Faculty Appointments

Faculty Titles and Ranks

  • Assistant Professors: should have the terminal degree appropriate to their field or equivalent qualifications. They should be well-qualified to teach at the undergraduate or graduate levels, participate in scholarly/creative work, and if applicable, clinical activities.
  • Associate Professors: should have the terminal degree appropriate to their field or equivalent qualifications, a record of successful teaching experience, accomplishment and promise for significant contributions in scholarly/creative work, and leadership and service experience. If applicable, they will also have a record of successful clinical activity. In most cases, the award of tenure accompanies appointment or promotion to associate professor, with the exception of the University of Colorado Law School, where promotion and tenure can be separate processes.
  • Professors (also called “Full Professors”):should have the terminal degree appropriate to their field or equivalent qualifications, and: (a) a record since earning the terminal degree or equivalent qualifications that, taken as a whole, may be judged to be excellent; (b) a record of significant contribution to graduate and undergraduate education, unless individual or departmental circumstances can be shown to require a stronger emphasis, or singular focus, on one or the other; and (c) a record since receiving tenure or promotion to Associate Professor that indicates substantial, significant, continued growth, development, and accomplishment in teaching, scholarly/creative work, leadership and service, and if applicable, clinical activities.
  • Distinguished Professors: This title is extended by the Board of Regents to recognize the outstanding contributions of tenured full professors to their academic disciplines (see subsection (J) of and ). The faculty awarded this title must demonstrate accomplishments in accordance with the following criteria: (a) excellence in the promotion of learning and student attainment of knowledge and skills; (b) distinguished performance in scholarly/creative work; and (c) outstanding leadership and service to the profession and to CU and/or affiliate institutions. It is reserved for a select group of faculty members who are leaders in their respective fields as attested to by national or international recognition and/or their significant public service achievements.

CU Boulderwill use only the Teaching Professor series for all of our faculty who specialize in teaching. CU Boulder will not use the Instructor series outlined in APS 5060 because we do not want to create an additional tier or hierarchy of faculty who specialize in teaching (i.e., teaching-track faculty).

  • Assistant Teaching Professors:should have the terminal degree appropriate to their field or equivalent experience and should be well-qualified to teach at the level of instruction to which they are assigned.
  • Associate Teaching Professors:should have the terminal degree appropriate to their field or equivalent experience, and a record of successful teaching experience.
  • Teaching Professors: should have the terminal degree appropriate to their field or equivalent experience, and a consistent record of excellent teaching and pedagogical development since being appointed as Associate Teaching Professor.
  • Chairs: The chair shall be the principal officer of the department and is responsible for the effective and efficient administration of the department. The chair shall also have the responsibility for providing intellectual leadership toward achievement of the highest possible level of excellence in the teaching, research, and service activities of the department, and for providing direction in academic planning and support for faculty development. Administratively, the chair is responsible to the dean of the college as well as to the department. With the advice and counsel of colleagues in the department and acting under the rules of the department, the chair is the departmental representative and spokesperson. In implementing the rules of the department with respect to recommendations for faculty appointments, promotions, tenure, and salary increments, the chair may submit their own comments to the dean in addition to the recommendations of the department, but may not overrule decisions of the department or of regularly constituted committees of the department.
  • Associate Chairs: The title of Associate Chair may be appointed to departments in which size and/or complexity require the assistance of an associate to the chair. The Associate Chair supports the work and role of the department chair and is also responsible to the dean of the college and the department. The role of Associate Chair may necessitate serving as acting chair at those times when the department chair’s schedule requires her/him to be either absent from a departmental event or, for example, when the chair is recused from personnel voting procedures.
  • Faculty Directors: The title Faculty Director is designated for those faculty members who serve as faculty-rank directors of academic programs and for faculty in academic programs who perform activities comparable to that of a chair in an academic department.
  • Associate Faculty Directors: The title Associate Faculty Director may be appointed to programs in which size and/or complexity require the assistance of an associate to the faculty director. This title is reserved for individuals assigned responsibilities similar to those of an associate chair.

Clinical faculty titles are meant for faculty working in healthcare education, clinical or public health practice, or a healthcare or health sciences setting.

