Academic Affairs Manual (ACD)
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| Effective: 7/1/1984 |
Revised: 7/1/2006 |
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ACD 505–03: Academic Professional Status, Ranks, Titles, and Appointment Categories |
Purpose
To describe and define academic professional status, ranks, titles, and appointment categories
Sources
Arizona Board of Regents Policy Manual - 6-301
Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost of the University
Policy
Academic Professional Status
Academic professionals include all employees designated by the Notice of Appointment as “professional.” Academic professionals, including librarians and researchers, are nonclassified employees who are involved with research or teaching programs, have advanced degrees and/or specialized training, require professional and intellectual freedom, and report to a person below the level of senior vice president and provost or vice president.
Academic Professional Ranks
The ranks of appointment for all academic professionals shall be assistant, associate, senior, or full. Senior may be used by individuals in areas of science and technology, while full, usually not stated, will be used in other academic areas. Criteria for ranking and procedures for applying for promotion, including peer review, must be developed by each college, branch campus, and the University Libraries and approved by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost of the University.
Academic Professional Job Titles
The following job titles (sometimes modified by “visiting” or “acting”) are used within the academic professional category. Each academic professional has one of these job titles at the rank of either assistant, associate, or full/senior. Academic professionals with administrative appointments may also have administrative titles using such terms as “manager,” “director,” “dean,” etc., but such titles are supplemental to basic academic professional titles, comparable to the way that an associate professor may also have the title of “department chair” or “center director,” while a professor may have the title of “dean” or “vice provost.”
For convenience in identifying their roles, many academic professionals without administrative appointments may find it useful to supplement their basic titles with information about the nature of their work, e.g., a learning resources specialist may informally use the title “television (or computer) learning resources specialist,” while a research specialist may use the title “research equipment specialist.” This kind of specificity, as approved by the academic professional’s supervisor, is acceptable for informal use, but the only titles that will be used in letters of appointment, on yearly contracts, and in ASU’s record keeping will be the titles listed below. When appropriate, the titles listed below will be coordinated with administrative appointments. For clarity, these current job titles are grouped according to similar functions; however, these function headings are not a part of the job titles.
Information and Materials ManagementArchivist
Learning resources specialist
Librarian
Museum professionalPedagogy
Administrative professional
Clinical professional
Fine arts specialist
Instructional professionalResearch
Postdoctoral research associates
Research administrator
Research engineer
Research scientist
Research professional
Research technologistSupport
Academic Associates
Other than the generic definitions given below, there are no university-wide job descriptions for these titles. Because of variation across the university, academic professionals work with their supervisors (and primary evaluators, if different) as part of the yearly review process to draft mutually agreed-upon job descriptions.
As the needs of the university change, academic professionals may be given different job titles and responsibilities as well as different supervisors, but they will not be demoted in rank.
Specific Definitions of Job Titles
Under the Board of Regents general definition, academic professionals are nonclassified employees involved with research or teaching programs and have responsibilities that require protection of professional and academic freedom.
Academic associates: Are qualified by training and experience to assist in the functioning of the university. They are comparable to faculty associates except that they do not teach classes, but instead serve in such supportive roles as interviewers, management assistants, student advisors, and liaisons between the university and outside agencies. The majority of individuals holding these positions fill nonteaching roles connected with projects funded from outside the university. They may be doctoral students who have completed all degree requirements except the dissertation. This is a “year-to-year” appointment.
Administrative professional: Holds an advanced degree; has significant supervisory and/or management responsibilities, as designated in most units by a notice of administrative assignment in addition to the academic professional appointment.
Archivist: Holds a master’s degree; acquires, organizes, manages, preserves, and makes available historical source material of significance to research.
Clinical professional: Teaches and supervises students working through clinical practice to put into use the knowledge and skills they have acquired.
Fine arts specialist: Works in partnership with artists and designers to bring their projects to fruition.
Instructional professional: Has the teaching and mentoring of students as a significant part of his or her job responsibilities.
Learning resources specialist: Holds at least a master’s degree; acquires, manages, utilizes, and provides access to media materials and equipment in support of the instructional, research, and service programs of the university.
Librarian: Holds a Master of Library Science degree; acquires, organizes, manages, preserves, and provides access to library resources in support of the instructional, research, and service programs of the university.
Museum professional: Has the responsibility of managing and protecting a collection of valuables as in a museum.
Postdoctoral research associates:Are persons who have earned a doctorate and are employed temporarily by and serve at the pleasure of a faculty member at ASU. Postdoctoral research associates assist faculty members with their research programs.
Research administrator: Has management and administrative responsibilities for units that support faculty members and other professionals in their research efforts.
Research engineer: Holds a Ph.D. and works cooperatively or independently in conducting research and seeking outside funding and supervising others in carrying out significant research projects.
Research scientist: Holds a Ph.D. and works cooperatively or independently in conducting research and in seeking outside funding and supervising others in carrying out significant research projects.
Research professional: Has a wide variety of research-related tasks requiring advanced training and skills and carried out with varying levels of independence.
Research technologist: Lends high-level technical support to assist faculty and other professionals in their research efforts.
Academic Professional Appointment Categories
Appointments for academic professionals are continuing, probationary, or year-to-year. The Notice of Appointment of an academic professional shall carry the designation “continuing,” “probationary,” “multiple-year,” or “year-to-year,” as appropriate.
Continuing Appointment
A “continuing appointment” means that the person shall have an expectation that the president will renew his or her appointment as an academic professional for successive appointment periods, except when such a recommendation is precluded by reason of retirement, resignation, release for budgetary reasons or reorganization, or dismissal for just cause.
Academic professionals with continuing appointment status will keep their ranks (see “Academic Professional Ranks”) but may be assigned different job titles and different supervisors as the university’s needs change.
Probationary Appointment
A “probationary appointment” means that the person has no expectation of employment beyond the end of the current appointment period, but shall be reviewed for continuing status in accordance with the procedures outlined in ACD 507–05, “Probationary Appointments and Review” and ACD 507–06, “Review for Continuing Appointment.” A person shall hold a probationary appointment for no more than seven years, including any terminal appointment that the university may choose to provide. A person employed under a probationary appointment shall not be subsequently employed under a year-to-year appointment.
Multiple-Year Appointment
A multiple-year appointment means an appointment to an academic professional position for a term of more than one year but not more than three years. See also ACD 507–04, “Multiple-Year Appointments.”
Year-to-Year Appointment
A “year-to-year appointment” means that academic professionals so employed shall have no expectation of employment beyond the end of the current appointment period, which may be for a fiscal year or less. There is no time limit to the number of appointment periods to which a person employed under a year-to-year contract may be appointed. Continuation is determined by performance, availability of funding, and need for the person’s expertise.
Persons on year-to-year appointments whose assignment is at 50 percent FTE or more shall be reviewed annually in a manner similar to that established for probationary academic professionals but they shall not be eligible for continuing status review. Persons on year-to-year appointments whose assignment is at less than 50 percent FTE shall normally not receive a Notice of Appointment but may continue to be reappointed so long as performance is satisfactory, their work is needed, and funding is available.
Appointments that are dependent for funding from a specific source other than state appropriations shall be designated only as year-to-year.
Persons employed under a year-to-year appointment may subsequently be employed under a probationary appointment.
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