Posted: Originally posted 2/22/2025

Passed: May 19, 2025
Vote results with comments

Sponsors: Committee on Academic Programs and Policies (CAPP)

Background

Presented at March and April 2025 Faculty Senate meetings:
Brooks School of Public Policy Teaching Professor proposal

CAPP review

Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy
Proposal for the Academic Title of Teaching Professor

A. Justification for the Position

The Brooks School seeks approval for use of Assistant, Associate, and Full Teaching Professor titles to help recruit and retain stellar teaching faculty to achieve the school’s goals of training the next generation of policy scholars and engaging with diverse audiences and stakeholders to tackle the policy challenges we face as a global society. We seek use of the Teaching Professor titles to help retain our excellent benefits-eligible Lecturers and Senior Lecturers (those with ≥50% FTE appointments) who play a critical role in serving our students at multiple levels of training (including our undergraduate, professional masters, and doctoral degree programs and executive education), and to recruit the next generation of teaching faculty for whom we regularly compete with other policy schools and academic departments.

Our benefits-eligible teaching faculty play critical roles in curriculum development, teaching excellence, and degree program leadership, and they serve as a critical source of for training and inspiring our students to pursue careers in public policy, public administration, health policy, and health administration. Our students call them “professor” and they are a critical part of the Brooks School’s teaching, mentoring, and administrative community. Yet, many of these exceptional faculty members do not view the titles of Lecturer and Senior Lecturer as affording them with the level of professional respect and opportunity that are commensurate with their substantial contributions to the Brooks School. The Lecturer and Senior Lecturer titles also limit pathways to promotion with only two categories of seniority and achievement. Our benefits-eligible Lecturers and Senior Lecturers (≥50% FTE) also share titles with part-time faculty who teach one or two courses for our professional programs, but have not made the same degree of commitment to the institution. Combined, these limitations of the current titles have led several excellent teaching faculty to consider positions at other institutions that address one or more of these foundational limitations of the Lecturer titles.
The Teaching Professor titles will also help us to recruit the best and brightest candidates for teaching positions in the Brooks School. As the Brooks School continues to grow and develop new degree programs in public policy and public administration, we will need to grow both our tenure-eligible and teaching faculty to meet student demand. We have already grown substantially since the school’s founding in fall 2021, adding 15 tenure/tenure-track faculty, 4 Lecturers/Senior Lecturers, and 1 Professor of Practice. The ability to hire using the title of Assistant, Associate, or Full Teaching Professor will enable us to become even more competitive in the market for exceptional teachers, mentors, and (in some cases) administrators.

B. Description of Position

Consistent with the Faculty Handbook description of the teaching professor title, these titles in the Brooks School will be available only for long term, non-tenure-track, and benefits-eligible (≥50% FTE appointment in the Brooks School) faculty members whose efforts are devoted primarily to the teaching mission of the school and whose teaching capacity and skill are characterized by impact and excellence. Teaching professors at higher ranks can demonstrate impact and excellence through activities such as pedagogical innovation, curriculum development, and leadership roles. Consistent with their rank and Brooks School needs, teaching professors are also expected to contribute teaching-related service, especially in areas that concern advising, mentoring, curriculum, and management of degree programs.

Specific responsibilities will vary by individual and program/unit needs, but all faculty appointed under a Teaching Professor title will have two categories of responsibility, in most cases with the vast majority of effort allocation in the first: (1) teaching responsibilities in academic programs, and (2) broader responsibilities to contribute to the school and program/unit over and above their teaching contribution. Minimum teaching responsibilities under the Teaching Professor titles will not fall below 9 credits per year, and the standard teaching load for full-time Teaching Professors at any rank in the Brooks School will be 6 courses per year, 3 per semester. Broader responsibilities could include program development, leadership, and administration; outreach and engagement, including partnerships with community organizations that support the engaged learning opportunities; student mentoring; recruitment efforts through search committee membership; or service on school or university-level committees. We anticipate that teaching responsibilities of Teaching Professors will be distributed between both undergraduate and professional degree programs offered within the school. While it is possible that the Brooks School could recruit a benefits eligible teaching professor with a non-full-time teaching load (i.e., less than 100%, but greater than 50% appointment), we anticipate that most teaching professors will be recruited in a full-time capacity.

