2.5 Types of Faculty Appointments

UAB Faculty are members of the academic community who are employees or appointed volunteers within UAB Enterprise and whose efforts in teaching, research, scholarly contribution, patient care, and/or service fulfill the UAB institutional mission (Section 1.3.2). All faculty appointments are described by an assignment category, appointment type (e.g., tenured, tenure-earning, or non-tenure-earning), and rank (e.g., instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, or professor). Faculty appointment assignment categories and associated benefits are defined in HR Policy 411 and may be full-time regular (Sections 2.5.1 and 2.5.5), full-time temporary (Section 2.5.7), part-time regular (Sections 2.5.4 and 2.5.5), or contingent (Section 2.5.5). A Full Time Equivalency (FTE) of 1.0 is typically attributed to full-time appointments, while part-time appointments have an FTE ≥ 0.5. All appointments with FTE < 0.5 are contingent. Faculty categories may differ in benefits, rights, privileges, and responsibilities. Common rights and responsibilities available to all faculty are described in Sections 2.2, 2.5. 2.6, 2.9, and 3.1 through 3.16.

Regular faculty appointments may be tenured (Sections 2.5.1 and 2.5.4), tenure-earning (Sections 2.5.1 and 2.5.4), or non-tenure-earning (Section 2.5.5), with differing evaluation criteria for promotion and/or applicable award of tenure (Section 2.10). Regular faculty appointments have benefits; accrue vacation, holidays, and sick time; and have employment of indefinite duration.  Tenured and tenure-earning faculty may be eligible for sabbatical leave (Section 4.4). Full-time regular faculty may have a twelve-month or nine-month appointments (2.5.1) which differ in time-off (Section 4.1.1), holidays (Section 4.1), vacation (Section 4.2), sick time (Section 4.3), and other leave types (Sections 4.4.4, 4.5.5, and 4.5.7). Part-time regular appointments (Section 2.5.4) are similar to full-time but differ in benefits, holidays, vacation, and sick leave. Faculty privileges and procedures associated with regular faculty are described in the following sections of this Handbook and include representation and participation (Section 1.2.2.1), appointments (Sections 2.11 and 2.12), reappointments (Section 2.13), promotions (Section 2.16), award of tenure (Section 2.15), appeals (Section 2.17), termination (Section 2.18), grievance (Section 2.19), resignation (Section 2.20) and retirement (Section 2.21).

Full-time temporary faculty appointments (Section 2.5.7) are non-tenure-earning (Section 2.5.5); have a duration as specified in a letter of offer or contract; do not accrue vacation, holidays, or sick time; have limited benefits; and are not eligible for some regular faculty privileges (Sections 2.11 to  2.13 and 2.15 to 2.21) but rather follow terms described in a letter of appointment or contract. Conflict resolution is addressed through supervisory structure (Section 3.6).

Contingent faculty appointments, formally known as irregular or non-regular appointments, are non-tenure-earning (Section 2.5.5) and include all faculty appointments with an FTE < 0.5, but may additionally include faculty without a regular reporting schedule up to full-time. Contingent appointments also may be used for additional assignments (Section 2.5.2). Contingent faculty are not eligible for UAB benefits and are not eligible for some regular faculty privileges (Sections 2.11 to  2.13 and 2.15 to 2.21) but rather follow terms described in a letter of appointment or contract. Some contingent appointments may be eligible for promotion beyond the initial rank (Section 2.6) following procedures within a unit or departmental handbook.  Conflict resolution is addressed through supervisory structure (Section 3.6).
 
Voluntary faculty appointments have rank; are non-tenure-earning, receive no salary or benefits; and have faculty privileges as specified in a letter of appointment.

All regular faculty and all temporary and contingent faculty exceeding the effort threshold defined in Section 2.14.1 must have an annual evaluation (Section 2.14). All faculty are appointed in one of the four university ranks (Section 2.6) or in a Special Faculty Rank (Section 2.8). Faculty in non-tenure-earning ranks may have titles with optional descriptive terms (Section 2.5.5).  Faculty may have primary or secondary administrative appointments (Section 2.5.3), including President, Provost, vice-president, dean, department chair, or director. The following tables further define and describe UAB Faculty.


Table 2.5a. Cross-Referenced Regular Faculty Rights and Appointment-Related Procedures by Rank
 
 
 
 

Table 2.5b. Miscellaneous Definitions for Faculty Appointments