University Distinguished Professor information).

 

Last Updated 10/26/05