Endowed appointments provide recognition and support to exemplary faculty members, and can play an important role in recruitment and retention. Information on this page pertains to a specific set of endowed appointments that includes endowed faculty fellowships, term professorships, endowed professorships, and endowed administrative appointments.

Note: Endowed deanships and other endowments administered by the Office of the Provost are not addressed on this page and should not be entered into Workday by academic units. When applicable, Academic HR (AHR) will contact units with information about when and how to process these appointments.

Endowed appointments are at-will secondary appointments and subject to the discretion of the dean or chancellor, or provost for centrally administered funds. Endowed professorship, term professorship, and endowed administrative appointments require Board of Regents approval; endowed faculty fellowships require provost approval.

Appointments can be for an indefinite period–subject to review at least every 5 years and remaining at-will–or for a specified limited period in the case of term professorships. It is expected that faculty members will hold only one endowed appointment at any given time.

Endowment Appointment Process

Unit administrators enter endowed appointments into Workday via the Add Academic Appointment Track process. In Workday endowed appointments are referred to as “named professorships”.

When entering the appointment, leave the Named Professorship field blank, assign a Dual identifier, and include the complete name of the endowment–generally found in the endowment agreement–in the comment section.

Academic HR will fill in the Named Professorship field when reviewing the request.

New Appointment Required Documents 
Updated 10/31/2019

Administrators upload the following documents to Workday as a single PDF:

  • Letter from the director/chair requesting the appointment
  • Candidate’s CV
  • Endowment agreement (contact your dean’s/chancellor’s office for more information)
  • Any other supporting documentation

Completion of the business process in Workday by Academic HR confirms provost approval of faculty fellowships. AHR will notify candidates in writing of Board of Regents approval for endowed professorships, term professorships, and endowed administrative appointments.

Endowed appointments cannot be announced until formally approved by the provost or Board of Regents as outlined above.

Reappointment Required Documents  

  • Reappointment request letter from director/chair/campus dean, or dean of an undepartmentalized unit

Administering Funds

Chancellors and deans are responsible for administering and monitoring endowment expenditures in accordance with University policies and procedures and in compliance with the endowment agreement.

Guidelines for the terms and use of operating income for endowed appointments are outlined here.

Additional Resources