General Categories of Faculty Appointed to the Tenure Track

Faculty who are on the tenure track fall roughly into three categories, with the majority in Category 1.

Category 1:   Faculty whose primary activity is research (discovery of new knowledge) and who have sustained extramural funding, with some teaching and, perhaps, clinical service. These faculty members typically have a Ph.D. degree. If they have an M.D. degree, they have little or no clinical commitment, and usually have appointment in an institute or center.

Category 2:   Faculty whose major emphasis is clinical care with a substantial amount of teaching, but who conduct on-going, funded research or other scholarly activity, most likely clinical investigation related to their clinical specialty or sub-specialty. These individuals typically have an M.D. degree and primary affiliation in one of the sections of the department. In most instances, faculty in this category would allocate at least 40% of their effort to scholarly activities and would be expected to maintain extramural funding. Faculty who allocate significantly less effort to scholarly activity would most appropriately be appointed to the non-tenure track.

Category 3:   Faculty whose primary responsibilities are teaching and/or educational administration with some clinical care commitment and who conduct ongoing scholarly activities in the area of medical education.   Faculty in this category would be expected to produce a series of thematically related scholarly products, including peer-reviewed publications. A collection of unrelated products would not meet the scholarship expectations of tenure track faculty. Faculty would be expected to allocate in the range of 50% of their effort to scholarship and to maintain some extramural funding. Faculty who allocate significantly less effort to scholarly activity would most appropriately be appointed to the non-tenure track.