Update to the Medical College Faculty Appointment and Promotion System
In 2013, our Dean charged a committee to review the Medical College’s faculty appointment and promotion system. Consisting of faculty from basic science and clinical departments, education scholars and administrators, this committee worked over 18 months to draft language for a new system. The committee’s recommendations were reviewed by the Executive and General Faculty Councils, the Board of Overseers and the University Trustees, and approved in April 2015.
Appointment and promotion criteria of the new system represent major changes from our previous system that classified faculty based on “faculty tracks”. Our new system incorporates objective criteria in recognition of new models of investigation, clinical care, and innovation in education and administration. Under the new guidelines, full‐time faculty are given the opportunity to assemble a profile that reflects their unique combination of activities and accomplishments. This new structure also includes consideration of administrative leadership and service to the Weill Cornell community that contributes to the academic mission of the Medical College and thereby permits all activities and achievements of a faculty member to be considered in the evaluation for promotion.
The majority of full-time and regular part-time employed faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College first choose an area of excellence: Clinical Expertise and Innovation, Investigation, or Educational Leadership. Their faculty appointments reside on one of four academic pathways: Academic Achievement and Scholarship, Clinical Excellence, Excellence in Investigation, and Teaching Excellence. Faculty appointments not associated with a pathway include Lecturers and Instructors (unmodified), as well as Non-Professorial Faculty; Affiliate Clinical Faculty; and Voluntary Faculty.