C. Terms of Appointment

Numbers
The total number of benefits-eligible (≥50% FTE), RTE Faculty with university voting rights in the Brooks School (Teaching Professors + Professors of Practice + any other RTE faculty with university voting rights) will not exceed 35% of the total number of tenured or tenure-track faculty + benefits-eligible RTE faculty* with university voting rights and appointments in the Brooks School. As of February 10, 2024, the Brooks School has 65 faculty* who have teaching in their portfolio – 53 tenured and tenure-track faculty, 11 benefits-eligible Lecturers or Senior Lecturers, 2 benefits-eligible Professors of Practice. We also have 1 Senior Research Associate with university voting rights. We have no Research Professors or Clinical Professors and have no plans to adopt the Clinical Professor title. As such, if all 11 Lecturers and Senior Lecturers in the Brooks School transition to Teaching Professor titles as proposed, our current allocation of Teaching Professorial titles would be 16.7% of our total faculty count, and the proportion of all benefits-eligible RTE faculty with voting rights (Teaching Professors + Professors of Practice + all other voting eligible RTE faculty) would be at 21.2% of our total faculty count.

*This count does not include a larger set of Lecturers or Senior Lecturers who teach 1-2 courses on a part-time basis and are not in long-term positions; the number of these short-term faculty vary by substantially by semester but can number up to 30 per term, largely teaching in our MPA and MHA programs. These faculty will not be eligible for transition to the Teaching Professor title; if we were to include them in the denominator of our calculations as faculty who have teaching in their portfolio, movement of all benefits-eligible Lectures and Senior Lecturers to Teaching Professor Titles as proposed (the same 11 individuals) would put our current percentage at 11.6% for TPs, 13.7% for TPs + PofPs, and 45.3% for TPs + PofPs + (part-time) Ls/SLs.

E. Voting and Other Rights

Teaching Professors of all ranks will have University Voting Rights. Teaching Professors at any rank will have rights to vote on hiring of Teaching Professors at any rank. Associate Teaching Professors will have the right to vote on promotions from Assistant Teaching Professor to Associate Teaching Professors, and on appointment at the rank of Associate Teaching Professor. (Full) Teaching Professors will have the additional right to vote on appointments or reappointments to the ranks of (Full) Teaching Professor and Professor of Practice in the School. In addition, Teaching Professors at any rank will have voting rights on curricular matters (e.g., approval of new degree programs) in the Brooks School. The initiation of Teaching Professor titles in the Brooks School does not change existing Brooks guidelines that have been established about eligibility for (a) graduate field membership or (b) thesis advising/mentorship.

F. Impact Statement
The use of the Teaching Professor title is not intended to have any impact on the number of tenure-track faculty or Professors of Practice in the Brooks School. All benefits-eligible faculty (≥50% FTE) who currently hold positions in the Brooks School at the rank of Lecturer will be administratively transferred to the title of Assistant Teaching Professor. All benefits-eligible faculty (≥50% FTE) who currently hold positions in the Brooks School at the rank of Senior Lecturer will be administratively transferred to the title of Associate Teaching Professor. Both of these administrative changes will occur within three months of Faculty Senate approval of the Brooks School’s use of the title.

The Brooks School will continue to use the Lecturer title for part-time and short-term faculty who are not eligible for the Teaching Professor titles as per the aforementioned terms of appointment. We will discontinue use of the Senior Lecturer title, since we do not plan to use this title for part-time or short-term faculty appointments.

External hiring into the Teaching Professor track will not begin until we have completed the process of transferring current benefits-eligible Lecturers and Senior Lecturers into Teaching Professor titles, though we reserve the right to transfer the title of any benefits-eligible Lecturers or Senior Lecturers who may be hired during the current academic year.

G. Definition of RTE Teaching Faculty

For purposes of voting on the Brooks School’s Teaching Professor proposal, “RTE Teaching Faculty” are defined as all benefits-eligible (>50% FTE) Brooks faculty who have appointments of any rank on the Lecturer or Professor of Practice tracks. (The Brooks School does not use the Clinical Professor title). These RTE Teaching Faculty are a voting constituency noted below

Degree Requirements
In most cases, faculty with Teaching Professor titles will have a PhD (or the highest degree in a given field/discipline, for example a JD for legal training) in a field/discipline that is directly relevant to the area of instruction. On a case-by-case basis, we will also consider teaching faculty who have substantial teaching experience (e.g., those who have been previously hired at or have been promoted to Senior Lecturer titles; new hires who hold similar ranks at other universities) who hold MPA or MPP degrees and are hired to teach in our Bachelor’s and Master’s level programs will be eligible for the title of Associate Teaching Professor. As described in Section C.3.a, current >50% FTE Senior Lecturers in the Brooks School, including those who have an MPA or MPP degree as their highest degree, will title transfer to the rank of Associate Teaching Professor and will be eligible for future promotion to Teaching Professor. Future exceptions to the highest degree guideline are expected to be rare. In all cases, Teaching Professors must hold a graduate degree that is appropriate to the level and field of instruction that the individual will provide. Teaching Professors who hold a PhD may teach courses to Brooks PhD students. Decisions about instructional assignments and requisite degree qualifications will be made in consultation with the Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs (SADAA).

