Full-Time Faculty Handbook - 02. Faculty Categories and Appointment Types
Faculty Categories
From its inception, The New School has made a special effort to foster innovative forms of inquiry and boundary-crossing communities of research and creative practice. At The New School, practitioners whose work is recognized in their professions teach side by side with scholars whose careers are established in the academy. The New School welcomes the expertise and richness that both practitioners and scholars bring to teaching and learning.
The New School has three types of appointments for full-time faculty:
- Principal Faculty, consisting of full-time faculty with
- Renewable-Term Appointments (RTA) and RTA on annual review status (RTA-OARS)
- Tenure-Track and Tenure Appointments
- Extended-Employment Appointments (EE)
- Associate Faculty, consisting of full-time faculty with
- Fixed-Term Appointments
- Visiting Appointments
- Faculty Fellows, consisting of full-time faculty with
- Post-Doc Fellowships
- Research Fellowships
Principal faculty are distinguished by their academic leadership and key role in university governance. They are appointed for their research, scholarship, and/or creative and professional practice (RSCP), along with their dedicated and skilled teaching, and commitment to university citizenship. All principal appointments (regardless of type) thus signal the aspirations of the university and affirm its shared values.
Principal faculty are responsible for planning and managing the curriculum, supervising junior and part- time colleagues, and maintaining academic quality. They are expected to be effective teachers and student advisors, to serve as good university citizens, to play an active role in their professions, disciplines, departments, colleges, and university governance, and to meet standards of scholarly, creative, or professional achievement as established through their colleges/schools.
The choice of appointment type thus reflects broad university objectives for the future and conditions at the time of appointment. However, in no way should the type of appointment reflect differing standards of excellence, even when the employment type may reflect differing university needs.
The time of hire is the occasion for departments, schools, and programs to consider their current strengths and to restate their objectives within the discipline or field of study. It is also the time for the provost to consider the needs of the university overall in terms of its educational mission, priorities, and budgetary condition.
All full-time faculty—principals, associates, and fellows—are subject to review as well as periodic substantive evaluations; any faculty member may be terminated by the university for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, as discussed in Separation.
When a faculty position becomes vacant or a new appointment is needed, the dean of that college shall consult with the provost. All initial appointments to tenure-track, tenure, and RTA require an open national search to fill the line authorized by the provost. After this authorization has been obtained, the dean shall follow university policies and procedures for filling the position as memorialized in the Provost Office’s “Search Guidelines.” In all cases, these policies shall be consistent with Equal Employment Opportunity regulations and university guidelines for the recruitment of faculty. Final approval for all appointments, after the provost’s and president’s endorsements, rests with the board of trustees.
Appointment Types
Renewable-Term Appointments (RTA)
Renewable-Term Appointments represent a large and important faculty employment category at the university, due to its compatibility with a vision of the university that recognizes the dynamic and changing character of higher education. RTA faculty serve a wide variety of needs and reflect the university’s aspiration to be innovative and creatively responsive to new and emerging fields. RTA appointments allow the university to recognize talent and innovation, while remaining responsive to budgetary and market considerations. A renewable-term appointment reflects the priorities of a department, program, or school and the university as a whole. A candidate is hired on an RTA line with an understanding that their work is demonstrably vital to a discipline or field of study that is fully aligned with the university’s current mission and vision. Faculty with such appointments play a variety of roles at the university, ranging from master teachers, program administrators, and leaders, to scholars and creative practitioners.
Generally, renewable-term faculty members are expected to be effective teachers and advisors to students, and to play an active role in their departments/programs. Renewable-term appointments are offered to faculty members who demonstrate excellence either in teaching, service, or scholarly or creative endeavor. Renewable-term appointments will normally be made for periods of three to five years, based on specific job expectations aligned with institutional need; they may be renewed indefinitely, subject to faculty members’ meeting expectations for performance, and also subject to institutional need.
However, renewable-term appointments carry no presumption of continuing employment beyond the specified contract period. Renewable-term faculty members may be considered for promotion in rank.
RTA-OARS (On Annual Review Status)
Faculty designated as RTA-OARS are full time RTA faculty who have been successfully reappointed for a second time with external letters. Once successfully reviewed and reappointed for a second time with external letters, the annual faculty review process is the principal means by which performance of RTA faculty is assessed and the faculty member’s new appointment track is designated as RTA-OARS (“On Annual Review Status”). Thus, for all principal faculty, annual reviews become the principle means for assessing ongoing performance. While Deans will always have the discretion to call for a full dossier review for an RTA faculty member when there is evidence that overall performance has declined, they are required to do so in the case of two consecutive unsatisfactory annual reviews.
