A full-time appointment represents a commitment to the University and HMS/HSDM that is understood to be full time in the most inclusive sense. Full-time members of the Faculty of Medicine are expected to devote their primary professional loyalty, time, and energy to their teaching, research, administrative responsibilities and, where applicable, patient care at Harvard and its affiliated institutions. Accordingly, they should arrange outside activities and financial interests so as not to interfere with the primacy of these commitments.
Definition of Full-Time Appointments
A full-time appointment is defined as working at least 4 days per week at HMS, HSDM, or one of the 16 primary HMS/HSDM affiliates listed at https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/hms-affiliates. For those spending most of their time at a primary affiliate as above, up to one (1) of those four (4) days may be spent at an “affiliate of an affiliate,” which is defined as a health care site associated with the primary affiliate within the same network.
Definition of Part-Time Appointments
A part-time appointment is defined as working at least 1 day per week and less than 4 days a week at one of the 16 primary HMS/HSDM affiliates listed at https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/hms-affiliates. Faculty who hold part-time ladder appointments are expected to meet the teaching expectations outlined, work at least one (1) day per week at a primary affiliate of HMS/HSDM, and additionally not spend the majority of their time at another academic institution or a medical or research affiliate of another academic institution.
Part-time faculty are expected to devote professional loyalty, time and energy to their teaching, research, patient care and administrative activities at Harvard in accordance with their agreed upon time commitments. Individuals who hold part-time appointments will be expected to have met academic criteria for appointment comparable to those for full-time faculty and will have the same titles as their full-time counterparts, modified with the words “Part-time” (e.g., Assistant Professor, Part-time), reflecting the part-time nature of their relationship to the Faculty of Medicine. Faculty are expected to retain the modifier “Part-time” in their formal title. Part-time appointments are ordinarily not permitted on the Quad.
Faculty who work less than one (1) day per week at a primary affiliate and meet the teaching expectations as outlined are eligible for appointment as Lecturer, Part-time, or Senior Lecturer, Part-time.
Because all faculty will be reviewed by the same promotion criteria, faculty who transition from part-time roles to full-time roles and have been evaluated by the single criteria (after December 2013) may change their titles from part-time to full-time as long as the appropriate search requirements have been met and the Department Head has requested the change to the Dean through the OFA. Typically, no additional letters other than the Department Head letter confirming a full-time or part-time role are required; however, additional letters of evaluation may be required at the professorial level.
Last updated June 2023