15.3. Secondary Appointments between Harvard Schools

Harvard Medical School

Section 15 Table of Contents

  • Secondary appointments at voting faculty rank (Assistant Professor and above) should be used to recognize a significant commitment to a second Faculty. Occasional contributions to teaching should be noted by an annual appointment, such as Lecturer, proposed by the involved school. Infrequent contributions (e.g., one or two lectures) need not be recognized with an appointment.
  • At the outset, a clear decision involving the Deans of both schools should be made regarding which school bears the primary responsibility for the individual faculty member’s salary, benefits, space, teaching obligations, career advancement, and promotions.
  • When the search for a Professor has been conducted entirely by one Faculty, ordinarily the title in a second Faculty should be Lecturer or Member of the Faculty. In those instances, when the nature of a faculty member’s academic work has changed so that the purpose of the work is benefited by a joint appointment at the Professorial level, the two Deans should carry on the same negotiations as those described above.
  • For Assistant and Associate Professors, faculty with a primary appointment outside of HMS/HSDM who seek a secondary faculty appointment at HMS/HSDM must undergo a full academic evaluation process, as outlined in Sections 8 and 9.
  • Professors with a primary appointment at another Harvard school who seek a secondary faculty appointment at HMS/HSDM should utilize the professorial secondary process outlined earlier in Section 15.2.1.
    • The single difference is that after Step 4, the Dean will make a recommendation to the University and the University reviews the proposed appointment. In these cases, a final decision will be communicated to the Dean’s office and the Office for Faculty Affairs (OFA).
    • The OFA will then notify the Department or CEO as stated in Step 5 .

Last updated June 2025