Enacted

Enacted: 05/10/2016

Policy Statement

Definitions and Policies

Joint appointments of faculty are appointments shared between two or more departments or programs.

Faculty members holding joint appointments are subject to the policies and procedures of each department.

The proportionate distribution of FTE is determined by the College of Arts and Sciences, and expectations for service and teaching are proportionate to the allocation of FTE.

Joint appointments include a Primary Department, defined as the unit in which the largest share of FTE is housed, and one or more Secondary Departments (or programs). 

United Academics CBA 2015-2018 Statement on Joint Tenure-Track Appointments

For bargaining unit members holding multiple or joint appointments, a memorandum will be completed at the time of hire or assignment specifying expectations for promotion and tenure review and identifying how the tenure and promotion process will be handled among the units.  Such memorandum is not valid unless approved in writing by the bargaining unit faculty member and the Provost or designee.  Art.20, Sec.25

United Academics CBA 2015-2018 Statement on Joint Non-Tenure-Track Appointments

A joint appointment is one appointment that spans two or more units. For NTTF bargaining unit members holding joint appointments, a memorandum will be completed at the time of hire or assignment specifying expectations for promotion review and identifying how the promotion process will be handled among the units.  Such memorandum is not valid unless approved in writing by the bargaining unit faculty member and the Provost or designee.  Art. 19, Sec. 9

Faculty Privileges and Responsibilities

1. Faculty members with joint appointments hold titles in both departments and are listed in the UO Catalog, webpages, and other official publications as a member of both departments.
2. Units should follow their own governance documents about the voting rights of joint-appointment faculty. In the absence of a unit policy, faculty holding a .33 FTE appointment or higher in an unit should have full voting rights in that unit.
3. Faculty members with joint appointments possess all non-voting rights and obligations of deparmental membership, in proportion to their appointment in each unit.
4. All faculty members have the responsibility to participate in departmental affairs and to perform departmental service regardless of the level of their appointment, but the service obligations of jointly appointed faculty to each department should be adjusted to be approximately commensurate with their proportionate appointments.
5. For untenured faculty with joint appointments, the Primary and Secondary supervisors will hold an annual meeting with the faculty member to discuss service distribution across the units, teaching schedules (including days and times of courses), advising obligations, and progress toward promotion and tenure.
6. Jointly appointed faculty members are expected to work with students in both Primary and Secondary Departments and may serve on and chair undergraduate honors thesis committees and graduate student thesis, dissertation, examination, and other committees in both the Primary and Secondary departments.
7. Jointly appointed faculty members are entitled to receive Primary and Secondary Departmental resources in support of teaching or research in amounts corresponding to their FTE distribution according to each department's procedures and policies.

Administration and Performance Evaluation

The Primary Department serves as the administrative and tenure home for the faculty member and is responsible for providing primary office space (unless the two units agree to a different space arrangement) and administrative support, and for coordinating contract renewals, merit, and promotion reviews.

Research, Teaching, Service

Research, teaching, and service conducted by faculty holding joint appointments are evaluated according to expectations described in the TTF promotion and tenure guidelines or the NTTF review and promotion guidelines for the Primary department with consideration for the parallel guidelines for the Secondary department(s) and in consultation with Secondary supervisors.

Tenured faculty members who hold joint appointments will be reviewed by the primary unit.  Input from appropriate reviewers (e.g., faculty, chair, dean) of the secondary unit, including performance reviews, teaching evaluations, service and research evaluations, must be considered by the primary unit as part of the review process. CBA Art. 20, Sec. 35

The College recognizes value in interdisciplinary research and teaching and encourages departments and programs to evaluate research conducted by faculty holding joint appointments using standards from each discipline and relevant interdisciplinary subfields.

Faculty Review

All reviews follow normal procedures in the Primary Department, in consultation with the Secondary department(s).

When reviews require a faculty committee, the Primary Department head, in consultation with the Secondary Department head(s), constitutes such a committee, with faculty representation on the committee approximately proportionate to the split appointment.

When reviews do not require a faculty committee (e.g., annual reviews), the Primary Department head undertakes the review in consultation with the head(s) of the Secondary Department(s).

Merit Review

Merit reviews for salary increases are conducted separately in each department according to each department’s internal procedures, and the amount of merit increase determined in each unit will be applied in proportion to the faculty member’s appointment in each unit, respectively. For faculty holding joint appointments governed by college-approved Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), merit recommendations will be subject to guidelines specified in that MOU.