The standing faculty ranks in SEAS are Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor. Assistant Professors are initially appointed without tenure, for a term of three years. (For tenure-probationary appointments beginning on or after 1 July but before 1 January the probationary period shall begin retroactively on 1 July; for tenure-probationary appointments beginning on or after 1 January but before 30 June, the probationary period shall begin the following 1 July.) The term may be extended for another three years. Service for seven years confers tenure unless the faculty member is notified in writing no later than the end of his or her sixth year that the appointment will end at seven years. Promotion from Assistant to Associate Professor may be made at any time and confers tenure. New appointments at the rank of Associate Professor may be made with tenure, or without tenure for a term of five years. Service beyond this term confers tenure, unless the faculty member is notified at least one year before the end of his or her term that the appointment will not be continued. Appointments or promotions to the rank of Professor (without qualifying title such as “Visiting” or “Adjunct”) are always with tenure.

The associated faculty ranks include Research Professor or Research Associate Professor or Research Assistant Professor, Practice Professor, Visiting Professor or Visiting Associate Professor or Visiting Assistant Professor, and Adjunct Professor or Adjunct Associate Professor or Adjunct Assistant Professor. These positions are not tenure accruing and are temporary appointments. Research faculty and Practice Professor appointments require approval of the SEAS Faculty Personnel Committee and Administrative Committee and of the Provost’s Staff Conference; Adjunct and Visiting faculty appointments require approval of the SEAS Administrative Committee and Provost’s Staff Conference.

The academic support staff consists of persons who contribute to teaching and research programs but who are not eligible to be appointed to the standing or associated faculty. Positions within SEAS defined in the University’s Handbook for Faculty and Academic Administrators: A Selection of Policies and Procedures include Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Associate, Lecturer (an eminent scholar whose appointment is temporary or part-time, scholars still in professional training, or persons who do not possess the normally expected scholarly credentials but nevertheless provide valuable instructional services), Senior Lecturer (this track is positioned to allow for greater continuity of full-time teaching service for the School’s special programs’ needs), and Senior Fellow (individuals who have served with distinction in the industrial world and now can add, either in a full-time or part-time way, some luster to a program by offering specific expertise and great experience). These positions are not tenure accruing and have no tenure significance. Conditions/limitation on such appointments are contained in the Handbook and Provost’s Staff Conference Documentation Supporting Proposals for Faculty Appointment, Reappointment and Promotion.

Visiting Scholar (distinguished visitor of professorial rank here for mutual scholarly interaction with faculty and students)/Visiting Associate (visitor of less than professorial rank but of solid educational background (terminal professional degree in discipline preferred) and for whom a well-planned enterprise of benefit to the School is the objective of the visit) appointments are temporary appointments, normally made for a period of one year. Other full-time employment is not a requirement. Visiting Scholar and Visiting Associate appointments are forwarded to the Deputy Dean for decision.

Personnel actions are normally initiated by the Department Chair, in consultation with appropriate faculty members. The candidate’s academic qualifications are reviewed by the SEAS Personnel Committee, whose recommendations are then presented to the Administrative Committee along with all other pertinent considerations. Proposed actions passing these steps are taken by the Dean to the Provost’s Staff Conference and then presented by the Provost to the President and to the Trustees. The following sections explain the procedure in more detail and provide for certain exceptions and appeals.

Personnel actions are normally initiated by the Chair of the Department in which the primary appointment exists or is proposed. Any action should be based on a careful consideration of the present status of the Department and its plans for the future. The Chair must consult on proposed actions with all faculty members of the Department with voting rights at or above the rank (Assistant Professors who have been reappointed do not constitute a separate rank and are, thus, not consulted on a reappointment case) at which the appointment or promotion is to be made, including any faculty on leave, and record in the dossier the number of votes for and against the proposed action. The Department Chair shall retain in the Department files all documentation of the votes of the individual faculty members. Consultation with students and with persons outside the Department is encouraged. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Chair proceed with a personnel action unless a majority of the appropriate faculty concur.

The Chair prepares a dossier on the candidate, in accordance with the University and School procedures. No pertinent information once accumulated, such as an unfavorable recommendation, may be withheld from the dossier. Evidence must be submitted that the department has made a serious effort to find a woman or a minority group member qualified for the position. (In accordance with the University’s Affirmative Action Plan, all applications and supplementary material received from applicants for full-time faculty posts must be retained for two years after the position in question has been filled.)

