Posted: Originally posted 5/5/2025; revised and re-posted 8/28/2025

Passed: September 22, 2025
Vote results with comments

Sponsors: Committee on Academic Programs and Policies (CAPP)

Background

Presented at September 2025 Faculty Senate meetings:
Original S.C. Johnson College of Business Teaching Professor proposal

Revised proposal

CAPP review

Proposal to Authorize the Teaching Professor Title Use in the SC Johnson College of Business
Last edited 8/28/2025

A. Justification
The SC Johnson College of Business requests permission to use the Teaching Professor title at all ranks, including Assistant, Associate, and Full, and with possible modifiers of “visiting” and “emeritus/a”. These new titles will strengthen the College’s ability to recruit and retain top teaching talent, recognizing that these titles and ranks are increasingly used at our peer institutions. This proposal is enabled by the April 2024 adoption of the Teaching Professor titles by the Faculty Senate.

B. Position Description
The Teaching Professor titles of Assistant Teaching Professor, Associate Teaching Professor, and Full Teaching Professor will be used in the SC Johnson College of Business for career, non-tenure-track faculty appointments focused on teaching and not on research. We do not request the use of modifiers such as “acting” or “courtesy”. The modifier “visiting” will only be used for faculty who already hold an equivalent Teaching Professor rank elsewhere.

These titles are for faculty whose primary focus is teaching. These faculty demonstrate excellence in teaching, are engaged in the School and College through committees, curriculum development, and leadership roles, are involved in undergraduate advising and mentoring. and make an impact inside and/or outside of the University. RTE Faculty in the SC Johnson College of Business will have the option to remain in their existing titles or transition to the new Teaching Professor titles (see F.2).

The teaching professor titles may not be used to replicate the combined teaching and research responsibilities of the tenure-track faculty. Accordingly, teaching professor appointments should not require conducting research, publishing its results, or advising graduate research students. Teaching professors may choose to participate in such activities, especially when related to pedagogy, and should stay current with research in their area to best incorporate it into their teaching. Nevertheless, research activity must not be required for appointment, reappointment, or promotion along the teaching professor track.

C. Terms of Appointment

C.1.1 Degree Requirements

The College recognizes the value and importance of PhDs for both research and teaching faculty. Teaching Professors may hold a PhD or terminal degree equivalent, and will hold a minimum of a masters degree relevant to their area of teaching so long as the faculty also possesses other relevant qualifications (including industry certifications) as required for the level and field of instruction that the individual will provide and as described in the position description.

C.1.2 Course Load

The Cornell S.C. Johnson College of Business measures functional appointments on a teaching equivalent basis called teaching units (TUs). One TU is essentially equivalent to the time spent teaching one 3-credit semester-long course. A 100% FTE faculty member holding one of the Teaching Professor titles has a primary function of teaching with a full-time course load of five teaching units per academic year and also is expected to provide a service load equivalent to one teaching unit.

C.2. Searches

Teaching Professor appointments will continue to be controlled by the SC Johnson College of Business and will follow College and University rules.
Area Chairs, in consultation with the Dean of Faculty and Research and School Deans, will determine future Teaching Professor faculty lines, as is currently done for all other faculty lines. At present, the practice is to advertise positions at the Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Professor of Practice levels. Moving forward, positions will be advertised as Assistant Teaching Professor/Associate Teaching Professor/ Professor of Practice. The Professor of Practice title will continue within the College. The selected candidate’s qualifications will determine their hired rank. The SC Johnson College of Business Dean’s Office has the right to offer the Full Teaching Professor to a future candidate during the hiring process. The titles of Lecturer/Senior Lecturer will be reserved by the College for visiting or short-term RTE faculty members as well as for existing faculty members who choose to retain their existing Lecturer/Senior Lecturer titles. (See Section F.1).

C.3. Processes

C.3.1 New Appointments

Future Teaching Professor faculty searches will be international in scope and rigorous, like our current RTE searches. The applicant will submit the required materials for the position based on the current College standards. Voting on the applicant will follow College voting procedures within the Area, School, and College.

