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 an 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
 
 
 
 

Type / Rank	Full-time (01)	Part-time (03)	Rank descript-tors	Faculty Rights	Appoint-ment	Re-appoint-ment	Non-re-appoint-ment	Termin-ation	Annual Evalu-ation	Promo-tion	Attain Tenure
Tenured (T)
Associate Professor (2.6.3)	Yes	Yes, 2.5.4	No	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.12.1	n/a	n/a	2.18.1, 2.18.2	2.14	2.10, 2.16	n/a
Professor (2.6.4)	Yes	Yes, 2.5.4	No	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.12.1	n/a	n/a	2.18.1, 2.18.2	2.14	n/a	n/a
Tenure-Earning (TE)
Assistant Professor (2.6.2)	Yes	Yes, 2.5.4	No	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.12.3	2.13.2,  2.15.4	2.13.2, 2.13.3, 2.13.4	2.13.5	2.14	2.10, 2.16	2.10,  2.15.8
Associate Professor (2.6.3)	Yes	Yes, 2.5.4	No	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.12.3	2.13.2, 2.15.4	2.13.2, 2.13.3, 2.13.4	2.13.5	2.14	2.10, 2.16	2.10,  2.15.8
Professor (2.6.4)	Yes	Yes, 2.5.4	No	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.12.4	2.13.2, 2.15.4	2.13.2, 2.13.3, 2.13.4	2.13.5	2.14	n/a	2.10,  2.15.8
Regular Non-Tenure-Earning (NTE)
Instructor (2.6.1)	Yes	Yes	2.5.5	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.5.5, 2.12.2	2.13.1, 2.12.2	2.13.2, 2.13.3, 2.13.4	2.13.5	2.14	2.10, 2.16	n/a
Assistant Professor (2.6.2)	Yes	Yes	2.5.5	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.5.5, 2.12.3	2.13.1, 2.12.3	2.13.2, 2.13.3, 2.13.4	2.13.5	2.14	2.10, 2.16	n/a
Associate Professor (2.6.3)	Yes	Yes	2.5.5	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.5.5, 2.12.3	2.13.1, 2.12.3	2.13.2, 2.13.3, 2.13.4	2.13.5	2.14	2.10, 2.16	n/a
Professor (2.6.4)	Yes	Yes	2.5.5	2.2, 3.1, 3.2	2.5, 2.5.5, 2.12.4	2.13.1, 2.12.4	2.13.2, 2.13.3, 2.13.4	2.13.5	2.14	n/a	n/a

Table 2.5b. Miscellaneous Definitions for Faculty Appointments
 
 
 
 

Definitions
Regular vs Contingent	Regular refers to faculty appointments with a repeating reporting schedule which may be reappointed indefinitely (e.g., 12-month full-time reporting).  Contingent appointments do not have an expectation of a regular reporting schedule and may be employed on a temporary basis or hired on an as-needed basis.
Part-time Faculty	Regular appointments having an FTE ≥ 0.5 but less than 1.0.  All appointments with an FTE < 0.5 are designated “contingent.”
Voluntary Faculty	NTE appointment with rank.  No salary or benefits.
Graduate Faculty	2.5.6. May be T, TE, and NTE faculty.  Supplementary to a primary appointment.
Emeritus Faculty	2.8.5. Prestigious appointment typically reserved for retired faculty
Distinguished Professor	2.8.1. Prestigious university-wide special faculty rank defined by Board Rule 508.
Distinguished Service Professor	2.8.2. Prestigious university-wide special faculty rank defined by Board Rule 508.
University Professor	2.8.3. Prestigious university-wide special faculty rank defined by Board Rule 508.
Instructor of Record	Term described in 2.9 to define the person responsible for a course, unrelated to rank.
Credentialed Course Instructor	Term sometimes used for contingent faculty with rank of Instructor.
Descriptive Terms	2.5.5. Optional terms used in conjunction with non-tenure-earning ranks sometimes used to clarify focus of major effort.  The six common descriptors are Clinical, Research, Teaching, Adjunct, Visiting, and Affiliate.
Full Time Equivalency (FTE)	Describes workload where FTE of 1.0 is considered full-time, 0.5 considered half-time, or a proportional value.
Nine-month vs Twelve-month appointments	Full-time regular primary appointments (2.5.1) that differ by time-off (4.1.1) and some benefits (4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4.4, 4.5.5, and 4.5.7). All other faculty rights and responsibilities are the same.