Joint Appointments

In a number of situations EMU employs persons who work across different departments. For instance, a person may serve both administrative and faculty roles, or a person may serve in one of those roles but in two different departments or programs. When this is the case, a variety of issues arise and must be addressed. The particular questions and their resolution vary in different situations but questions to consider include the following:

1. Will the person be on an administrative or faculty appointment or part-time on each?
2. Are one or both roles year-to-year appointments or, if faculty, will the person progress to longer term contracts for the faculty portion of the appointment?
3. If faculty, what are the implications for faculty status including part-time or full-time status, rank and use of faculty development opportunities including sabbaticals? What are the assumptions about any other benefits, including those that apply only to administrators, such as vacation time?
4. How will supervision occur, i.e. two supervisors with equal responsibility or some other arrangement? Who is responsible for performance evaluation and contract renewal? (It is assumed that all parts of the role are to be evaluated according to EMU policies.)
5. How will the salary be determined?
6. What are the expectations if reappointment is desired in one part but not all parts of the contract?

Administrators are requested to prepare a written statement of understandings regarding the above issues whenever a joint appointment occurs. The statement should be distributed to persons involved and a copy placed in the personnel file.

Approved by President’s Cabinet, May 7, 2001