Overview

Updated February 13, 2023

The Dean makes decisions regarding appointments to open professorships, endowed chairs, and faculty fellows, subject to approval by the provost. The assignment of endowed professorships/chairs is the highest recognition inside the college or university. These appointments are meant to acknowledge and recognize a career of excellence and continuing impact. 

Initial Appointment

To be considered for initial appointment, the candidate must be strongly representative of the highest measure of faculty excellence in the college. In making a decision, the dean will consider many factors, including the degree to which the candidate has:

1)    Significant research productivity/impact and high-quality performance of other assigned duties 
2)    Recognized, established senior leader in their area of scholarship
3)    An exceptional record of securing research funds necessary to have made the highest impact in their area of scholarly focus
4)    Exemplary record of teaching and mentorship of students
5)    A strong record of departmental and institutional service
6)    Established leadership and service to the field

The dean may open up a particular chair or professorship to a college-wide nomination. In this situation, faculty members who are tenured full professors and who have demonstrated a distinguished career may be nominated or may self-nominate through their department chairs. The college’s Faculty Consultative Committee for Endowments (FCCE) will advise the dean and provide an independent assessment of strengths and contributions of nominees. The FCCE is comprised of tenured faculty who currently hold a professorship or chair and includes at least one faculty from each department. Professorship/chair nominees will submit the following materials to the department chair for review:

1)    Candidate’s statement, which includes research and/or leadership plan for proposed period of appointment
2)    Current CV

Department chairs will review submitted documents and provide a recommendation for further review by the FCCE and dean that considers productivity in the last five years, post-tenure reviews (if applicable), annual merit and/or administrative reviews, performance related to assigned duties, and the degree to which the nominee exemplifies the highest level of excellence and impact.

Once approved, the initial appointment of a professorship or chair could begin during the upcoming academic year or a future year based on the timing of a vacancy for the assigned endowment. 

Reappointment

In accordance with current UT policy, endowed academic appointments are not permanent. Initial appointment periods for professorships and chairs may be up to six years, and, in some cases, may be renewable for additional terms following review. In general, continuation of exemplary performance in all areas of review for initial appointments is expected to lead to reappointment of professorships and chairs, unless there is a change in endowment criteria or availability of funds. 

Review of potential reappointments of professorships and chairs, in most cases, will be aligned with post-tenure Comprehensive Periodic Reviews, which occur every six years. The dean, at her/his discretion, may remove a chair/professorship assignment at any time if there is evidence that the faculty member is not performing according to the requirements of the endowment.

To be considered for reappointment, current endowment holders should submit the following materials to the department chair: 

1)    Candidate’s statement of activity/productivity during the period of appointment that is expiring
2)    Candidate’s research and/or leadership plan for proposed period of reappointment (i.e., six years) 
3)    Current CV

Review of reappointments will include the following: 

• The FCCE will review submitted materials according to the initial appointment criteria and performance on those criteria since the last endowment review. They will then provide their evaluations to the department chair and dean.
  
  
• The department chair will review candidate materials and the FCCE review and provide her/his own evaluation. This evaluation will consider leadership and productivity in the last six years, comprehensive post-tenure reviews (if applicable), annual merit reviews, attention to assigned duties, performance in accordance with the requirements of the endowment, and any other performance indicators that may or may or may not be available to the FCCE. Chairs will submit her/his written evaluation and recommendation on the potential re-appointment to the dean.
  
  
• The dean will consider recommendation/evaluation of the chair and consultative committee and his/her own review, including all relevant information, consults with academic leadership and makes final decision about reappointment. 

Please send suggested additions to this page and notifications about broken links to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.

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