University of Pennsylvania Standing Faculty—Clinician-Educator |
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July 15, 2014, Volume 61, No. 01 |
The Clinician-Educator track in the Standing Faculty was established in 1976 for full-time scholars and investigators whose responsibilities also include substantial clinical activities and teaching. A task force of the four health schools, following extensive consultations across the University, proposed changes to the track designed to accomplish four goals: align the policy in the University’s Handbook for Faculty and Administrators with current practices in the Schools; reduce policy variations among the health schools; require each health school to develop guidelines consistent with those of the University; and improve transparency and expectations for faculty members on this track. The new policy was approved by the Board of Trustees at its Stated Meeting of June 20, 2014, and the policy below is in effect as of July 1, 2014.
—Vincent Price, Provost
—Anita Allen, Vice Provost for Faculty |
The category of Clinician-Educator is maintained within the University’s four health schools—the School of Dental Medicine, the Perelman School of Medicine, the School of Nursing and the School of Veterinary Medicine. This track is intended for full-time faculty whose responsibilities include clinical activities, scholarship and teaching.
For each of the health schools, appropriate Trustee action has been taken. In the School of Dental Medicine, the Clinician-Educator category was established in 1981; in the Perelman School of Medicine, in 1976; and in the Schools of Nursing and Veterinary Medicine, in 1983. The Clinician-Educator guidelines for the four health schools were clarified in 2013.
The sections that follow below combine the present rules governing appointment and promotion in the Clinician-Educator category in each of the four schools. Candidates for appointment or promotion in the Clinician-Educator faculty are urged to consult their department chair or Dean for additional school-specific information concerning membership in such faculty.
1. Appointment
All appointments of Clinician-Educators are full-time untenured appointments to the Standing Faculty. Thus procedures governing appointments to the Standing Faculty shall be followed.
In the Schools of Dental Medicine, Medicine, Nursing and Veterinary Medicine a proposal to appoint or promote is initiated by a recommendation from the department. The review and approval process is carried out by the appropriate school committee responsible for faculty actions.
Criteria for Clinician-Educator appointments in the four health schools include clinical activities, scholarship and education. The scope and proportion of these responsibilities for an individual faculty member are defined by each school. Time for scholarship, an expectation of the Clinician-Educator role, is determined by each school. It is understood that every effort is made to assure appropriate time and support for that scholarship. Funding for scholarly time is required at all ranks, ideally from extramural sources. The criteria for appointment, reappointment and promotion will reflect the differential effort dedicated to clinical activities, scholarship and educational programs that will be defined by each school.
In all cases, further review is carried out by the Provost’s Staff Conference with appointment or promotion being made by the Trustees upon recommendation of the President.
2. Title
In all four health schools a clear and correct modifier must be attached to the title as follows: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Professor of (clinical specialty) at the (school or appropriate department, hospital, teaching unit or other base facility). This title is to be written in full whenever used in documents, in listings of University personnel and in correspondence.
3. Conditions of Employment
As is the case with other faculty categories, all Clinician-Educators receive a clear statement of their conditions of employment. This includes a definition of expectations with respect to clinical activities, scholarship, support for scholarship, participation in educational programs and administrative duties of the school; use of facilities and access to patients/animals; the responsibilities of the school or other budgetary unit for payment of salary and specified benefits; the right of persons to due process by mechanisms available to all University faculty in the event of grievances or alleged failure to protect the individual rights accorded a faculty member; and the circumstances under which the appointment may be terminated. This statement shall be part of the document governing the appointment. The clinical activities of Clinician-Educators shall be located in facilities under the auspices of, or approved by, the respective school.
4. Salary and Benefits
Clinician-Educator salaries shall conform to school policies. All Clinician-Educators are entitled to the same faculty benefits from the University as other members of the Standing Faculty. Scholarly leaves of absence are not an unconditional benefit. They shall be granted only when conforming to the University’s general policy on leaves and when determined on an individual basis to be in the interest of both the faculty member and the school.
5. Professional Activity
A Clinician-Educator shall be required to devote his/her full professional time to activities on behalf of the clinical, scholarly, and educational missions of the respective school. The faculty member shall be subject to the University’s policy on conflict of interest (see section II.E.10). The one-in-seven-day rule shall apply except that Clinician-Educators shall not be permitted to devote any time to employment in extramural clinical activities. All clinical income of Clinician-Educators must be returned to and managed by the school.
