Summary of updates in the July 1, 2026 Faculty Handbook
I. University Organization
A. History
The School of Engineering and Applied Science was added as Yale’s fifteenth school. This section reflects its approval to offer a Master of Engineering degree, and reflecting that its Board of Permanent Officers remains the Joint Boards of Permanent Officers of Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
III. Faculty Ranks, Appointments, and Policies: University-Wide
Throughout this section, references to the tenure and appointments protocol for the School of Engineering and Applied Science (“SEASTAP”) have been added.
- E. Appointments and Terms of Employment
- The policy on the maximum length of appointments to associate professor on term was revised to include the policies of the Schools of Engineering and Applied Science, Divinity, and Public Health.
- F. Maximum Time in Non-Tenure Ladder Ranks
- The list of events qualifying for an extension of the tenure clock was revised to show the events in bulleted format and to reflect that the School of Nursing adopted Paid Parental Leave in lieu of Teaching Relief for Child Rearing.
- Language was revised to make the existing policy clearer about which ranks and tracks are eligible.
- A footnote was added to reflect that a distinct policy applies to faculty in the School of Medicine’s Academic Clinician Track (in practice, this policy has always applied to that track; the only change is to formally incorporate it into this section).
- The policy was revised to reflect actual practice. The revised policy describes the typical reasons and conditions for conferring secondary faculty appointments to M&P employees. The language describing secondary M&P positions for individuals who hold primary appointments as faculty was omitted, reflecting that such arrangements are not being made. The language describing an arrangement where an individual simultaneously holds a primary M&P staff position and a primary faculty appointment was omitted, reflecting that such arrangements are not being made. (Any existing arrangements of this kind will be honored.)
- In response to requests from some deans, a footnote was added to clarify how to count votes and define the outcome.
- The second paragraph, which required deans to discuss with the Provost - in advance of every appointment action – every individual appointment, reappointment, and promotion, was removed, to improve procedural praxis.
- I. Part-Time Appointment to the Ladder Ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor
- J. Managerial or Professional Employees with Secondary Faculty Appointments
- K. Faculty Appointment Procedures, 2. Voting on Appointments and Promotions
- L. Decisions Not to Reappoint or Promote and Their Review, 1. General
IV. Faculty of Arts and Sciences
B. Governance, 2. Divisional Deans, Divisional/Area Advisory Committees, and Tenure and Appointment Committees
- Revisions were made to the second and third paragraphs to reflect that the Provost now appoints members of the Area Advisory Committees and TACs, in lieu of the President.
- A revision to the fourth paragraph changes the language regarding the TAC for the physical sciences: the TAC’s name no longer includes “engineering” because the SEAS TAC has been established. Its membership will include at least one member from SEAS.
- The sixth paragraph, describing the Creative Arts Advisory Committee, was removed to reflect the FAS’s transition to new ways of advising committees and FAS deans on matters relating to the arts.
V. School of Engineering and Applied Science
A. Description
In this subsection and throughout Section V., revisions were made to reflect the establishment of SEAS as one of Yale’s schools, with a distinct Tenure and Appointments Committee (SEAS TAC), a distinct tenure and appointments protocol (SEASTAP), and offering a professional Master of Engineering degree.
B. Governance
- 1. Board of Permanent Officers and 2. Faculty Assembly
- These new subsections describe the SEAS governance model now that SEAS is one of Yale’s schools: its Board of Permanent Officers continues to be the Joint Boards of Permanent Officers of Yale College and the Graduate School, and it has a Faculty Assembly to advise on school governance and strategy and to oversee the SEAS curricula and academic regulations.
- 3. Tenure and Appointments Committee
- Revisions reflect the establishment of a distinct Tenure and Appointments Committee for SEAS (SEAS TAC).
- In this subsection, the Engineering Committee on Appointments is removed, reflecting the reorganization of governance bodies. It indicates that the Teaching Resource Advisory Committee (TRAC) no longer reviews appointments to professor in the practice (which are now reviewed by the SEAS TAC).
