Hiring & Appointments

The Office of Faculty Affairs manages several personnel documents that support Medical School faculty throughout various stages of their academic careers. This page includes links and templates to assist faculty and staff as they submit requests for approval, including new faculty offer letters, without-salary appointment requests, annual reviews, probationary period extensions and track transfers.

To use any templates in Google Docs format, please download it as a Word document.

Paid Appointment Offer Letters

Please follow the hiring request and offer letter processes, in order, for all new faculty appointments. Information on submitting hiring requests for all types of faculty (UMN-only and Common Paymaster) can be found below under the Hiring Request tab below. The OFA will route offer letters for final approvals and signatures.

Additional References

Hiring Request

To submit a hiring request, follow the instructions and complete the forms below. Signed forms should be submitted to hiring@umn.edu for routing and approval.

You can find names and contact information for our UMN, UMP and Fairview partners on the Cross Functional Team Grid.

To use any templates in Google Docs format, please download it as a Word document.

Offer Letter Approval

Required Components:

Offer Letter Approval Cover Sheet - Please include rationale to hire tenured professors
Candidate curriculum vitae
Approved hiring request
University of Minnesota offer letter

UMN Common Paymaster - Offer Template

UMN Only - Offer Template

University of Minnesota Physicians Offer Letter (Only for Common Paymaster faculty also hired to University of Minnesota Physicians)

UMP Common Paymaster - Offer Template

UMP Only - please see your UMP recruiter

Signed Dual Appointment MOU, if applicable (see Medical School dual appointment policies)

Dual Appointments with Departments MOU Template

Dual Appointments with the VA MOU Template

Offer Letter Submission

Instructions

Please download copies of the relevant templates, customize based on the candidate’s offer and upload documents to the Offer Letter Approval submission form.

Using a service called DocuSign, signatures will be routed for approval. Documents will be delivered to the return emails (and all signees) automatically after final approval. Please download the fully signed copy of the documents. Do not share additional materials with the candidate.

DocuSign will prompt you to open a free account that stores your documents after you receive your first signed document. We recommend opening a free DocuSign account associated with your UMN email to maintain all signed documents associated with your email.

After the candidate has signed the offer letter(s), please email a PDF copy to the Office of Faculty Affairs (ms-ofa@umn.edu).

ANNUAL REVIEWS AND APPRAISALS

Departments must submit an annual review for every full time, paid, faculty member. The annual review should cover the calendar year.

Please note: annual reviews are not required for part-time (<67 percent effort) faculty. Although not required, departments are encouraged to collect and submit annual reviews for unpaid/without salary faculty. The deadline to submit annual appraisals for all faculty members is June 30.

Tenure-Track Faculty (Probationary Faculty)

SAFE Form and Form 12

Tenured Faculty

SAFE Form and Form 13 (for associate professors)

Non-Tenure Track Faculty

Note: This includes all paid and unpaid faculty on the academic track and clinician track.
SAFE Forms are shared with ms-ofa@umn.edu, and should follow the naming convention: "LastName.FirstName.Rank.Track.YEAROFREVIEW."

Adjunct Faculty Annual Activity Reports

Departments submit PDF copies of signed Adjunct Faculty Annual Activity Report in a Google Drive folder shared with ms-ofa@umn.edu. Annual Activity Reports should follow the same naming convention: "LastName.FirstName.Rank.Track.YEAROFREVIEW." Reports should be submitted to the department annually by March 15, and departments will submit to the OFA by June 30.
OFA will send a request to all departments every year, asking for confirmation of adjunct faculty appointment renewals. OFA will communicate if renewals have been approved and if the department can issue a renewal letter.

Faculty Review Resources

Appraisal of Probationary Faculty (Form 12)
Appraisal of Tenured Faculty (Form 13)
Summary of Annual Faculty Evaluation (SAFE) Form
Pandemic Impact Assessment Tool
Annual Goals and Activities Form - not required; for departmental reference only
Med School 7.12 Part 3: Annual Review of Tenured Faculty

ADJUNCT APPOINTMENT TEMPLATES

Departments should use the templates below to issue new appointments, renewal, and nonrenewal notices. Appointments and renewals must be submitted to the Office of Faculty Affairs and approved before issuing notice to the adjunct faculty.

Adjunct Appointment Request Form (Updated Nov. 19, 2019)
Adjunct Appointment Letter (Updated Oct. 11, 2019)
Adjunct Non-Renewal Letter (Updated Oct. 11, 2019)
Adjunct Renewal Letter (Updated Oct. 11, 2019)

Submit the adjunct appointment request form, along with the adjunct letter and candidate's CV, via the Without Salary Appointments area of our website. (See the section below.)

Go here to view additional information regarding Adjunct Faculty Appointments and Procedures.

WITHOUT SALARY APPOINTMENTS

Please submit all without salary appointment requests in the form below. For more information on without salary appointments, please refer to the adjunct and faculty at affiliate locations appointment criteria.