6. Rights and Privileges
Except for the untenured and non-tenure probationary nature of the appointment, and the stipulation that they do not vote on matters of tenure, Clinician-Educators share in all the rights and privileges of the Standing Faculty of the University. Should grievances arise that are not resolved administratively, appointees may seek adjudication available to the Standing Faculty through the established mechanisms of the school and the University.
7. Limitations on Size of the Clinician-Educator Faculty
The size of each school’s Clinician-Educator track shall be congruent with each school’s clinical, scholarly and teaching missions. Each school will set a cap for its Clinician-Educator track as a percentage of the Standing Faculty that aligns with its missions. The caps will be reviewed every five years effective July 1, 2014. The review process will begin in the schools, and it will require input from the Provost’s Office and approval of the University Faculty Senate if changes are sought. It is expected that each school will not exceed its cap and that the Provost’s Office will enforce the caps. Schools are required to maintain a record of percentages of Clinician-Educator and tenure track faculty, which will be reported regularly to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs’ Office. In each school there are restrictions on the size of the Clinician-Educator faculty as follows:
School of Dental Medicine: The percentage of Clinician-Educators in the faculty may not exceed 50 percent of the number of Standing Faculty in the school.
Perelman School of Medicine: The percentage of Clinician-Educators in the faculty may not exceed 70 percent of the number of Standing Faculty in the school.
School of Nursing: The percentage of Clinician-Educators in the faculty may not exceed 40 percent of the number of Standing Faculty in the school.
School of Veterinary Medicine: The percentage of Clinician-Educators in the faculty may not exceed 50 percent of the number of Standing Faculty in the school.
8. Timing of Appointments and Shifts of Faculty Category
Health Schools. In the health schools, there are three Standing Faculty categories at the rank of Assistant Professor: a seven-year tenure probationary category, a ten-year tenure probationary category and a ten-year Clinician-Educator category which is probationary but does not involve the awarding of tenure. Currently, all Assistant Professors in the Schools of Dental Medicine, Medicine and Veterinary Medicine have initial three-year appointments, while in the School of Nursing the initial appointment is either for three or four years. In all four health schools, new Assistant Professors enter one of the three categories at the time of their initial appointment.
Seven-year probationary category
Assistant Professors in the seven-year probationary category must make a decision before the end of the third year of the initial appointment to remain in the category to which they were initially appointed or to transfer to one of the other two categories if such a position is available. No shift from the seven-year category shall be allowed after the third year.
Those electing the seven-year tenure-probationary category shall be reviewed for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure not later than the sixth year. Under extenuating circumstances, the review can occur in the terminal year. The decision can only result in either promotion to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure or termination of appointment and separation from the University subject to the terms of the then existing appointment.
Ten-year tenure probationary or Clinician-Educator categories
Assistant Professors in either the ten-year tenure probationary or Clinician-Educator categories shall be reviewed for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor during the ninth year (or earlier, if appropriate). In each case, the decision can only result in either promotion to the rank of Associate Professor or termination of the appointment and separation from the University subject to the terms of the then existing appointment. A grant of tenure must accompany promotion in the ten-year tenure probationary category; tenure cannot be attained in the Clinician-Educator category.
Assistant Professors in the ten-year probationary categories can change categories no later than five years after their initial appointment. Actions required to approve timely category changes must be completed by the end of the Assistant Professor’s second three-year reappointment. The time accrued in the initial category will apply to the probationary period in the new category. National searches are not required if an appropriate search was performed at the time of the initial faculty appointment. Specifically, the following shifts may occur providing an appropriate position exists to transfer into and the candidate’s dossier has been reviewed and approved by the school’s committee responsible for faculty actions:
• ten-year tenure probationary category to the Clinician-Educator category.
• ten-year tenure probationary category to the Academic Clinician category.
• ten-year Clinician-Educator probationary category to the ten-year tenure probationary category.
• ten-year Clinician-Educator probationary category to the Academic Clinician category.
Having achieved the rank of Associate Professor, transfer between tenure status and Clinician-Educator status may be made rarely and only if, upon review by the faculty committee responsible for quality and qualifications of faculty and by the Provost’s Staff Conference, the individual is found to have met all criteria appropriate to the receiving category at the proposed rank. Transfer from the Clinician-Educator category to the tenure category at the rank of Associate or Full Professor requires a full national search.
Handbook for Faculty and Academic Administrators, Faculty Policies and Procedures, Revised Policy II.B.2.
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