The proposal for personnel action, with the complete file, is sent to the Chair of the SEAS Personnel Committee by the Dean. This committee shall consist of five tenured members of the Faculty, all of whom shall have the rank of Professor. Three of these members shall be nominated by the Faculty Council. The Personnel Committee confines its attention to the academic qualifications of the candidate for the position. On actions leading to tenure, the full committee should act; on other matters, the committee may appoint a review panel, with a committee member as a Chair. The committee or the panel may request additional information from the Chair who originated the action, or may (especially in the case of a tenure action) seek additional information from its own sources. The committee or the panel may approve the proposed action, disapprove it, or recommend modifications. The committee report is sent to the Dean; it should state the reasons for its recommendations and should record dissenting votes, if any.

The Dean brings the complete case, including the Personnel Committee recommendation, to the Administrative Committee, which considers, in addition to academic qualifications, such matters as financial limitations, rank distribution in the Department and in the School, appropriateness of the candidate’s field of specialization, etc.

The Personnel Committee is advisory to the Administrative Committee and the Administrative Committee is advisory to the Dean. The Dean is responsible for the final decision on whether to carry a case forward to the Provost’s Staff Conference. If the Dean favors a personnel action over the objections of some or all members of the Administrative Committee, he is obligated to report the Committee’s advice to the Provost’s Staff Conference. If the Dean disapproves an action favored by the Administrative Committee, he is obligated to provide an explanation of his action to the candidate, and to be sure the candidate is fully informed of possible avenues of appeal (see section on Grievances).

Personnel actions that are approved by the Trustees will be reported to the candidate by the Secretary of the University. If an action is disapproved at any step in the procedure, the reasons for the action must be reported to the Chair who originated the action. If a Department decides not to renew an appointment, or makes a final decision to recommend against a promotion to tenure, both the candidate and the Administrative Committee must be informed in writing of the decision.

Any member of the faculty, including the Dean, may make suggestions or recommendations to a Department Chair concerning promotions or appointments. If the Chair fails to act, the faculty member may propose the personnel action, with the proper supporting documents, and submit it to the Dean. The case will then be handled in the normal way, except that copies of all recommendations will be sent to the Department Chair as well as to the faculty member who originated the request for action. To bypass the Chair in this way is clearly an unusual step and should be taken only after careful deliberation.

Action that might result in termination of service must be completed so that the faculty member will have one year’s notice of termination. It is the responsibility of the Department Chair to ensure this outcome.

The Personnel Committee should make its recommendations within three weeks of receiving a request, unless additional information is required. A case containing the Personnel Committee recommendation may be presented to the Administrative Committee at any time.

The Dean may present cases to the Provost’s Staff Conference in accordance with the Provost’s Staff Conference calendar and should notify the Department Chair when he proceeds with a case. It is necessary to present all promotions to tenure and full professor rank and all reappointment actions for an academic year to the Provost’s Staff Conference at a particular time; therefore, all promotions to Full Professor should be submitted to the Dean by mid fall and promotions from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor and reappointments at the Assistant Professorial level should be submitted to the Dean in early spring of the academic year in which action must be taken. In general, the vitae, recommendation letters, etc. should include material dated no more than one year earlier than the Provost’s Staff Conference at which they are to be considered.

Secondary appointment to an SEAS Department to acknowledge an all-encompassing association of a Standing faculty member of another Department of the University (inside or outside SEAS) requires consultation with all members of the appointment Department, approval by the Administrative Committee, and approval by the Provost’s Staff Conference. Concurrence of the Chair of the candidate’s home Department should be obtained. The terms of the secondary appointment must specify voting rights.

Secondary appointment to an SEAS Department without voting rights to acknowledge a “concentrated” interaction by a Standing faculty member of another Department of the University (inside or outside SEAS) requires consultation with all members of the appointment Department and approval by the Administrative Committee. Concurrence of the Chair of the candidate’s home Department should be obtained. Secondary appointments of Research Faculty affiliated with other Schools at Penn will be considered without voting rights, as above, and with the stipulation these faculty not be assigned responsibility for SEAS course instruction.