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Traditional Track

The Traditional track emphasizes driving new areas of research as well as being outstanding educators and, if engaged in patient care, exemplary clinical skills.
Photo by Robert A. Lisak

Candidates for appointment on the Traditional track will hold a MD, PhD, or equivalent degree and will have completed appropriate postdoctoral training. From a research perspective, Traditional track faculty should drive new areas of basic, translational, clinical, or public health research and methods in their field. They should be evolving to be one of the foremost scholars in their specific area of research. These faculty are expected to demonstrate a consistent record of extramurally funded research, most often federally sponsored with at least one current federal award as principal investigator. CS VERSUS TRADITIONAL TRACK VIDEO

Research is expected to drive a field in significant or innovative directions, including development of new principles, methods, or technology that influences the genesis or application of information in a field. This must be evidenced by peer reviewed original research articles as first or senior author. Collaborative original research is also valued. Chapters, reviews, and other publications can support but not substitute for original research.

Teaching activities include didactic, research, and/or clinical settings to trainees. Faculty on this track should demonstrate exemplary clinical skills if engaged in patient care.

Typically, faculty on this track have 75-80% of their effort directed toward research activities. Complementing this, 20-25% of their effort is typically allocated to educational, clinical, or administrative activities.

This track is a path toward tenure at the ranks of associate professor or professor. This is a permanent, forward-looking commitment. This commitment is made with consideration of the achievements of the individual and the programmatic needs of the department and the school. Appraisals of past contributions must be supplemented by strong evidence of future contributions to the profession and the teaching program.

Individuals who contribute to graduate education and who hold a primary appointment in a basic science department are automatically appointed to the Graduate School. Those who will contribute to graduate education and hold a primary or secondary appointment in a bridge department are eligible for appointment to the Graduate School, as are those with a secondary appointment in a basic science department.


Assistant Professor with Term on the Traditional Track

Description:

Candidates for appointment of assistant professor with term on the Traditional track will have published high quality scholarship and have significant promise as a teacher and scholar.

Individuals who will contribute to graduate education and who hold a primary or secondary appointment in a basic science or bridge department may be eligible for assignment to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Promotion to associate professor with term or associate professor with tenure is contingent on advancing to the metrics defined for that rank.

Process:

Terms for this rank are for up to three years. For this track, there is a maximum of 6 years as assistant professor. Those who have held a ladder track position at another instructions should see the position-specific considerations delineated under appointments.

Appointment to assistant professor in this track does NOT require presentation to a YSM A&P Committee or the BPO.

Appointment to this rank requires:

Reappointment information is summarized on a different webpage, and reappointment to this track/rank requires:

Associate Professor with Term on the Traditional Track

Description:

Candidates for appointment or promotion to the rank of associate professor with term on the Traditional track must have achieved recognition as independent investigators and have demonstrated excellence as teachers. Faculty at this rank should have an emerging national reputation.

Their achievements and promise as teachers and scholars should be strong enough to suggest that they will be qualified for appointment to tenure at Yale or another major medical institution within four to five years. Promotion to associate professor with tenure or professor with tenure are contingent on advancing to the metrics defined for those ranks.

Process:

Terms for this rank are for up to five years. For this track, there is a maximum of 10 years that can be at assistant and associate professor with term combined (plus extensions described in Section III.E - Faculty Handbook). The appointment may be extended for up to two years, if the faculty member has been at the combined ranks of assistant and associate professor for less than 10 years, subject to approval of the dean and the provost and in accordance with limits on term appointments described below. Those who have held a ladder track position at another instructions should see the position-specific considerations delineated under appointments.

Appointment to this rank requires:

Promotion to this rank requires:

Associate Professor with Tenure on the Traditional Track

Description:

Candidates for appointment or promotion to the rank of associate professor with tenure on the Traditional track must have produced a significant body of scholarship, be able teachers, and if clinicians, must be accomplished in their clinical fields. They must be rising toward national and international leadership in their areas of specialty, and there must be clear evidence that academic growth will continue, with the expectation that their value to the institution and their national and international standing will make them suitable candidates for promotion to professor within a reasonable period of time.

Process:

Appointment to this position confers tenure.

Appointment to this rank requires:

While the several manifestations of intellectual distinction are prerequisite to an appointment with tenure, it is recognized that the balance among them may vary from candidate to candidate and from field to field; there may be variation in the quantity of the written or creative work, though the quality must always be high. Unusually effective teaching or an unusually significant contribution to the community's well-being may serve to supplement but not substitute for evidence of scholarly achievement.

In choosing among available candidates, the faculty may decide that outstanding promise of a person in the earlier stages of a career justifies appointment even though his or her published attainments to date may be fewer than those of more established candidates.

Promotion to this rank requires:

Professor with Tenure on the Traditional Track

Description:

Candidates for appointment or promotion to the rank of professor with tenure on the Traditional track are expected to stand in competition with the foremost leaders in their field throughout the world, as demonstrated by major scholarly achievements and by teaching. If they are clinicians they must be outstanding practitioners in their field of clinical medicine.

There should be ample evidence that they will continue to make significant contributions as scholars, to serve as able and influential teachers, and to contribute to the well-being of the academic community. The strength of commitment conferred by appointment to the rank of professor mandates that candidates in this track have attained the same level of achievement in their domains as candidates for professor in the other faculty tracks.

Full: National and international; rank among the foremost leaders in the field

Process:

Appointment to this position confer tenure.

Appointment to this rank requires:

Promotion to this rank requires: