Faculty Handbook

The "regular faculty" shall consist of all persons appointed under the rules of tenure and holding the rank of professor, associate professor or assistant professor and all persons appointed as librarians.

The "fixed term faculty" shall consist of all persons holding the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor, but not appointed under the rules of tenure.

The "Health professions faculty" shall consist of all faculty appointed in the Health Programs Faculty Appointment System who hold the rank of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor in the Colleges of Human Medicine, Nursing, Osteopathic Medicine, or Veterinary Medicine.

The "Facility for Rare Isotope Beams/National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (FRIB/NSCL) faculty" shall consist of all faculty appointed in the FRIB/NSCL Faculty Appointment System holding the rank of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor.

The "honorary faculty" shall consist of visiting professors and professors emeritus.

The faculty of the University is organized into units -- most commonly departments but also schools, institutes, etc. Each department and unit is attached organizationally to at least one college; however, organizational attachment of units to two or more colleges is very common at MSU. The faculty of each college and unit has jurisdiction over its own internal academic affairs within University policy. Each college has an elective Advisory Council and each unit has an advisory committee. "Regular" faculty members holding appointments with the academic rank of professor, associate professor or assistant professor constitute the voting faculty on internal matters in both the college and the department, and internal voting rights may be extended by unit bylaws to include fixed term faculty, health professions faculty, NSCL faculty, honorary faculty, specialists, lecturers, research associates, assistant instructors or adjunct faculty. Non-college faculty also participate in the governance system with a similar set of rights and responsibilities.

Back to Faculty Handbook