Offering Faculty Rank to P&S Employees

An academic department may grant faculty rank (as “rank-only”) to a Professional and Scientific (P&S) employee to carry out faculty responsibilities, per Faculty Handbook 3.3.3.2. Faculty rank is not granted to P&S employees for teaching courses such as “R” credit, or 1 or 2 credit instruction in an orientation or career development course. Departments are required to grant faculty rank to a P&S employee who is listed as the instructor-of-record, to recognize their teaching, for more instructionally-intensive classes such as subject matter courses or 3 credit courses. In addition, for graduate course instruction, appointment as a Graduate Lecturer is required. For more information on faculty rank for teaching responsibilities, see the guidance in the “Iowa State University Practices for Professional and Scientific Employees who also have Teaching Responsibilities” document (PDF).

All rank-only, faculty rank appointments shall have a term end date (no more than five years or the employee’s P&S appointment term date, whichever is less).

Recognizing Duties within the Job Profile

In some situations, faculty rank is granted by the academic department in which the P&S employee is employed (e.g., an Academic Advisor II in History teaches a 3 credit course in History). The teaching may be a one-time situation and the rank-only appointment will be for one semester. Separately, the faculty duties may be ongoing and in the P&S employee’s home department. In that situation, the duties shall not exceed 30% of the overall position duties.

In yet another situation, the faculty rank is granted by an academic department which is not the P&S employee’s home department (e.g., an Associate Director in the Dean of Students Office teaches a 3 credit course in the School of Education). The teaching is generally ad hoc and outside of the P&S employee’s regular duties with no ongoing expectation of continuation.

Policies for Review, Renewal, and Advancement

Per Faculty Handbook 5.4.1.4, a person employed in a P&S position and assigned term faculty responsibilities shall be evaluated, renewed, and advanced for that portion of their responsibilities according to the Faculty Handbook 5.4.1.4. The faculty duties shall also be reviewed annually by the department chair in the academic department of rank. Departments should follow their governance documents regarding appointment, review, renewal, and advancement.

Procedures

To appoint a P&S employee with term faculty rank, the following procedures shall be followed:

  1. Determine the appropriate term faculty rank for the anticipated duties. It is important to be consistent when considering others in the department with similar duties. (When the faculty duty is teaching, it is appropriate to use the rank of Lecturer.)

  2. Complete the “Request to Offer Faculty Rank” form. The request form must be approved by the employee’s home department supervisor as well as the requesting department chair and dean. (If it is a new rank-only appointment, the individual’s CV or resume should also be attached to the Add Academic Appointment business process in Workday.)

  3. Once all of the approvers have signed the request form, the appointment shall be routed in Workday. After the appointment is approved, a letter of notification is generated and signed in the system.

If an academic department is interested in renewing the term faculty rank appointment, the department shall initiate the Request to Offer Faculty Rank form and HR Delivery should process an Update Academic Appointment. The request form should reflect the faculty duties the individual is expected to continue doing.

 

Revised July 2020

 

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Contact:

Akelo Harris
Faculty Personnel Data and Analytics Specialist, 
515-294-3592,
akelo@iastate.edu