  • Instructor, Clinical Teaching Track: should have a master’s degree in their field or equivalent experience and should be well qualified in their primary area(s) of responsibility.
  • Senior Instructor, Clinical Teaching Track: should have at least a master’s degree or equivalent experience and a record of successful experience in their primary area(s) of responsibility.
  • Principal Instructor, Clinical Teaching Track: should have at least a master’s degree or equivalent experience and a consistent record of excellence in their primary area(s) of responsibility.
  • Assistant Professor, Clinical Teaching Track: should have the terminal degree in their field or equivalent experience and demonstrated success in their primary area(s) of responsibility.
  • Associate Professor, Clinical Teaching Track: should have the terminal degree in their field or equivalent experience, considerable evidence of success in their primary area(s) of responsibility and demonstrated leadership and service.
  • Professor, Clinical Teaching Track: should have the terminal degree in their field or equivalent experience, and a record of excellence in their primary area(s) of responsibility that indicates substantial, significant, and continued growth and accomplishment.
  • Scholar in Residence: should hold the terminal degree in their discipline or equivalent experience but have spent much or all of their careers outside academia. This title is given to individuals whose combination of academic background and career expertise in areas of business, industry, law, K-12 education, the arts, or government makes them valuable contributors to the undergraduate or graduate academic program of their primary unit. These appointments are at-will.
  • Artist in Residence: should hold the terminal degree in their discipline or equivalent experience but have spent much or all of their careers outside academia. This title is given to individuals whose career experience as an artist makes them valuable contributors to the undergraduate or graduate academic program of their primary unit. These appointments are at-will.
  • Lecturers: should have a graduate degree and/or advanced experience in their profession or field of expertise. Lecturer is the title given to an individual hired to teach only on a course-by-course and part-time basis. Lecturers are qualified to teach the particular course or courses for which they have been hired. These appointments are non-voting, not tenure-eligible, and are at-will.
  • Emeritus/Emerita: Emeritus/Emerita is an honorary designation awarded upon retirement to faculty with a record of strong contributions to the university. Faculty are nominated for emeritus/emerita status by their department and approved by the dean, provost, and chancellor. The emeritus/emerita designation is added to the title/rank held by the faculty member at the time of retirement.
  • Adjoint: The “adjoint” designation, applied at the end of a faculty title, is used for individuals, such as employees of national research institutes or other agencies or institutions, who offer courses or supervise academic programs with or without compensation from the University of Colorado. Their academic qualifications should be similar to those of faculty in the Tenured and Tenure-Track series. These appointments are at-will.
  • Visiting: The designation “visiting” before an academic title indicates that the faculty member has a temporary appointment for a defined period such as an academic year, semester, or summer term. The visiting title should indicate the faculty member’s rank at their home institution or planned for at the University of Colorado. The award of this title does not guarantee future hiring at the University of Colorado or hiring at this rank. Visiting titles may also be offered to newly-hired faculty members who are awaiting formal review of their credentials for appointment as associate or full professor. In these cases, visiting appointments will not usually extend beyond one year. The visiting position is non-voting and at-will.
  • Courtesy: A “courtesy” appointment is a non-voting, unranked, unpaid designation given to a faculty member in one unit (the “home” unit) within the CU System (i.e., another department, school, or college on any CU campus), who has substantial interaction with the courtesy unit. Faculty with courtesy appointments are typically CU regular faculty external to the department/school/college/campus, who have scholarly and creative work, collaborations, or teaching relevant to the courtesy unit. Courtesy appointees may teach or cross-list courses or co-supervise graduate students in the courtesy unit but would not otherwise participate in the courtesy unit’s governance or activities. Teaching or cross-listing across campuses is subject to separate MOU with at least deanlevel approval on each campus. The basic procedures for approval of courtesy faculty are governed by the dean’s offices. These appointments are at-will.
  • Working Retiree – Faculty: In accordance with,the University of Colorado has established new job codes that must be used when hiring retirees to a new post-retirement position to ensure accurate leave status and benefits accounting for all working retirees. The new faculty position job codes are as follows:
    • 1620 – Working PERA Retiree – Faculty
    • 1621 – Working ORP Retiree – Faculty

Recruitment and Hiring

Recruitment Process

Each summer, the schools and collegesmust seek approval from the provost for all tenured and tenure-track faculty searches to take place in their school or collegeduring the following academic year.For more information on this process, please contact the dean’s office at the respective school/college/institute.