- 5. The Academic Resource Committee and Teaching Resource Advisory Committee
C. Academic Departments and Programs
The location of this entry moved from under the Governance subsection to standing as its own subsection. The new Innovation, Design, and Engineering Application (IDEA) Program was added.
E. Appointment Procedures
The first paragraph was updated to indicate that multi-year non-ladder instructional appointments require an open, nationally advertised search.
F. Voting Policies
- 1. Voting in Departments and Programs
- The policies distinct to faculty whose appointments are governed by FASTAP 2007 were removed (reflecting that all current SEAS faculty have been promoted beyond voting-related FASTAP 2007 distinctions). The remaining voting policies are identical to those specific to FASTAP 2016, but the words “FASTAP 2016” were removed to reflect that the SEAS tenure protocol is no longer called FASTAP.
- 2. Recording Department Votes
- Reference to the Engineering Appointments Committee (EAC) was removed, reflecting that the EAC has been reorganized, such that neither it nor its successor brings appointments forward for departmental vote.
- Revisions reflect that the TAC reviewing SEAS cases is now the SEAS TAC (and no longer the Physical Sciences and Engineering TAC, which reviewed cases from SEAS and the FAS Physical Sciences Departments).
- 4. Voting in the Tenure and Appointments and Promotions Committee
G. Meetings of the Faculty
Revisions reflect the establishment of the SEAS Faculty Assembly as a SEAS governance body.
H. Ladder Faculty Ranks
The policies on FASTAP 2007 were removed and replaced with a notation that these policies can be found in Section IV.H.1 under the FAS (reflecting that FASTAP 2007 policies now have de minimis applicability to SEAS faculty). The SEAS tenure and appointments policies that were formerly named “FASTAP 2016” are renamed “SEASTAP” (the policies remain identical, but the name changed to reflect SEAS as a distinct school).
I. Other Instructional Appointments
- The order was revised in which certain overall policies are described, regarding the review of appointments of more or less than one year, the appointments/promotions requiring TRAC review, and the timeline for instructional faculty reappointment reviews.
- Wording on appointments in the adjunct ranks was moved.
- Wording on the factors considered as part of reappointment was revised.
- The word “program” was added to reflect the approval of the new Innovation, Design, and Engineering Application (IDEA) Program.
- Policies were added on appointments of Gibbs Assistant Professors in the Applied and Computational Mathematics Department.
L. Leaves
Leave policies governed by FASTAP 2007 were removed, reflecting that all current SEAS faculty have been promoted beyond these policies. The leave policies formerly specific to “FASTAP 2016” have been renamed as SEASTAP leave policies.
V.III Divinity School and Institute for Sacred Music
D. Appointments, 1. Non-Ladder Instructional Appointments
The appointment approval pathway was revised to remove approval by the Corporation (reflecting that Corporation approval is not required for most instructional appointments in the Divinity School).
X. School of the Environment
A. Description
The description of the school’s focus was modified. The listing of degrees offered was updated to reflect the addition of two executive versions of existing degree programs.
B. Governance
The name of the governing body was changed from “Governing Board” to “Board of Permanent Officers” and an additional governing body, “Faculty and Senior Staff,” was added to participate in developing educational policy for the school. The language on appointments committees was revised to clarify which governing bodies make hiring and promotion recommendations on appointments in the instructional and research ranks.
E. Other Instructional and Research Appointments
- Policy wording on appointments in these ranks was reorganized and consolidated.
- The adjunct ranks and the rank of professor in the field were eliminated, reflecting a transition away from using those ranks.
- Policies on eligibility for appointment to the rank of senior lecturer was revised to allow for flexibility in the minimum required teaching or professional experience, and the expectation was added that these roles are typically full time.
- The review committee, responsible for recommending appointments in these ranks to the BPO, was specified.
- Policies on visiting faculty were revised to specify that appointments in the visiting ranks are made to the ranks of visiting assistant, associate, and full professor.
