Faculty Appointment Process

Appointment Approval

Regular Rank Tenure Track Faculty

Deans (and where so enabled, UIC Directors) make all appointments of regular rank tenure track faculty. Faculty positions must be in personnel subareas 0009 or 0019.

Such appointments are then approved by the Provost by way of report and approval by the Board of Trustees. Appointments with tenure require a full dossier for review by the voting faculty, by the Dean, by the Provost, and by the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure. Further, only the Board of Trustees can grant tenure, pursuant to a recommendation from the President and Provost, which is made only after the candidate returns a final, signed offer letter. The Faculty Affairs website contains a description, instructions and templates for the dossier’s required composition.

Regular Rank, Tenure/Tenure Track Titles

*Do not create additional 1543 positions

Regular Rank, Non-Tenure Track Titles

Department Chairs and UIC Directors make all non-regular rank appointments; for schools without departments, Deans make these appointments as well. Non-regular rank appointments should never exceed three years for any one appointment. Chairs should send a copy of the signed appointment letter with the appointee's CV to the Dean for information. These appointments are not referred to the Provost nor does the Board of Trustees consider them. That said, the Provost requests that schools without departments, where the Dean makes non-regular rank appointments, send a copies of signed appointment letters with the appointees’ CVs to the Provost’s Faculty Affairs Office for information. These appointments require a dossier for review by the voting faculty and by the Dean. These dossier guidelines can be found in the appointing school’s by-laws.

Regular Rank, Non-Tenure Track Titles

The faculties and Deans of the various schools set the requirements for dossiers supporting appointment at these ranks. These dossiers are prepared for review by the voting faculty and the Chair, although departments may delegate full review authority to the Chair (or the Dean, in schools without departments) for some or all non-regular rank titles.

Non-Regular Rank Faculty Titles

Click the link above to be taken to a complete list of titles

Short-term arrangements before a formal appointment begins

At times it may be necessary to put an incoming faculty member into the Duke payroll system prior to the start of their regular rank appointment, say, in order to grant Principle Investigator status allowing the transfer of grants to Duke in a timely fashion. In such cases, either the Department Chair or the Dean may offer a non-regular rank appointment beginning when needed and ending on the day preceding the start of the regular rank appointment.

Hiring Process

MOU template for Joint & Secondary Appointments

A template for the agreement between department/department, department/school, school/school, or school/institute for a joint hire can be found in Appendix B 16. This model serves when a joint relationship is envisioned prior to hiring a candidate.

If units wish to propose a joint or secondary appointment for individuals already on the faculty, the template Appendix B 15 may be more appropriate, particularly for secondary appointments.

Checklist for Offer Letter & List of Accompanying Correspondence

The checklist below outlines the basic items of a faculty offer. Some schools may not wish to provide all the employment inducements illustrated, and some may wish to provide others. The offer letter templates in the appendices only model some conditions schools offer to new faculty. Summer salary and early tuition support for college-age children are two examples. Questions concerning school-specific items should be addressed to the office of the Executive Vice Provost.

The template Appendix B 6 is an informational memorandum that department/school administrators should send to new faculty. The timing of that mailing is at the school’s discretion, either with the original offer or when the new hire has returned the offer signed. If immigration and U.S. work authorization are issues, it may be prudent to send the memorandum both with the initial offer and again when the signed offer returns to the department/school. It can take some time to obtain work authorization for individuals who are not permanent U.S. residents, and the earlier the candidate is aware of requirements the better.

Now, at the end of the process, or both, the informational employment memorandum described in the preceding paragraph. As stated on 2-10 all new part-time and non-regular rank faculty must participate in an orientation session conducted by the department Chair or his/her designee. A sample for this is provided in Appendix B 7.

Faculty Responsibilities to Students

On January 24, 1985, the Undergraduate Faculty Council of Arts and Sciences endorsed the following statement for inclusion in the Faculty Handbook (pp. 6/1 ff.):

"The Duke faculty takes its teaching very seriously. Members of the faculty expect Duke students to meet high standards of performance and behavior. It is only appropriate, therefore, that the faculty adheres to comparably high standards in dealing with students. The following list of specific faculty responsibilities is predicated on the perception that students are fellow members of the university community, deserving of respect and consideration in their dealings with faculty.