After the provost has approved the search, a Faculty Position Recruiting Authorization Form, approved by the academic unit chair and dean, will be submitted by the school/college/institute dean's faculty liaisonto the Office of Faculty Affairs for final approval. Any revision to the information (e.g., change in title or salary) requires that a new form be submitted.

If the faculty position is a joint appointment with another academic unit, only one Faculty Position Recruiting Authorization Form should be completed, but each dean or chair must sign the form. The form needs to include the percentages of the budget that each academic unit will contribute to fund the position.

Next, the dean’s faculty liaison will work with Human Resources to advertise the position widely to ensure a strong and diverse pool. For more information on this process, please visit theHuman Resources webpage on Faculty Hiring. Please be aware of theadditional reference check processwhen hiring tenured faculty.

Once a candidate has been selected for a position, the dean's faculty liaison, in consultation with the academic unit, will prepare the appropriate offer letter in draft form. The liaison will email the draftletter of offerto the Office of Faculty Affairs at CUOffer@colorado.edu for review, corrections, changes, and approval. The draft letter should be resubmitted if additional language or terms are inserted or materially altered after the review is underway. As part of the review process, the Office of Faculty Affairs may contact the dean's faculty liaison with questions or comments about the letter of offer.

Once the draft offer letter has been approved by the Office of Faculty Affairs, the dean's faculty liaisonwill submit the signed letter of offerand State of Colorado Pledge to the candidate for review and signature.

Once the candidate has indicated acceptance of the offer by signing the offer letter, the dean's faculty liaison will prepare and submit the final offer letter package to the Office of Faculty Affairs at the following email address: OFADocuCheck@colorado.edu. The package should include the following:

Once the Office of Faculty Affairs receives the above package, a personnel file for the new faculty member will be established in the Office of Faculty Affairs. In instances where a candidate may be offered tenure with the appointment, a review for tenure must be completed prior to the candidate’s start date at the university. Pleaseclick here for an explanation of the Appointments (Hires) with Tenure process.

All tenured and tenure-track faculty appointments are reported on the provost’s delegation report for approval. Completed offer letters received in the Office of Faculty Affairs by the 21st of the month will be included on that month’s delegation report. Appointments (hires) with tenure require additional processing, including review and approval by the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Committee (VCAC) as well as final approval by the Board of Regents. Campus liaisons are notified by the Office of Faculty Affairs following approval by the provost and/or the Board of Regents.

Recruitment Process

The recruitment of specialized faculty (i.e, teaching and clinical faculty, faculty-in-residence) will be administered by the dean's office of the respective school/college.

Teaching/ClinicalFaculty and Faculty-in-Residence:

Once a candidate has been selected for a position, the dean's faculty liaison, in consultation with the academic unit, will prepare theappropriate offer letterin draft form. The liaison will email the draftletter of offerto the Office of Faculty Affairs atCUOffer@colorado.edufor review, corrections, changes, and approval. The draft letter should be resubmitted if additional language or terms are inserted or materially altered after the review is underway. As part of the review process, the Office of Faculty Affairs may contact the dean's faculty liaison with questions or comments about the letter of offer.

Once the draft offer letter has been approved by the Office of Faculty Affairs, the dean's faculty liaison will submit the required offer letter package materials. Please note that the package materials differ slightly for full-time, specialized faculty new hires and reappointments:

All teaching/clinical faculty (regardless of FTE), and full-time faculty-in-residencenew hires:
  • Signed Letter of Offer
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Letter of Recommendation (1)
  • Social Security Information Sheet
All teaching/clinical faculty (regardless of FTE) and full-time faculty-in-residence reappointments:
  • Signed Letter of Offer
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Letter of Recommendation (1)
Part-time faculty-in-residence, as well as all contingent faculty and title modifiers (e.g., Lecturers, Adjuncts, Adjoints, Courtesy, etc.):

The letter of offer process for these positions is managed entirely within the dean's office for the appointments. Please consult with the specific school/college dean’s office for policy and procedural guidance.Offer letters for these appointments should be maintained within the faculty personnel files for the school/college.

General Information

The rguidance in this section refers to the following positions: Chairs, Associate Chairs, Institute Directors, Faculty Directors, Associate Faculty Directors, and Associate Deans (faculty-occupied positions). Consult the Campus HR Guidance for Posting Faculty Administrative Appointments in order to comply with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (EPEWA).

