The following guidelines address issues raised during the review of the professor of practice position conducted by the Provost’s office in 2008-2009. The review involved several groups, including the Council of Deans, Faculty Personnel Committee, and ad hoc Faculty Working Group on the Professor of Practice Position. These guidelines supplement the revised R&P 2.12 that was approved by the Lehigh Faculty and Board of Trustees in Spring 2009.
A. Definition of Professor of Practice Position, Credentials, and Responsibilities
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Professionals appointed to the professor of practice position, because of their prior occupational experience, will add instructional value to university programs, enhance the research or professional missions of their departments, and/or permit the university to expand its course offerings, often in cutting-edge areas. The professor of practice position is a non-voting faculty position. The educational and professional credentials of professors of practice may vary, thus exact qualifications are not specified. Examples of potential professors of practice include:
- Personnel who have had careers in corporations, government agencies, or non-profit organizations;
- Retired K-12 superintendents, principals, and teachers;
- Individuals with specialized applied skills such as architects, designers, journalists, musicians, photographers, and public historians.
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Professors of practice are not required to fulfill the integrated role of teaching, research and scholarship, and service provided by tenured and tenure-track faculty, though some professors of practice may have responsibilities in each of these areas. They are distinguished from lecturers, who provide full-time teaching in skill-based areas such as first-year English composition and elementary foreign language and who may engage in only limited departmental service that does not include principal student advising (see R&P 2.9). In addition, as faculty members, professors of practice are distinguished from administrative staff and must fulfill teaching and/or scholarly responsibilities in addition to any administrative service. They may serve as principal academic advisor to undergraduate and master’s students, direct academic programs, serve on department and program committees, and provide other service consistent with their expertise and academic credentials. See R&P 2.12 for additional information.
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Professors of Practice must be hired at 50% effort or more. As with other Lehigh faculty and staff positions, 75% effort or more is required for full-time status, with accompanying benefits. Full-time professors of practice may not hold a full-time position elsewhere; those who hold part-time or consulting positions elsewhere must conform to the rule in R&P 2.5: “The university recognizes the value to both the individual and the university when a faculty member engages in activities of a professional nature for added compensation. These activities may include but are not limited to consulting, short courses, liaison activity, and corporate board activity. The university approves and encourages that participation when it is complementary and non-competitive to the duties and goals of both parties, and contributes to the professional 2 growth of the individual. . . . activities for additional compensation should not exceed an average of one day per week.” As noted in R&P, Lehigh recognizes the value of faculty engaging in such external activities. For professors of practice, such activities may help them remain current in their field. Full-time professors of practice must obtain approval for all such external arrangements from the department chair and dean. Part-time professors of practice must inform the department chair and dean about their additional full-time, part-time, or consulting positions.
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Professors of practice must remain current in their profession in order to fulfill their responsibilities of adding instructional value to university programs, enhancing the research or professional missions of their departments, and/or permitting the university to expand its course offerings, often in cutting-edge areas. They must demonstrate that they are current in the field for reappointment. This rigorous reappointment requirement is intended to make unnecessary a rigid cap on length of service.
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The professor of practice position is not a career option for pre-tenure Lehigh faculty who decide to move off the tenure track. (Current Lehigh professors of practice, who held their positions as of February 1, 2008, are not subject to this restriction.)
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Professors of practice who have responsibilities in research and scholarship may serve as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on research grants.
B. Procedures for Appointment and Reappointment
- For appointment and reappointment procedures, please see the Provost’s web site, Faculty Information and Resources, Professors of Practice and Lecturers.
- Like other faculty, every professor of practice holds an appointment in an academic department.
- Because the specific responsibilities and criteria for evaluating performance of professors of practice vary significantly, each professor of practice will discuss specific evaluation criteria with the department chair at the time of appointment. When they agree on the criteria in writing, the department chair will submit the document to the dean for approval. The professor of practice and department chair will meet annually to discuss and, if necessary, draft a revised document for the dean’s approval.
- When the professor of practice has significant responsibilities for an interdisciplinary program (such as serving as director or contributing to program development), the dean will appoint one or more of the program’s voting faculty to participate and vote with the department voting faculty in the professor of practice’s reappointment review. The voting faculty on professor of practice appointments and reappointments include tenured and pre-tenure faculty.
C. Annual Merit Review
- The approved document specifying evaluation criteria (see B3 above) serves as the basis for annual merit review as well as review for reappointment.
- The annual merit and salary review of professors of practice follows the same procedures developed in each college for other faculty. Like tenured and pre-tenure faculty and lecturers, professors of practice submit professional activity reports annually. Department chairs evaluate and make recommendations about their merit levels.
D. Faculty research grants, travel funds, and academic leaves with pay
- Colleges and departments may provide research grants and/or travel funds to professors of practice. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Faculty Research Grant Program is open only to tenure-track faculty.
- Professors of practice are ineligible for academic leaves