Appointment and Continuance of Appointments for Full-Time Faculty on the Medical Campus

Tenure is not awarded to faculty at the Boston University School of Medicine, School of Public Health, and School of Dental Medicine.

The bylaws of each Medical Campus School detail selection, appointment, and reappointment procedures for each faculty rank and title. These and any similar statements of School-level policy are subject to the approval of the Medical Campus Provost.

The following University policies apply to full-time faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine, School of Public Health, and School of Dental Medicine, in the ranks of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor and Instructor. Full-time faculty as used in this policy refers to faculty who are compensated for full-time employment by Boston University through the University’s payroll. Voluntary (unpaid) faculty, and part-time faculty are not covered by these provisions. There is no minimum requirement for notice of non-continuance of voluntary or part-time faculty. Some of the following provisions, as documented below, do not apply to Faculty Practice Plan members.

A. Selection and Initial Appointment of New Full-Time Standard Professorial Faculty

1. Whenever one or more full-time standard professorial faculty positions are to be filled, the chair initiates the recruitment process in consultation with the full-time faculty of the department and the dean.
2. The chair, in consultation with the full-time faculty of the department, shall appoint at least one search committee, subject to the approval of the dean, that draws at least half of its members from among the full-time faculty of the department. The committee may include faculty from other departments, from other Schools in the University or from outside the University, as appropriate. The chair of the department shall designate one of the members to serve as committee chair. The search committee shall solicit nominations and applications from within the University and externally through appropriate professional channels in conformity with the requirements of affirmative action. After reviewing all applicants and nominees appropriate for a given position, the search committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the chair of the department.
3. The chair of the department shall forward the chair’s recommendation of a candidate to the dean of the School, along with the names of all candidates recommended by the search committee, and a list of the candidates considered for the position(s) being filled.
4. Should the dean concur with the chair’s recommendation, the chair will seek faculty approval of the recommended candidate through the appointment and promotion committee process set out in the by-laws of the School. Should the School’s Committee on Faculty Appointments and Promotions approve the appointment, it will be forwarded for approval by the Medical Campus Provost, however, appointments of Associate or Full Professors are not effective until approved by the President of the University.
5. When extraordinary circumstances dictate, the ordinary procedure described above may be replaced by an alternative procedure accommodating as much of the usual involvement of faculty and administrators as is possible. The decision to use the alternative procedure is recommended by the department chair and approved by the dean and Medical Campus Provost in consultation with the President. These circumstances shall be described by the dean to faculty members of senior rank of the relevant department or division before the recruitment process is completed.

B. Non-continuance of Initial Appointments for Standard Professorial Faculty ²

1. If appropriate, notice of non-continuance of appointment shall be provided in writing to Standard Professorial faculty members during the period of their initial appointment. Termination will be effective on the date of the expiration of their initial appointment or delayed according to the following formula based on the duration of the initial appointment and the time of the notice of non-continuance:
   

   Initial term in months	Termination is effective the date of expiration or:
   12 or fewer	3 months from the date of notice of termination, which ever is later
   13-24	6 months from the date of notice of termination, which ever is later
   >24	12 months from the date of notice of termination, which ever is later

2. If notice of non-continuance or termination is given anytime during the period of the initial appointment, there will be no automatic continuation of the appointment as a rolling appointment under the terms of Section C.

C. Terms of Appointment/Notice of Non-continuance for Standard Professorial Positions After the Period of Initial Appointment ³

Upon the expiration of the initial term of an appointment as Professor, Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor, and in the absence of notice of non-continuance or termination as provided above in Section B, the appointment shall be automatically continued as a rolling appointment as per the following table until a notice of non-continuance is provided.

Notice of non-continuance may be given in writing to the faculty member at any time during the appointment and shall be effective not less than the number of years designated in the table above by rank from the date of notice. The length of notice and level of salary specified above in this Section B represent minimums and may be increased at the discretion of the department chair with the approval of the dean. The provisions for salary continuance specified above do not apply to any compensation received other than through the University’s payroll (e.g., salary received by the faculty member directly from other institutions, companies or organizations is not covered by these provisions.) Appointments for any rank may be terminated at any time for cause in accordance with University procedures.

D. Instructors

The term of appointment, or reappointment, for each Instructor shall be stated in an offer letter and shall not exceed 12 months. The appointment shall terminate at the expiration of the term stated in the letter. No notice of intent not to reappoint shall be required.If an Instructor is kept on after expiration of the Instructor’s appointment without a written letter of reappointment, the Instructor will serve at will. (At-will appointments may be terminated at any time without cause, with no specific minimum length of notice required to terminate such appointments.)

E. Criteria for Non-continuance

Although faculty members holding rolling or term appointments are eligible for continuance (unless otherwise specified in writing at the time of the appointment), continuance is neither inevitable nor routine. The decision not to continue an appointment shall be made by the department chair with the approval of the dean. Subject to institutional needs and goals, recommendations for non-continuance of appointments shall be based on merit as determined through evaluation of faculty performance (see Evaluation of Faculty Performance).

Institutional needs and goals involve consideration of such factors as academic needs of the program; availability of resources to support the program or position – financial as well as physical; and other institutional and programmatic considerations not directly related to the merit of the individual under consideration for continuance of the appointment.

F. Termination or Suspension for Cause

Adopted April 18, 2007, by the University Council.

Amended April 16, 2012, following changes to the by-laws of the Board of Trustees.