Glossary of Faculty Appointments
Academic full-time – This type of appointment is only used for Medical School faculty. Their appointments are split between NU and another entity such as Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation, Children’s Memorial Hospital or Northwestern Memorial Hospital . At any given time, they could be unpaid at NU. Faculty members holding these appointments are expected to teach in clinics and participate in resident training.
Adjunct – These appointments are not tenured or tenure-track faculty. Adjuncts are generally not full-time and typically have a primary job outside of academia. Adjuncts do not have the whole range of faculty responsibilities; their focus is on teaching, generally not on scholarship. They are generally expected to hold the terminal degree in the field.
Clinical – Clinical appointments are a subset of regular faculty appointments. In the Medical School , the modifier of “Clinical” in the faculty title indicates that the faculty member is less than full-time. In the other schools that have established clinical tracks (Kellogg School of Management, Law School , and the Medill School of Journalism), the “Clinical” modifier is generally used for full-time faculty who are non-tenure track; who are typically practicing professionals brought in to help bring professional experience and perspective to the curriculum. The term is also used to distinguish the positions from tenured and tenure-track faculty. Clinical faculty are not necessarily expected to hold the terminal degree in the field. Their duties are more focused on teaching rather than research.
Contributed service – Faculty appointment granted to medical staff who participate in Medical School academic activities without compensation from an approved Medical School source (Veteran’s Administration, Children’s Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ).
Coterminous – Identifies faculty appointments that are granted in conjunction with another, typically non-faculty, appointment. The non-faculty appointment is primary. Therefore, the faculty appointment terminates if the other appointment is terminated. In the Medical School , a graduate medical student may hold an appointment as Chief Medical Resident and be granted an appointment as a coterminous instructor. The faculty appointment must end when the appointment as Chief Medical Resident ends.
Emeritus – A faculty member who retires from Northwestern after reaching age 55 and who generally has a minimum of 10 years of continuous service. Nominations to emeritus status require approval of the Dean, the Provost and the Board of Trustees. Emeritus faculty are always unpaid; paid appointments should be established under the “emeritus in service” category.
Endowed Professorship – This designation is used in addition to a regular faculty appointment to identify faculty who are appointed to named professorships. The Dean nominates a faculty member to a professorship. Approval is required by the Provost and the Board of Trustees.
NMFF Member – This designation is used for Feinberg faculty who are also paid for clinical work as members of the Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation. These appointments are always in conjunction with a paid faculty appointment through NU.
Regular Faculty – These faculty are identified as officers of instructions in the ranks of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate, Senior Lecturer, College Lecturer, Lecturer, College Fellow, and Instructor.
Research– These appointments are approved by the Office for Research. Research faculty members do not teach, and are not to be supported on appropriated funds. They are typically supported only on sponsored funding, and are appointed solely to pursue research. Generally they must hold the terminal degree in the field and are independent investigators who are evaluated in terms of their scholarly achievements. Research faculty almost always must have paid appointments. Unpaid research faculty appointments are generally only approved for those individuals employed by other institutions formally affiliated with Northwestern University (e.g., Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Children’s Memorial Institute for Education & Research, Rehabilitation Institute, etc.) and involved in collaborative research with Northwestern investigators in Northwestern facilities.
Visiting faculty– These are generally faculty with appointments at another academic institution. Appointments may range in duration from one to 24 months. Appointments longer than 24 months must be approved by the Provost’s Office. These appointments may be either paid or unpaid. Generally there is some expectation of service for the University, often specialized teaching.
Visiting scholar– These appointments are approved by the Office for Research. They are generally sponsored or employed elsewhere, usually in another universities, in industry or government, but are at Northwestern for short periods, normally one year or less, to work with Northwestern faculty to learn research techniques, to use specialized facilities, or to collaborate with faculty investigators. Visiting scholars are normally unpaid visitors, but, occasionally, they may be paid through the University payroll system. They m ay not teach and there is no expectation of service for the University.