Titles, Tracks, and Terminology

Faculty appointments are described in terms of title and track. The title denotes the academic rank in a hierarchy from instructor to professor, sometimes referred to as “full” professor. The track is the academic pathway for each individual. Typically, tracks have descriptive names such as tenure, research, clinician-educator, or clinical. The terms of appointment and criteria for promotion are determined by the track. Requirements for promotion become more challenging with rising rank from assistant to associate to full professor. As each school defines titles and tracks differently, it is essential that every faculty member understand the system at his/her institution. Titles have precise meanings for each medical school, especially in the use of suffixes and/or prefixes (modifiers). Tenure tracks regulate the time available to meet the requirements for award of tenure (the tenure clock) and generally require achievements in each of the major missions of education, scholarship, and service (the triple threat). Nontenure tracks usually focus on one or more mission areas, have no time restrictions for promotion, and often have modified titles. Once tenure is awarded, appointments generally continue unless a cause for termination intervenes; whereas nontenure appointments have contractual end dates but may be renewable.