Tenure-Track and Tenure Appointments
Tenure Track
An appointment on a tenure track reflects the priorities and budgetary commitment of a department, program, or school and the university as a whole. A candidate is hired in recognition of their excellence with an understanding that their work is demonstrably vital to a discipline or field of study that is fully aligned with the university’s mission and vision. Furthermore, the appointment on a tenure track is a judgment about the candidate’s promise and their potential for achieving excellence as a leader in their field that is intellectually vital and important to the university.
All new junior tenure-track appointments are for a four-year probationary period. In the fourth year of that period, a faculty member undergoes a post-probationary review (PPR), which may result in reappointment for an additional three-year period, or in termination. Tenure-track appointments are designed for faculty who are expected to excel in research, scholarship, and/or creative or professional practice (RSCP).
Because tenure is the ultimate long-term commitment on the part of the university to an individual faculty member, in return it requires a commitment from the faculty member to sustained and ongoing excellence in research, scholarship, and/or creative or professional practice (RSCP). In addition, it requires ongoing excellence in either teaching or service, with the third category requiring an ongoing and good level of performance.
Tenure
In every instance, a candidate for tenure must be a demonstrably excellent researcher, scholar, and/or creative or professional practitioner. The candidate should be a person who has, in the view of peers both within and outside The New School, demonstrated the capacity for imaginative and original work in their field, one who shows promise of continuing to make significant contributions to research, broadly conceived. The teaching mission of the university also requires evidence of a dedicated and skilled educator, while the necessary work of all faculty in supporting governance makes a history of quality service and leadership an additional important consideration for achieving tenure. Candidates for tenure are also expected to have a track record of service to their profession and a history of leadership roles outside The New School, although this cannot substitute for service at The New School.
Faculty with tenure are those who have not only proven sustained excellence in their research, scholarship, and/or creative or professional practice (RSCP), and in their teaching or service, but have also shown commitment to maintaining these standards. They have received such status by action of the board of trustees on recommendation of the provost through the president, subsequent to appropriate peer and administrative review. An appointment with tenure means an appointment without limits of time, subject to triggered post-promotion performance review.
Extended-Employment Appointments (EE)
Faculty with extended-employment (EE) appointments have been granted such status by action of the board of trustees on recommendation of the provost through the president, subsequent to appropriate peer and administrative review. Faculty with Extended Employment are those who have not only proven sustained excellence in their pedagogy and teaching, and in their research, scholarship, and/or creative or professional practice (RSCP), or service, but have also shown commitment to maintaining these standards. An extended-employment appointment carries a presumption of continuous employment, subject to a triggered and post-promotion performance review.
A qualified RTA-OARS faculty member may be nominated by a dean to apply for EE after three contract renewals or ten years, whichever comes first. In addition, a qualified RTA-OARS faculty member may ask once to be considered for EE. To qualify for an EE review, an RTA-OARS faculty member must generally demonstrate ongoing excellence in the area of teaching (encompassing pedagogy and learning along with teaching) and ongoing excellence in service, or in research, scholarship, and/or creative or professional practice (RSCP), with the third category requiring an ongoing and good level of performance. The determination of what areas are to be designated as “excellent” will depend on institutional need as well as the prior job expectations of the RTA faculty. Applying for EE does not jeopardize a renewable-term appointment.
Fixed-Term Appointments
Faculty members with fixed-term appointments provide temporary academic services. Appointments are based upon the experience and academic background of the candidate, as well as on programmatic needs. Fixed-term appointments may be made for periods of one to three years. Fixed-term appointments may not be renewed, except in special circumstances, and then only once, and for a total term not to exceed three years. Faculty with fixed-term appointments may also apply for RTA and tenure-track jobs subject to an open national search.
Visiting Appointments
Visiting appointments are generally given to persons on leave as full-time faculty from another institution. The duration of the appointment of a visiting professor is normally one year but cannot exceed three years. Other instructor appointments of a short-term nature, made on non-renewable contracts, may be made based on program needs.
Changing Appointment Type/Track
Under certain circumstances, faculty members may be allowed to switch appointment types or tracks. Notification of the desire to switch between types of faculty appointments must be submitted to the dean in writing. The final decision to permit such a switch in status resides with the provost, in consultation with the dean. Once a faculty member has switched appointment types or tracks, the faculty member must abide by the policies and procedures in place for the appropriate type/track.