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Adding secondary appointments

Adding Joint Appointments

Joint appointments recognize a faculty member’s long-term commitment to, and participation in, two or more academic appointing units. One appointing unit shall be designated as primary and the other(s) secondary. The primary unit is responsible for administering and/or coordinating major personnel actions like the promotion and tenure process and compensation changes. Unless otherwise allowed for by policy, a joint appointment can only be changed with the concurrence of the faculty member and the appointing units.

In a situation where the tenure is split between a 9-month appointing unit and a 12-month appointing unit, the 9-month appointing unit must be the primary unit.

Joint Hire Packet Requirements

PDF 1

  • Offer letter signed by hiring authority and signed or acknowledged by appointee

PDF 2

Unit Responsibilities

Personnel determinations (salaries, promotions, leave, etc.) are the responsibility of the primary unit, but may be proposed by a secondary unit. The primary and secondary unit(s) must agree before any actions are taken.

Voting Eligibility

A faculty member’s voting eligibility in a secondary unit must be clarified in the initial secondary appointment offer. This will be used to determine the quorum for faculty votes.

Split Tenure (Eligibility)

When a faculty member has a primary tenured or tenure-track professorial appointment and a secondary joint appointment, there needs to be an agreement between the units about whether or how tenure (eligibility) will be split.

These arrangements need to be documented at the time of hire for the tenure or tenure-track professorial appointment types.

Tenure (Eligibility) Split Allocation Options

50%/50%
67%/33% (majority must be with primary unit)

Tenure Allocations Examples

In many joint appointments, tenure (eligibility) is often concentrated in the primary unit (i.e., 100% tenure in primary unit and 0% in secondary unit). In such cases, professorial duties may be assigned in the secondary unit(s), who may decide to share in the funding of the appointment.

Primary Appointment (Primary unit) Tenure (eligibility) Joint Appointment (Secondary unit) Tenure (eligibility)
Professor 100% Professor 0%
Associate Professor 50% Associate Professor 50%
Assistant Professor 67% Assistant Professor 33%
Professor Tenure Track (100%) Professor Tenure Track (0%)
Associate Professor Tenure Track (50%) Associate Professor Tenure Track (50%)

Changing Tenure (Eligibility) Allocations for Joint Appointments

The tenure (eligibility) allocations for a joint appointment may be changed by agreement between the faculty member and the relevant units upon consultation with the Office of Academic Personnel.

Changing Primary Units

While academic personnel may have multiple academic appointments, there must be only one primary appointment. OAP’s Changing the primary unit page outlines scenarios and processes for changing secondary appointments to primary.

Promotion and Tenure Procedures

Per UW Faculty Code Section 24-34 B, the promotion and tenure process must include a full review by all units associated with a joint appointment. The primary unit should lead the coordination of this process across all associated units.

Adding Administrative Appointments

Administrative appointments are granted to academic personnel employees who also hold current academic appointments at UW. For more details about these titles including hiring packet requirements, visit the Administrative Appointments page.

Adding Dual Appointments

Adding Adjunct Appointments

For more details about these titles including hiring packet requirements, visit the Adjunct Appointments page.

Adding Endowed Appointments

For more details about these appointments including hiring packet requirements, visit the Endowments page.

Adding Concurrent Independent Appointments

Hire packet requirements are as indicated for each appointment on the individual Academic Titles and Ranks pages.

Unit Responsibilities

Personnel determinations (salaries, promotions, leave, etc.) are the responsibility of the primary unit, but may be proposed by a secondary unit. The primary and secondary unit(s) must agree before any actions are taken.

Voting Eligibility

Dual appointments do not have voting eligibility.

Promotion and Tenure Procedures

In the case of adjunct and concurrent independent appointments, if the primary appointment is being considered for promotion and tenure, the dual appointment must also be considered. If a faculty member is actively under review for promotion and/or tenure, units should wait to offer them an adjunct appointment until after the promotion and/or tenure decision effective date. The adjunct appointment should match the rank of the promoted title (e.g., an associate professor would hold an adjunct associate professor title).

Endowed appointments are not subject to the promotion and tenure process.