C.3.2. Reappointments

Reappointments of all levels of Teaching Professors will follow the current reappointment process in the SC Johnson College of Business. This reappointment process includes yearly performance feedback on teaching and service, an updated CV, peer teaching evaluations, feedback on teaching and mentoring from past and present students, and student course evaluation summaries. Assistant Teaching Professors will be evaluated for a second three-year term in the second year of their first three-year term. After completing their second three-year term (i.e., after six or more years of full-time teaching experience), an Assistant Teaching Professor can apply for promotion to Associate Teaching Professor (see Section C.3.3). If the faculty member is not reappointed, the College will inform them of their options, including access to the College Grievance procedure.

C.3.3. Promotion to Associate and Full Teaching Professor

Associate Teaching Professors will be evaluated in the fourth year of their first five-year term for reappointment. After successfully completing the reappointment for a second five-year term and concluding their first term (i.e., after eleven or more years of full-time teaching experience), an Associate Teaching Professor can apply for promotion to Full Teaching Professor. The reappointment process includes yearly performance feedback on teaching and service, an updated CV, peer teaching evaluations, feedback on teaching and mentoring from past and present students, and student course evaluation summaries.
Promotion to Full Teaching Professor signifies an exceptionally high level of performance, not just in the classroom but also as a contributing member to the college’s operations and reputation. Outside support for this step is therefore an important input to the process. For promotion to Full Teaching Professor, the college will solicit three letters of support from internal and/or external members of the community, which can include Program Directors, School Deans, heads of Professional Associations, or industry and alumni stakeholders. The candidate will be asked to provide a short list of potential reviewers for this step to supplement reviewer names suggested by the ad hoc promotion committee. Solicited letters must come from both sources.
Full Teaching Professors are appointed for an initial five-year term and evaluated for reappointment to another five-year term continuing at that rank in the fourth year of each five-year term.

Assistant Teaching Professors who are not promoted to Associate Teaching Professors may be reappointed at the rank of Assistant Teaching Professor. Associate Teaching Professors who are not promoted to Full Teaching Professor may be reappointed at the rank of Associate Teaching Professor.
Assistant Teaching Professors who remain in that rank shall remain on the three-year reappointment timeline. Associate Teaching Professors who remain in rank shall remain on the five-year reappointment timeline.

C.3.4. Grievances

All three Teaching Professor ranks have access to the grievance procedure of the SC Johnson College of Business. All final decisions regarding RTE appointments belong to the Dean of the College. There is no appeal to the Provost.

C.4. Appointment Lengths

Assistant Teaching Professors shall have three-year appointments.
Associate Teaching Professors shall have five-year appointments.
Full Teaching Professors shall have five-year appointments.

C.5. Professional Development

Professional development will continue to be encouraged for lower-ranked Teaching Professors and required for higher-ranked Teaching Professors to stay current in their area of expertise. Each RTE faculty member will continue to receive professional development funding to assist in these endeavors.

D. Limitations

D.1 Scope

The principal responsibility of Teaching Professor titles is teaching, advising, and mentoring. All Teaching Professor ranks are encouraged to engage with academia in their field and to engage with relevant industry professionals and organizations, especially for purposes of keeping the curriculum up to date and applicable. Research/scholarly activity is not an expectation or a requirement for appointment, reappointment or promotion of Teaching Professors.

D.2. Numbers

At the time of this proposal to the University Faculty Senate, the College currently has 13 Lecturers, 3 Clinical Professors, 15 Professors of Practice, and 38 Senior Lecturers, 26 of whom have previously been appointed at this level and therefore are eligible to apply for promotion to a Full Teaching Professor title.
The total number of benefits-eligible (≥50% FTE) RTE Faculty in the SC Johnson College of Business (Teaching Professors + Professors of Practice + any other RTE title) will not exceed 40% of the total number of tenured or tenure-track faculty + benefits-eligible RTE faculty with appointments in the College. This is consistent with faculty composition rules established by the AACSB, the accreditation body for business schools.

E. Voting and Other Rights

Teaching Professors are RTE faculty with all the rights, responsibilities, and limitations pertaining thereunto. All Teaching Professor ranks have voting rights. All Assistant Teaching Professors will have the same voting rights as currently granted to Lecturers at the Area, School, and College levels. All of the Associate Teaching Professors will have the same voting rights as currently granted to Senior Lecturers, Professors of Practice, and Clinical Professors at the Area, School, and College levels. All Full Teaching Professors will have the same voting rights as currently granted to Senior Lecturers, Professors of Practice, and Clinical Professors, along with the right to vote on promotion to Full Teaching Professor at the Area, School, and College levels.