Please note that there is a difference between how the campus uses the Associate Dean and Assistant Dean titles. An individual hired as an Assistant Dean is given a university staff appointment. Therefore, the procedures for hiring university staff must be followed. The Associate Dean title is used exclusively to appointfaculty to an administrative position within a school or college. If you are unsure of the title designation, please contact the Office of Faculty Affairs. Theprovost must approve these administrative appointments, and a letter of offer is required.

In most instances, current faculty are provided with the opportunity to assume Associate Dean or Chair positions within their departments, schools or colleges. In those instances where an individual is being recruited into a faculty position and is also being considered for an administrative position, please refer to the faculty recruitment procedures outlined below.

Recruitment Process

The department/school/college will be responsible for the following activities in the recruitment of additional administrative positions for faculty members:

  1. Follow the Campus HR Guidance for Posting Faculty Administrative Appointments.
  2. In most instances, a faculty administrative appointment will be filled by the faculty currently in the school/college. In the event that an external search is conducted, the dean’s faculty liaison will work with campus human resources to advertise the position widely to ensure a strong and diverse pool. For more information on this process, please visit the Human Resources webpage on Faculty Hiring.
  3. The dean will make a recommendation for an appointment to the provost.
  4. Once a candidate has been selected for a position, the dean's faculty liaison, in consultation with the academic unit, will prepare the appropriate offer letter in draft form. The liaison will email the draft letter of offer to the Office of Faculty Affairs at CUOffer@colorado.edu for review, corrections, changes, and approval. The draft letter should be resubmitted if additional language or terms are inserted or materially altered after the review is underway. As part of the review process, the Office of Faculty Affairs may contact the dean's faculty liaison with questions or comments about the letter of offer.
  5. Since individuals holding administrative titles are considered to be employees-at-will as it relates to the administrative position, the letter of offer must include the following language:

Your employment contract is subject to termination by either party to such contract at any time during its term, and you shall be deemed to be an employee-at-will. No compensation, whether as a buy-out of the remaining term of contract, as liquidated damages, or as any other form of remuneration, shall be owed or paid to you upon or after termination of such contract except for compensation that was earned prior to the date of termination.

  1. Once the draft offer letter has been approved by the Office of Faculty Affairs, the dean's faculty liaison will forward the final offer letter to the candidate and route the final offer letter via DocuSign to the appropriate offices for initials or signature(s).
  2. Once signed by the candidate, the completed offer letter will be automatically returned to the Office of Faculty Affairs via DocuSign for inclusion on the Faculty Personnel Actions Report.

The Office of Faculty Affairs will be responsible for the following activities in the recruitment of additional administrative positions for faculty members:

  • The Office of Faculty Affairs will review the draft letter of offer to ensure compliance with state laws, Regent law, and campus policies.
  • The draft letter of offer will be submitted to Legal Counsel if the letter of offer warrants further review.
  • The dean’s faculty liaison will route the final letter of offer via DocuSign to the appropriate offices for signature(s), and the hire will be included on the Faculty Personnel Actions Report.
  • DocuSign will automatically email a copy of the completed letter to all parties.
  • The offer letter will be placed in the individual's electronic personnel file administered by faculty affairs, or, if appropriate, a new personnel file will be created for a new faculty administrative hire. Their faculty appointment offer letter should be submitted separately.

Other Hiring Programs

General Information

In the course of hiring, a primary academic unit may find a preferred candidate requesting that their partner also be considered for a hire. Dual career hiring can be a powerful tool for recruiting and retaining first-rate faculty.

Dual career hiring requests may involve tenure-track positions, non-tenure track positions, or other higher education or non-academic jobs.

Faculty Positions

A dual career hiring situation that involves a partner seeking a faculty position in the unit that is making the initial hire, or in another academic unit should proceed as follows:

  • In the first case, the unit should follow its own guidelines on hiring. If the unit has special guidelines for dual career hiring, those should, of course, be followed; if no specific guidelines are in place, the unit should follow its general rules for hiring, with the understanding that there will not be an initial open search.
  • In the second case, the chair of the initial hiring unit should consult with the chair/director or dean of the other unit, indicating that the hiring department has a potential candidate for the other unit who is a candidate’s partner. The chair/director or dean will request a CV and other basic information and then will consult with the appropriate body within their unit about how to proceed. If the unit decides to consider the dual career candidate, then it should follow its own guidelines for such possible hires.

