Courtesy Appointments
- Ann Kelble
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to provide college-specific guidance for processing faculty courtesy appointments as well as provide links to university resources.
Relevant Definitions
Academic Appointment: In Workday, academic appointments are used to track academic information (such as academic rank, tenure status, relationship to an academic unit, etc.) for faculty (and certain academic A&P) employees.
They are organized via Academic Units (AU) in Workday, rather than Sup Orgs. Academic Units operate in a hierarchical structure in parallel to Supervisory Organization hierarchies; the latter hold employment information, such as positions and workers. AUs don't track employment data (salaries, dates of hire, or similar).
Courtesy Appointment: An academic appointment that establishes a faculty member as Courtesy Faculty for an academic unit at UT.
Best Practice Recommendation: Units who wish to extend courtesy appointments ought to have standard reasons for doing so and a standard definition of what it means within the context of the unit; i.e., for what reason would someone be offered a courtesy appointment? What does it mean and what purpose does the appointment serve?
Generally speaking, this appointment is meant to indicate an active connection and meaningful connection to the unit and/or its programs.
Depending on the terms of appointment, there might need to be faculty votes prior to extending the offer of courtesy appointment. (e.g., voting rights or GSC membership)
Courtesy Faculty: Faculty who have a formal affiliation with an academic unit but who do not hold a primary or joint faculty appointment in said unit. There are no financial or employment obligations involved in these appointments. In other words, a courtesy appointment does not come with any additional pay and does not have a bearing on the individual's employment relationship to the university. That said, the faculty promotion review process typically includes feedback from academic units where a promotion candidate is Courtesy Faculty.
Per AskUs, Courtesy Faculty are "academic appointments that establish a relationship between faculty and another academic unit without the necessity of an additional job that has scheduled weekly hours or compensation. The other academic unit would be another college, school, or department outside the academic unit of their primary academic appointment.
Courtesy appointments allow academic units to:
create a relationship with an outside faculty member without the necessity of an additional job or PAR.
track and report on these faculty. "
Ex. A faculty member who is a Professor of Anthropology (100%) can have courtesy appointments in the Center for Women's and Gender Studies and the Department of American Studies without affecting FTE, etc.
A distinction is made between Courtesy Faculty, which is a formal appointment, and a faculty affiliation of any other kind (being listed on a unit's website, serving on a non-departmental governance committee, cross-listing courses, etc.)
Unit: For purposes of this article, a formal part of the university's hierarchical organization (a department, an academic center, or an organized research unit) that has been designated as an academic unit and can hire or appointment faculty of any kind. Not using "academic unit", because it could be confused with the Workday hierarchy term. (See Academic Appointment, above)
Process
An academic unit wishes to extend a courtesy appointment to a current UT faculty member. In most cases, this involves the recommendation and/or approval of the BC/EC and Chair/Director.
Note: Some faculty governance documents include specific requirements or procedures related to courtesy appointments; if applicable, governance-specified procedures should be followed before moving on to step 2.
To create a courtesy appointment, the HR/Academic Contact for the unit will need to create the courtesy appointment offer letter for the faculty member, using the most current university template.
Note: If the Courtesy Faculty will hold voting rights in the unit, please send the draft letter to COLA HR in advance of sending to the faculty member, for review of the faculty governance committee impacts. (See also Governance wiki)
The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs--currently Steven Hoelscher--should be used in the Dean’s signature spot on the letter.
When the offer letter is ready, send for signatures: Unit head (Chair or Director), then Associate Dean, then faculty member.
Once the offer letter has been signed (by unit head and dean) and counter-signed (by the faculty member), the HR/Academic Contact will Add an Academic Appointment in Workday (see WIG).
Important: The Courtesy Offer letter and the faculty member's current CV will be needed to be attached to the BP.
If Needed:
4. A courtesy appointment can be ended using the End Academic Appointment process in Workday. (see WIG)
Note: Please attach the written request and authorization (with date) to the End Academic Appointment BP.
Related Policies:
HOP 2-1310 - Faculty Governance Committees
HOP 9-1240 - The Graduate School
Other Links:
Academic Appointments (Workday WPO)
About Courtesy Appointments (Workday website)
Offer Letter Templates (EVPP ServiceNow site)