POLICY ON FACULTY RECLASSIFICATION BETWEEN TENURE TRACK AND CLINICIAN EDUCATOR TRACK

Unanimously endorsed by Committee of Chairs and adopted by Dean: 12/04/1996

The School of Medicine adopts the following policy to govern the reclassification of faculty between the Clinician Educator and Tenure Tracks. Reclassification means that an individual faculty member ceases to be a Clinician Educator and becomes instead a Tenure Track faculty member, or vice versa.

ELIGIBILITY

This policy applies only to those faculty members who were hired into a position via open recruitment advertisements (e.g. advertisements which invite applicants to apply for positions which may be hired in either the Clinician Educator or Tenure Track categories).

RATIONALE

Tenure and advancement in the School of Medicine are based on performance in three primary areas: teaching/education, research/scholarship/creative works, patient care/service. The SOM has two tracks for clinical faculty. Advancement in the Clinician Educator Track is dependent upon demonstrated excellence in teaching/education and patient care/service categories. Advancement in the Tenure Track and attainment of tenure are dependent upon demonstrated excellence in two of the three categories (teaching/education, patient care/service, research/scholarship/creative works) and demonstrated competence in the third category. Tenure Track faculty are expected to be, at a minimum, "competent" in research/scholarship/creative works.

The Clinician Educator Track and Tenure Track are valued equally in the SOM. The two tracks exist to meet the needs of faculty with differing career goals. The Tenure Track exists for faculty members who devote significant amounts of their professional time to those activities in the research/scholarship/creative works category that lead to peer-reviewed publications, have the capacity to be externally funded, and could lead to national reputations in their fields. The Clinician Educator Track exists for faculty members who devote the preponderance of their professional time to patient care (and other forms of service) and to teaching and other activities related to the educational mission of the SOM.

Recognizing that a faculty member could find his/her career goals changing over time, the SOM has determined that it is desirable that a faculty member should have the opportunity to request reclassification.

POLICY

Faculty members who were hired via open advertisements (as defined above) may be reclassified between Clinician Educator and Tenure Track status, subject to the following limitations and considerations:

  1. The reclassification request must be submitted in writing to the cognizant department Chairperson and must be approved by the department Chairperson and the Dean of the SOM.

  2. Only one reclassification will be allowed under this policy in each faculty member’s employment at UNM.

  3. The reclassification must be based on genuine and demonstrable changes in career goals.

  4. The reclassification may affect academic rank. Rank after reclassification will depend on a comparison of the faculty member’s academic record with the criteria and standards applicable to the new track.

  5. The appropriate tenure code will be determined at the time of reclassification into the Tenure Track, and will require approval of the Dean of the SOM.

  6. Reclassification of untenured faculty members from Tenure Track to Clinician Educator Track will not be approved for faculty who apply for reclassification after December 1 of their final probationary year.

EFFECTIVE DATES

The effective date of this policy is the date it is approved by the Dean of the SOM. Reclassifications approved under this policy will take effect at the start of the next contract year.