A unit being asked to consider hiring a dual career candidate should evaluate the request with three key questions in mind:

  1. Does this candidate meet the standards of the unit; that is, does the individual under consideration have the profile of someone who can succeed in the reappointment and tenure review process?
  2. Would the candidate strengthen the unit?
  3. Would this candidate serve the interests of the campus; that is, can the unit make the accommodation in order to strengthen a fellow unit?

In some circumstances, questions #2 and #3 may present something of a dilemma. The unit should deliberate in order to find the right balance between the unit’s needs and those of the wider campus community. Each unit should give due consideration to the needs of the other unit alongside its own interests.

If unit faculty members decide they should make an offer for a dual career hire, the hiring unit must work with campus human resources and potentially file a search waiver request.

With regards to funding dual career hires, the following outlines a possible arrangement proposal: the original unit will pay 1/3 of the salary, the unit making the dual career hire will pay 1/3 (if the original and dual career unit are the same, then that unit contributes at least 2/3), and the provost will pay 1/3. Negotiations may begin from that point. Note that the units will need to make the case to the provost that the proposed hires are advantageous to the campus. All such hires are contingent on the availability of funds.

Other Positions

If the candidate’s partner is seeking a non-academic position at the university or beyond the university, then the hiring unit should work with its dean to discuss options and collaborate on possible job contacts. The units also can contact campus human resources for assistance and make use of the resources offered by the .

Recruitment Process

The department/school/collegewill be responsible for the following activities in the recruitment of a dual career faculty hire within CU Boulder:

  • A dual career hire usually requires a revision to a unit’s recruitment plan because the search or hire of the partner would not have been included in the original recruitment authorization plan. Adding a faculty position to a previously approved recruitment plan requires provost approval. The steps to be taken are as follows:
  1. Identify the rank and budget line that would support the dual career hire;
  2. Work with campus human resources and file a search waiver request;
  3. Invite the partner to campus for an interview visit;
  4. Conduct a faculty vote to approve the hire.
  • The dean should submit a letter to the provost requesting approval to revise the original recruitment plan in order to make the dual hire. The dean's letter should include the following:
  1. A description of both positions;
  2. Letters of offer that have been reviewed and approved;
  3. A curriculum vitae for each candidate;
  4. The academic vote in support of the dual hire;
  5. Reconfirmation of the budget line to support the dual hire.

The Office of Faculty Affairs will be responsible for the following activities in the recruitment of a dual career hire:

  • Faculty Affairs will process both letters of offer consistent with the procedure described in the section on Tenure-Track and Tenured Faculty or Specialized Faculty.

Introduction

As a global leader in higher education, promoting equity and democracy is integral to the ’s core mission and the campus’ strategic imperatives of shaping tomorrow’s leaders, being the top university for innovation, and positively impacting humanity.1

A diverse faculty is inherent to the overall excellence of our university.2 Faculty play the primary role in scholarly and creative work and teaching, doing outreach, and improving the academic reputation of the university. In accordance with this and in order to implement the recommendations embodied in the IDEA Plan’s Action Area #2: Learn and Lead Effective Efforts to Attract and Retain a More Diverse Faculty and Staff, the Provost’s Office, in collaboration with the schools and colleges and the Office of Faculty Affairs (OFA), encourage recruiting faculty who meet critical needs (CN) in research and teaching across campus.

In 2023, the deans of the schools and colleges expressed the desire to revise the program so that it would provide the schools and colleges with more autonomy and flexibility in meeting the goals of the FDAP, and more opportunities for cluster hires.

This webpage is intended to provide guidance to the deans and units about how to implement the critical needs hiring program (CNHP).

1 See .
2 Piercy, et al., UU Health (2015) p. 3; E. Robertson, The epistemic value of diversity, Journal of Philosophy of Education 47 (2) (2013).
* Members of search committees and all evaluators are expected to follow campus guidance on searches and hires, and work to eliminate barriers to equitable access to faculty positions.

Learn more about the CNHP

Policy Resources on Faculty Recruitment and Hiring