Faculty Terminations

Faculty Terminations

When a faculty member leaves Duke, the dFac user should ensure that all of their current appointments end at the appropriate time. If the faculty member has secondary, joint, or membership appointments in another school, please notify the appropriate school administrator to ensure the end of those appointments as well.

To end active appointments on a future date, for example when you know in March that the faculty member is departing in June, use the Appointments form and the Update Existing Appointment reason. Be sure to select the appropriate Appointment End Reason. The termination must be processed by the iForms user for the unit where the position is housed. If appointments are active, the iForms Termination form will end them on the termination date.

Remember! Most faculty members have more than one appointment – secondary, joint, administrative, memberships, or professorships. As the dFac user for a faculty member’s primary appointment, it is crucial you communicate with dFac users in other units to ensure all appointments are ended correctly before a faculty member is terminated. Reach out to the dFac administrator in your school if you are not sure who you should contact.

If the faculty member is transitioning to an Emeritus appointment upon their departure, you will use Promotion/Change of Status as the reason. Appointments for emeriti faculty members are expected to remain active until their deaths. The home addresses should be maintained in dFac using the Faculty Data Change form. If the faculty member has a professorship, ensure you communicate the change in status with Faculty Affairs.

When a current faculty member dies, your unit’s iForms user should process the termination as they would for a staff death. The termination form will end all of the current appointments on the death date, including Emeritus faculty. Once this has been finalized in iForms, any active appointments will be ended on the death date and the deceased faculty member’s profile will no longer appear in Scholars@Duke. In some instances, an Emeritus faculty member has an employment status of Withdrawn. In this case, when they die the dFac user should submit an Update Existing Appointment form ending the Emeritus appointment on the death date.