Summary of University Academic Appointments
Summary of the different types of academic appointments available within NatSci and points to relevant web resources. Each person with an academic appointment has a rank and falls into an employment category. As shown in the matrix below, some ranks may exist in more than one employment category. Note that any MSU academic appointment can be on an annual (AN) or academic year (AY) basis, can be full-time or part-time, and can be in one or multiple units.
| Faculty Track | Tenure System | Continuing System | Fixed Term | Research Faculty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instructor | 4, 5, 6, 7 | |||
| Assistant Professor | 1 | 4, 5, 6, 7 | 4, 8 | |
| Associate Professor | 1 | 4, 5, 6, 7 | 4, 8 | |
| Professor | 1 | 4, 5, 6, 7 | 4, 8 | |
| Specialist | 2, 3 | 4, 5, 6, 7 | 4, 8 | |
| Senior Specialist | 2, 3 | 4, 5, 6, 7 |
Resources
- Information on the reappointment, tenure, and promotion of tenure-stream faculty and relevant forms
- Specialist appointments carry the additional designation “advisor”, “curriculum development”, “outreach”, “research”, or “teacher” (e.g. “Specialist – Teacher”), corresponding to the primary duty of the position.
- Information on the reappointment, the award of continuing status, and the promotion of continuing system specialists
- All fixed term faculty, fixed term specialists, and research faculty are expected to hold similar qualifications for their duties as the corresponding tenure-system faculty or continuing system specialists of the same rank
- The UNTF (Union of Non-tenure Track Faculty) collective bargaining agreement governs the terms of the teaching fraction of all fixed term appointments, whether faculty or specialist.
- Policy on promotion of fixed term faculty (introduced Jan. 2013)
- Eligible fixed term faculty or specialists may request to be considered for a change of status to “Designation B” for the teaching fraction of their appointment (i.e. that fraction governed by the UNTF contract), which provides for a 3-year (as opposed to annual) employment contract ;(introduced Jan. 2013)
- Policies governing Research Faculty