Office of the Provost & Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Collaborating Academic Visitors Process and Procedures

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  3. Collaborating Academic Visitors Process and Procedures
Appointment Letter Process:

Appointment letters will be completed within the DocuSign application and begin at the Department level.

The process of gathering Visitor information and the formal Visitor Appointment Letter will be completed within the DocuSign application and begin at the Department level.

  • To familiarize yourself with DocuSign, please visit the training videos here.

  • You will need DocuSign sending permissions.  

  • Once you have a DocuSign account setup with sending permissions:

    • Login to DocuSign

    • Click the Templates Icon at the top of screen

    • Click “Shared with me” on left side bar

    • Locate your respective college template, for example, "College of Engineering Form and Appointment Letter for Collaborating Academic Visitors"

    • Click Use

    • Complete the form

  • If you need assistance with DocuSign and setting your permissions, please contact es-docusign-supp-list@lehigh.edu

Visitor Information Form and Appointment Process:

  • It is important that the Visitor completes the below mandatory training courses related to Harassment and Working with Minors.

    • Compliance: Harassment Online Training Course
    • Compliance: Working with Minors Online Training Course

  • Where applicable, Visitors should also complete any Environmental Health and Safety training courses.

  • The DocuSign Process for appointment  will be initiated at the department level by the Faculty Host/PI or the Department Coordinator. Reminder, this new process supersedes the University Research Fellowship Appointment process.

  • Within the DocuSign form the Visitor will indicate if they are foreign national, and if they will need to access proprietary software and information. In these instances, the Information Form will be vetted through the Office of Research Integrity, and the Office of International Students and Scholars. There will also be consultation with the Office of General Counsel in such instances.

    • When the visitor is a foreign national working on Lehigh research, the Office of Research Integrity will initiate an export controls compliance review. Export controls refers to a collection of federal laws and regulations that, for reasons relating to national security, economic competitiveness, or implementation of trade sanctions against specific countries, limit the export of physical items, technology, data, and information out of the U.S. national security or economic reasons. This includes deemed export, which can occur when foreign nationals have access to materials in the U.S. This review requires the faculty sponsor to work with the visitor to complete and submit a Deemed Export Questionnaire.The Information Form will be circulated to the department chair for review and signature.

  • The department chair will circulate the Visitor Information Form to the college dean.

  • The college dean will initiate and sign the Appointment Letter, and send it to the Visitor (via DocuSign) for signature. Each college dean will have delegate rights setup within DocuSign. If the college dean wishes to delegate this piece of the process, that delegation should be to an associate dean to generate the Appointment Letter.

  • The Visitor will sign the Appointment Letter and return to the college dean.

  • The completed DocuSign package (Information Form, Appointment Letter, Visitor’s CV, and any other pertinent documentation) will be forwarded to the appropriate offices: Provost’s Office, College Dean’s Office, Department Chair, PI / Faculty Host, Office of International Affairs, Office of International Students and Scholars, Office of the Vice President and Associate Provost for Research, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Office of Research Integrity, and Office of General Counsel.

  • The Provost’s Office will be responsible for entering the Visitor into Banner, which will generate a LIN for the Visitor. Banner entry for Visitors will be completed within three business days after the Provost’s Office receives the completed DocuSign package.

  • The Provost’s Office will also be responsible for uploading the completed Visitor package to Banner xTender, which is the official Faculty / Visitor electronic personnel file system. The Provost’s Office will be reaching out to the colleges and units regarding this process and will conduct a brief training session on how to query and access their respective Visitor records in Banner xTender.

  • Argos reports for Visitors will be available to the colleges and units. The Provost’s Office will be reaching out to the colleges and units regarding this process.

  • If at any time throughout this process, it is decided by Lehigh University or the Visitor that the appointment will not take place, please notify the Provost's Office at invis@lehigh.edu.