In all other matters, the Teaching Professor ranks will follow the voting per the university faculty handbook.

The College will continue to maintain the inclusion of all RTE faculty at faculty meetings, on websites, and on email lists.

For the vote to approve this proposal within the College, RTE Faculty are defined as all faculty in the College appointed as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Clinical Professor, and Professor of Practice.

F. Impact

F.1 Titles

RTE faculty in the SC Johnson College of Business will have the option to remain in their existing titles or they have the choice to transition to the new Teaching Professor titles. The SC Johnson College of Business will use the Teaching Professor, Professor of Practice, and Lecturer and Senior Lecturer titles in order to retain and recruit top teaching faculty. The titles of Lecturer/Senior Lecturer will be reserved by the College for visiting or short term RTE faculty members as well as for existing faculty members who choose to retain their existing Lecturer/Senior Lecturer titles. No change in the implementation of the Professor of the Practice track is expected.

F.2 Transition Process

To maintain morale and create a seamless transition, the SC Johnson College of Business proposes the following transitions for the three-rank Teaching Professor track. Once the University Faculty Senate approves this proposal, the College will implement these titles and start the process of working with its current RTE faculty to transition to the Assistant and Associate Teaching Professor titles with a targeted completion date of June 30, 2026. The full implementation of the Full Teaching Professor title will also be completed by June 30, 2026.

The College will ascertain the title transition to either Assistant Teaching Professor or Associate Teaching Professor for implementation by December 31, 2025.

Current Lecturer and Senior Lecturer Transition Processes to Assistant and Associate Teaching Professor:

Current Lecturers will have the option of laterally transitioning to the Assistant Teaching Professor title and rank.

Current Senior Lecturers within the College will have the option of laterally transitioning to the Associate Teaching Professor title and rank.

Senior Lecturer to Full Teaching Professor Application:

Current Senior Lecturers/Clinical Professors/Professors of Practice who have completed at least one re-appointment review at this level will have the option of applying to the Full Teaching Professor rank. RTE Faculty will identify their intention of applying for this title in the fall of 2025. The RTE Faculty member and the College will start the process of putting together their promotion dossier, including soliciting three letters from internal/external community members who can assess their impact outside of the classroom, peer classroom evaluations, and reviews of teaching materials. The Areas within the College will then receive, discuss, and vote on the title promotion during the 2025-2026 academic year for implementation July 1, 2026. If an RTE faculty member does not apply for this rank promotion during the transitional period, they will need to wait until their next reappointment.

The review schedule for faculty who transition from Lecturer and Senior Lecturer titles shall be the same as the schedule in place prior to the transition.

F.3 Current Faculty Vote and Process

The SC Johnson College of Business Dean of Faculty and Research created an ad hoc committee composed of 5 RTE faculty (2 Nolan, 2 Dyson, and 1 JGSM) and 4 Tenured faculty (1 Nolan, 1 Dyson, and 2 JGSM) lead by the current Chair of the College Faculty Policy Committee, who is an RTE Faculty member. This committee drafted this proposal, met with faculty through town halls, solicited feedback through surveys, and put the final version out for faculty vote on April 30, 2025.
The final vote outcome relative to the required thresholds is as follows:

RTE faculty: 2/3 of RTE must vote with 50% support. 82 faculty were asked to vote, 61 voted (74.4%, meeting the threshold). Support for the proposal was 56 approve, 5 not approve (91.8%, meeting the threshold).

G. Definitions

In this document the following definitions apply:

Tenure-track faculty are those faculty in the ranks of Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor.

Research, Teaching, and Extension (RTE) faculty are non-tenure-track faculty at all ranks, including Lecturers/Senior Lecturers, Clinical Professors, Professors of Practice, and, once approved, Teaching Professors.

Teaching Professors are those faculty in the ranks of Assistant, Associate, and full Teaching Professor.

TT faculty: 2/3 of TT must vote with 50% support. 153 faculty were asked to vote, 105 voted (68.6%, meeting the threshold). Support for the proposal was 92 approve, 13 not approve (87.6%, meeting the threshold).