Required Components

Without Salary Appointment Request (Updated Nov. 19, 2019)
Candidate Curriculum Vitae
Academic Development Plan (required for faculty at affiliate locations)

Old Academic Development Plan (Updated Dec. 6, 2018)
New Academic Development Plan (Updated Dec. 6, 2018)

WOS Appointment Request Submission

Instructions:

Please download a copy of the WOS Appointment Request, customize based on the candidate, and upload documents to the WOS Appointment Request submission form.

Signatures will be routed for approval and the documents will be delivered to the return emails (and all signees) automatically after final ap[proval through a service called DocuSign. Please download the fully signed copy of the documents.

DocuSign will prompt you to open a free account that stores your documents after you receive your first signed document. We recommend opening a free DocuSign account associated with your University of Minnesota email to maintain all signed documents associated with your email.

TRACK TRANSFER

Please submit all Track Transfer Requests in the form below. For more information on Track Transfer Requests, please refer to the Track Transfer Policy.

Required Components

Track Transfer Request (Updated June 4, 2019) (Policy)
Candidate curriculum vitae

Track Transfer Request Submission

Instructions:

Please download a copy of the track transfer request, customize based on the candidate, and upload documents to track transfer request submission form.

DocuSign will prompt you to open a free account that stores your documents after you receive your first signed document. We recommend opening a free DocuSign account associated with your University of Minnesota email to maintain all signed documents associated with your email.

LEAVES

For more information on faculty leaves, please refer to the Leaves Procedure.

For single semester leaves and sabbatical leaves, the Office of Faculty Affairs (OFA) will communicate an annual deadline for submission and review on the OFA website and newsletter. These leaves must be received by that date for consideration. Single semester and sabbatical leave requests are no longer being accepted for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Departments should email ms-ofa@umn.edu the relevant form requesting a faculty leave after it has been signed by the faculty member and the relevant personnel within the department.

The leave will be reviewed and signed by the associate dean for faculty affairs.

Faculty Considerations for Reducing to Part-Time Employment

The University of Minnesota Medical School is committed to supporting and retaining faculty as we navigate the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing concerns around faculty fatigue, burnout, managing family, caregiving, and personal commitments and responsibilities during this long-term period of uncertainty.

The University of Minnesota and the Medical School provide many existing options to support faculty when reducing full-time appointments, including consistent appointment and promotion policies that are equitable for part-time and full-time faculty members; probationary period extensions; as well as paid and unpaid options for short term and longer term leaves.

The information and resources included in this document are meant to provide additional options for faculty to think about as they consider ways to build balance into their lives.

PROBATIONARY PERIOD EXTENSION REQUESTS

Probationary (tenure-track) faculty may request an extension to their probationary period due to special circumstances. Extensions may be granted for one year at a time and may not exceed more than three years total.

Extension of Maximum Period of Probationary Service for Tenure-Track Faculty (Form 1910) - use the form to:

Extend appointment by one year due to new parent responsibilities
Extend appointment by one year due to caregiver responsibilities
Extend appointment by one year due to personal medical illness/injury
Reduce the percentage of my appointment to less than 67% as allowed (refer to Board of Regents Policy: Faculty Tenure, Section 5.3 Definition of Academic Year and Section 3.6 Special Contracts)
Other (e.g. effects of the coronavirus pandemic)

Extension requests using this form should be submitted to the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs or emailed to berg1282@umn.edu.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Extensions of the Probationary Period for Tenure-track Faculty.
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Evaluation Processes for Faculty and Continuous Track Appointments.

Abbreviated Dossier Resources (Advanced Rank Appointments)

Abbreviated dossiers are used to confirm advance rank (associate or full professor rank), tenured, spousal and exceptional no search hires. Abbreviated dossiers must be submitted directly to the OFA depending on the faculty member's hire date:

90 days before the faculty member's start date for tenured associate professors and professors.
30 days before the faculty member's start date for associate professors and professors on the academic, clinician, and tenure-track (probationary faculty).

These abbreviated dossiers will be reviewed by the Medical School's promotion committees: Tenure/Academic Tracks, Clinician Track. Abbreviated dossiers are reviewed in accordance with the appropriate track statements: Tenure, Academic Track, Clinician Track.

View this diagram to see the process/review cycle of advanced rank hires.

Tenured Hire Process and Other Resources

Tenured Hires
The Provost's Office has updated the tenured hire process. Here are the new guidelines for your reference. The most significant change is that it is no longer necessary to seek pre-approval from the provost for a tenured hire (rules regarding the hiring freeze still apply). Please note:

Abbreviated dossiers should have bookmarks and should be structured in the same way as a P&T dossier.
These guidelines apply only to faculty (internal or external) who are being hired as an associate or full professor with tenure.
This is an internal document so it will not be posted online. Please share it with others who may handle these hires.

Simply Voting
If the University is still working remotely at the time of your college or campus tenure and promotion meetings, those meetings should be held via video or telephone conference. Proxy, telephone, fax, and email votes are not permitted. If you aren't already doing so, it is strongly encouraged that departments use the confidential electronic voting system, Simply Voting. For access, email survey@umn.edu.