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Overview of Joint Appointments
The administrative distinction between secondary and joint appointments is that secondary appointments do not involve any contribution to the faculty salary line; joint appointments do. This matter must be worked out between the Chair and the Dean (for inter-school appointments, between the Deans and the Provost) prior to considering a joint appointment. However, even when a unit does not make a financial contribution, it may identify some appointments as joint in order to grant voting rights faculty on special issues (e.g., bylaws and personnel matters). The agreement governing the joint appointment should clearly identify any such privileges. Joint faculty appointed to ad hoc personnel review committees may vote with other committee members on the committee’s report, even if they are not entitled by the unit's bylaws to vote in the subsequent general faculty meeting where the report is considered and voted on.
Academic units wishing to offer a joint appointment to a current regular-rank faculty member holding a primary appointment in another unit at Duke must obtain the permission of the Provost. The unit reviews the credentials of the candidate, votes on the request in a meeting of the appropriate faculty, and sends a written request to the Dean who, in turn, forwards it to the Provost for a decision. Upon approval by the Provost, the Dean writes a contract letter to the faculty member consistent with the terms of the request. This letter must be signed by the faculty member, returned to the Dean and then reviewed and approved by the Provost. Academic units wishing to offer a joint appointment to a regular-rank faculty member being recruited to Duke should consult procedures for joint searches.
In both cases – offer to a current faculty member or to a potential faculty member – the unit's request to the Dean (and the Dean’s to the Provost) should state its reasons for requesting the appointment, the candidate's current primary title and term, the rank at which the appointment will be made, and the length of term requested. The requesting department must send the Dean a copy of the agreement based on the templates found in Appendix B covering faculty responsibilities and privileges concluded between the Chairs of the two units. The Dean attaches this agreement to the request sent to the Provost. It is the responsibility of the two units to address all the pertinent questions identified in the sample agreement and any others they deem necessary. Issues not addressed in the agreement will be governed by the rules of the primary unit.
- Promotion or change of title in the primary department does not automatically promote or change the joint title. Rather, the joint department must make a new and specific request to the Dean. However, it does not require Provost approval to change a joint title in step with the new primary appointment.
- The rank of the joint appointment cannot be higher than the rank of the primary appointment and the faculty member may only have tenure in one department.
- The rank of the joint appointment must be an authorized title for that unit. In the case that the joint unit does not use the same job titles as the primary unit, the closest equivalent title should be used.
- Emeritus faculty may hold a joint appointment, for example, in order to offer a course outside of their emeritus department. However, this appointment requires the Provost’s approval and must be for a specific term.
In dFac, joint appointments are coded as "J".
Processing and Approving Joint Appointments for Duke University Faculty
dFac Users: View the documentation required to finalize each action.
regular rank faculty
screen-reader friendly version of approvals chart