This joint hiring program was initiated in fall 2007 as part of the University’s ongoing commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship, as articulated in the strategic plan Making a Difference. To encourage collaboration between Schools and Departments, on the one hand, and University Institutes and Centers (UICs) on the other, the Provost designated $7.5 million in strategic funds over a nine-year period for the joint hiring of tenured or tenure-track faculty. While Departments and Schools, and the disciplines they generally represent, will remain the principal tenure and tenure-track hiring and promotion units, faculty whose scholarship is closely tied to the mission of the signature UICs can contribute to areas of vitality both within Departments and Schools and across them. Through this joint hiring program, the intellectual gaps and programmatic needs in the work of the UICs can drive appointments along with the needs of the schools and departments, to the mutual benefit of both units. The new program will make available $500,000 per year for 5 years for salaries of faculty hired through these partnerships. The funding of the faculty appointments will walk down to the schools within which the tenure home sits at a rate of $100,000 per year.
Faculty hired through this program will have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in the two units into which they are hired through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) developed by the partnering units during the faculty recruitment process. Memoranda of understanding are the central mechanism for aligning expectations among the partnering units in regard to faculty funding, research, teaching, service and evaluation. All UIC Directors are eligible to submit a proposal in partnership with a School Dean. The partnerships are intended to be equal partnerships, with the faculty member splitting their time equally between a UIC and a School.
Five proposals were awarded funding in spring 2008, and the next round of proposals will be in fall 2008.
New Program Supports Interdisciplinary Hires
Duke News, March 25, 2008