- Policies on research ranks were clarified to indicate that the BPO approves appointments to the ranks of research scientist/scholar and senior research scientist/scholar, while the Dean approves appointments to the rank of associate research scientist/scholar.
F. Other Appointments
- The policy on visiting fellows was updated to eliminate the rank of senior visiting fellow (reflecting that this rank is not used at Yale).
- The policy on executive fellows was revised to indicate that these appointees must be given lecturer appointments if they are appointed to teach.
- Policy entries replicating university-wide policies from other sections of the Faculty Handbook (on secondary faculty appointments and instructional opportunities for graduate students) were removed to avoid implying that the School’s policy varies from the University policy.
XIII. School of Management
The policy on the approval pathway for senior lecturer appointments was revised to reflect that Corporation approval is not required.
XIV. School of Medicine
C. Governance, 2. Voting Rights and Policies
The voting rights of assistant and associate professors on the Academic Clinician Track were clarified (but not changed). It was clarified that faculty with secondary appointments do not have voting rights in the department in which their appointment is secondary.
E. Appointments and Promotions Procedures
The identification of which full professors participate in recommending faculty appointments was revised: “professors on tenured or continuing appointments” was replaced with “eligible professors.” The process of inviting other eligible faculty in the department to attend a discussion of appointments and promotions was revised to indicate that this can be delegated to the department chair on recommendation by the department’s full and tenured professors.
F. Composition of the Faculty
1. Ladder Faculty Tracks
- Language was added to address reappointment eligibility and criteria. Current policies addressing appointment status following removal of clinical practice privileges or by removal of clinical duties were added to all relevant ranks for clarity and consistency.
- Under the Clinician-Scientist Track, “public health practitioners” was removed as one of the fields included in this track, reflecting the separation of the School of Public Health from the School of Medicine.
- Descriptions of the Clinician Educator-Scholar Track and the Academic Clinician Track were updated to include administrative and leadership roles as part of appointment considerations. In the Academic Clinician Track, expectations regarding regional and national leadership were clarified.
2. Non-Ladder Ranks, d. Voluntary Ranks
- A policy was added to allow the Dean to appoint a departing faculty member to a voluntary rank corresponding to the ladder rank held at the time of departing Yale without the normal committee review process, upon support from the chair. The policy also specifies that ongoing eligibility for the appointment requires sustained contributions to the department’s educational mission.
- The standard for appointments to associate clinical professor and clinical professor were modified to focus on “professional accomplishments” of which “scholarship” is one example.
4. Training Ranks, b. Clinical Fellow and Clinical Associate
Language was added to indicate that these ranks are eligible for secondary faculty appointments as instructors under certain conditions.
G. Coterminous Appointments
Language on coterminous appointments with the John B. Pierce Laboratory was removed, reflecting its closure.
XV. School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music
B. Governing Committees, 3. The Governing Board
This list of membership was revised to include professors adjunct.
XVII. School of Public Health
D. Non-Ladder Faculty
The statement on the Dean’s discretion to authorize one-year non-ladder appointments was modified to clarify that research appointments are included in this authorization.
XVIII. Research Appointments: University-Wide
Research appointments in the John B. Pierce Laboratory were removed, reflecting its closure. The body in the School of Engineering and Applied Science that reviews appointments to senior research scientist/scholar was renamed as the SEAS Steering Committee (formerly the SEAS Appointments Committee).
XXII. Retirement and Emeritus/Emeriti Titles
D. Phased Retirement Plan for Ladder Faculty
Eligibility was updated to include full professors on continuing appointments In the School of Public Health’s Educator-Scholar and Investigator Tracks, reflecting the School of Public Health becoming one of Yale’s schools (independent of the School of Medicine).
XXIII. University Policies Concerning Teaching and Research
C. Research and Scholarship, 1. Policies and Guidelines, (f)
The faculty ranks eligible to serve as principal investigator of sponsored projects was modified to include senior lector II, senior lecturer II, and senior critic.
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