Unclassified Academic Staff Titles and Related Administrative Practices

Unclassified Academic Staff (Faculty-equivalent Positions)

The titles for unclassified academic staff are comparable to those used for faculty. These titles facilitate common application of University regulations and policies concerning eligibility for employment and procedures for recruitment, retention, promotion and job security. To distinguish state funded employees from grant and contract funded employees, two separate sets of titles are used. For those unclassified academic staff supported by State funds the titles are assistant, associate, senior scientist, curator, or specialist. For unclassified academic staff funded from grants and contracts, the titles are assistant research professor, associate research professor, or research professor. For unclassified academic staff in designated academic programs whose responsibilities to the University require direct clinical practice, clinical education, and scholarship, the titles are assistant clinical professor, associate clinical professor, or clinical professor.

No new academic staff positions that are fully State funded or partially grant/State funded will be created without the written approval of the Provost. Vacancies of all existing academic staff positions must be filled through a recruitment or search waiver process.

Administrative Practices

Since the creation of these titles, the administrative practices as outlined below have governed the use of the titles.

1. These titles are viewed as matching the equivalent faculty ranks of assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. For example, an assistant scientist, assistant clinical professor, or assistant research professor is viewed as comparable in academic rank to an assistant professor.
2. Promotions among the ranks of the academic staff titles are handled through the promotion and tenure process applied to faculty promotions. Criteria for promotion should be consistent with the expectations for promotion in faculty rank with recognition of the varying programmatic, instructional, and service missions of the positions.
3. A probationary period of six years applies to assistant staff rank unless the staff member achieves promotion to the associate rank within the six-year period. A probationary period of three years applies to appointments at the associate level. Unlike faculty, unclassified academic staff are not required to go through a mandatory promotion review during their sixth year of KU employment. However, the performance of all State funded academic staff at the assistant rank should be evaluated carefully and thoroughly during the six-year probationary period, with special emphasis on the sixth-year review. Appointment to a seventh year of consecutive full-time service will normally mean that the probationary period has been completed satisfactorily and the position will be terminated only for adequate cause, including budget constraints.
4. The acquisition of a terminal degree is not justification to move from an unclassified professional staff title into an academic staff title. All academic staff positions must be filled through the recruitment or search waiver processes.
5. No new academic staff positions that are fully State funded or partially grant/State funded will be created without the written approval of the Provost. Vacancies of existing positions must be filled through a recruitment or search waiver process.
6. New fully grant funded academic positions may be created. However, they must be filled through a recruitment or search waiver process.
7. The primary appointment of unclassified academic staff with research professor titles must be in a research center (designated by the Vice Chancellor for Research). A joint or courtesy appointment may exist in an academic unit (department, School, or College).
8. Clinical professor titles are restricted to academic staff who engage in direct clinical practice, clinical teaching, scholarship, and public service in designated units that require clinical positions for accreditation or meet specific unit or school needs and have a University of Kansas clinical unit or student clinical program. These titles will be used for full time unclassified academic staff in designated academic degree programs.