- Secondary appointments within the Faculty of Medicine and between Harvard schools should be made only in exceptional cases and should recognize a greater than typical contribution to the teaching, research, and/or clinical programs of a second department or Harvard school (e.g., Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Faculty of Arts and Sciences) as well as the creation of opportunities that could not occur without a secondary academic appointment. The request should be founded on a rationale that the privileges of a secondary appointment outweigh its risks, which can include fragmentation of career support, inaccurate effort reporting, diffusion of responsibility for integrity issues, and challenges in coordinating recruitment or retention efforts. Additionally, evaluation for secondary appointments will be individualized to the faculty member and therefore will not serve as a precedent to be applied to a group of faculty with similar job descriptions. In general, clinical work, facilitation of academic collaborations, and teaching activities alone are insufficient grounds for a secondary appointment.
- When considering secondary appointments for Assistant or Associate Professors, care must be given to long-term career planning and any potential effects on future academic promotions. Such considerations should include discussions about the disciplines in which scholarly works will be published, which department (or Harvard school) will take the lead on readiness for future promotion, what opportunities there are for a permanent position in an interdisciplinary area, and how strength would be maintained in the primary discipline.
- There should also be an agreement at the outset that the appointments will be coterminous and that each department (or Harvard school) will continue support in accordance with the original agreement until the expiration of the term (unless by mutual agreement the distribution of support is readjusted).
- With each reappointment there should be a reassessment of the individual’s interests, the adequacy of career support from both departments (or both Harvard schools), and the corresponding needs to determine the distribution of support. This re-evaluation is intended to avoid the hazard of one entity paying for an individual who spends all their time in a second entity.
- Secondary appointments in the Faculty of Medicine are dependent on a primary appointment at HMS/HSDM or another Harvard School. If the primary appointment is terminated, the secondary appointment will also terminate, unless the secondary (or another) department (or Harvard school) becomes primary.
Last updated June 2023