• Class attendance. In accordance with the Faculty Handbook, instructors will make every effort to attend all class meetings.

• Course content. Instructors will update their courses periodically to reflect the latest scholarship in the fields they teach.

• Grading. Instructors will make clear at the outset how grades will be determined, what work in the course will be graded, and what standards will be applied.

• Letters of recommendation. Students depend upon faculty recommendations when applying for jobs or graduate school. If a faculty member agrees to write such a letter, it will be prepared promptly, accurately, and thoroughly.

• Office hours. Faculty members will be available in their offices at least two hours per week. If unable to keep those hours, a faculty member will post a note to that effect.

• Scheduling of Examinations, Papers, and Other Exercises. Examination schedules and deadlines for term papers will be established early in the semester and kept.

• Syllabuses. At the beginning of each semester, faculty members will distribute course syllabuses to their classes in order to provide students with a clear prospectus.

Based on these principles:

Faculty should receive a statement of the department's final examination policy. Final examinations must be given at the time published every semester in the official examination schedule. Further, final examinations must be retained by the instructor (or filed with the appropriate departmental staff) for at least one year past the end of the semester.

All faculty are required to hold office hours. Instructors must announce office hours at the beginning of the semester and keep them throughout the semester. Unless the department's standard is different, faculty should make themselves available to students at least two hours per week. Office hours should be published in the syllabus, posted on the instructor's office door, and filed with the department office.

Faculty are required to meet all classes to which they are assigned. On occasions where instructors cannot meet the class because of illness, family emergency, or professional obligations, faculty must inform the Chair (or his/her designee) at least one week in advance of the absence and describe how the work will be made up. In the case of last-minute emergencies, faculty must call the departmental office and ask the secretary to inform the students that the class has been canceled.

Faculty must publish a grading policy; the department will furnish one if there is a department-wide standard.

Faculty Supervision and Evaluation

Departments will identify individuals to supervise and evaluate part-time and visiting instructors. Departments will also fully describe the procedures for supervising and evaluating these instructors, listing, for example, what kinds of evaluation instruments will be used, any provisions for class observation by the supervisor, and what exhibits and documents the faculty must provide the supervisor to facilitate evaluation.

For faculty participating in a multi-section course where requirements are identical, the department will offer a full introduction to the course, its administration, its supervision, and the division of duties among faculty, as appropriate.

Proof of Degree Certification

It is Duke's policy (and a requirement for SACS accreditation) that all faculty offering classroom instruction or its online equivalent must present proof of their highest degree, which will be kept on file in the appropriate administrative office, as described below. Verification may include official transcripts, or other approved methods depending on each school's procedures.


Regular rank faculty (tenured and tenure track, professors of the practice, research professors, career track professors, undifferentiated assistant professors, medical instructors, and lecturers) will supply this proof to the Dean before that office may submit a New Faculty Member form. Proof of degree is safeguarded in each faculty member's personnel file in the Dean's office.

Non-regular rank faculty must supply proof of degree to the department or school manager prior to the beginning of work. Proof of degree is safeguarded in each faculty member's personnel file in the department or school office depending on each school's procedures.

For faculty who have not earned the Ph.D. degree, the appropriate office will hold on file written proof of the highest degree. In addition, the department Chair should provide a written statement that the faculty member's preparation has been appropriate for the instructional activities to be performed. One example of individuals in this category is a performing musician for whom a Ph.D. might not be appropriate. For the rare internationally acclaimed scholar who has achieved the appropriate level of distinction and leadership without the formal training of the Ph.D. degree, the Dean may provide excerpts from these faculty member’s most recent personnel review that confirms leadership and distinction. All this documentation is held in the individual personnel files in the appropriate office.

For the purpose of establishing the veracity of educational credentials for all Duke faculty who teach graduates and undergraduates, Duke has determined that individuals holding the title of Teaching Assistant (job code 1594) do not fall under this requirement. If they teach classroom courses to Duke students, they must be enrolled in a full-time Ph.D. or master’s program at Duke, where their employment is secondary to their academic pursuits.

Immigration and Visa Issues

Duke Visa Services provides guidance on issues related to the hiring of foreign nationals, as well as assistance in other visa-related services.