Searches
Searches for open Teaching Professor positions in the Brooks School will typically be national in scope (with possible exceptions for search waiver-qualifying conditions, including spousal or affirmative action waivers) and include the following steps:

a. A search committee that consists of at least three faculty, at least half of whom with an appointment in the Brooks School, will be formed. The membership of the search committee is determined jointly by the Dean of the Brooks School and, if applicable, the relevant Department Chair. That committee will oversee the standard hiring procedures (pool development, finalist selection, interviews, etc.) in coordination with HR and hiring processes of the Brooks School and (if applicable) department.

b. All candidates who are selected for on-campus interviews should deliver a teaching/pedagogy talk that is attended by the search committee, relevant faculty, and students from relevant degree programs.

c. During the interview process, faculty in the Brooks School (and if relevant, the department) should have full exposure to the candidate, though the teaching/pedagogy talk should be coordinated between the Brooks School and the department such that members of both polities can attend a single teaching/pedagogy talk.

d. Following the interview process, the search committee seeks input and feedback from Brooks School faculty and, at their discretion, students who met with the candidate and/or were in attendance at the teaching/pedagogy talk. This feedback is summarized and presented to the faculty with a formal recommendation about which candidate to hire.

e. Brooks faculty vote on whether or not to make an offer to the candidate. The voting polity for whether or not to make an offer to a candidate includes all tenured and tenure-track faculty, all Teaching Professors (all ranks), and Professors of Practice (who are only appointed at the rank of full, as per Brooks policies).

f. Informed by the search committee recommendation and the results of the faculty vote, the Dean of the Brooks School will decide whether or not to make an offer to the candidate.

g. Once terms are agreed upon, the letter of offer will be signed by the Brooks School Dean and the Brooks Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development (and, if applicable, the relevant Department Chair).

Processes for Appointments, Reappointments, and Promotions

a. Appointments for Existing Benefits-Eligible Lecturers and Senior Lecturers. All benefits-eligible faculty (≥50% FTE in Brooks) who currently hold positions
in the Brooks School at the rank of Lecturer will be administratively transferred to the title of Assistant Teaching Professor. All benefits-eligible faculty (≥50% FTE) who currently hold positions in the Brooks School at the rank of Senior Lecturer will be administratively transferred to the title of Associate Teaching Professor.

b. Appointments for Newly Hired Teaching Professors. As noted above, searches for open Teaching Professor positions in the Brooks School will be national in scope and include a dossier-based review process. Applications for Teaching Professor positions at any rank should include a minimum of the following: (1) a letter of interest briefly summarizing background, qualifications, and interest in position; (2) CV; (3) teaching statement outlining their teaching goals and your experiences; (4) teaching evaluations (if available); (5) names and contact information for three references; and (6) description of experience with, and/or approaches to, fostering learning, research, service, and/or outreach in a diverse community—applicants may choose to submit a stand-alone statement or embed the information in other parts of their application materials.
i. Requirements for new appointment with the title of Assistant Teaching Professor will include promise or evidence of high-quality teaching and a commitment to fostering learning, research, service, and/or outreach in a diverse community.
ii. Requirements for a new appointment with the title of Associate Teaching Professor will include the equivalent of at least six years of full-time teaching experience at undergraduate or professional graduate levels, evidence of sustained, high-quality teaching and student mentoring, evidence of pedagogical innovation and curriculum development, promise or evidence of leadership skills or potential, and a documented and sustained commitment to fostering learning, research, service, and/or outreach in a diverse community.
iii. Requirements for a new appointment with the title of (Full) Teaching Professor will include the equivalent of at least twelve years of full-time teaching experience at undergraduate or professional graduate levels, a reputation of excellence for pedagogical innovation and curriculum development, evidence of sustained, high-quality teaching and student mentoring, leadership experience (in program administration or other administrative roles), and a documented and sustained commitment to fostering learning, research, service, and/or outreach in a diverse community.

c. Reappointments. The Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development (SADFD) will launch a dossier review in the final year of the Teaching Professor term of appointment. The dossier should be completed at least 3 months prior to the individual’s termination date. The SADFD will then submit a letter/communication to the Dean endorsing or rejecting the reappointment. If the recommendation is approved by the Dean, the Assistant Dean of Human Resources will be notified and
action to establish a terminal appointment (if warranted) or reappointment will be taken.
i. Reappointment dossiers will include a current CV; personal statement of teaching, mentoring, engagement, and/or administrative accomplishments and future goals and plans, including their relevance to the mission of the program and School; reappointment recommendation(s) from the director(s) of any relevant unit program (if applicable); the length of the reappointment; results of student course and student mentoring evaluations for the term of the current appointment; and copies of annual performance reviews (if available).

d. Promotions from Assistant to Associate Teaching Professor. Consistent with the guidelines for promotion noted above, requirements for promotion with the title of Associate Teaching Professor will include the equivalent of at least six years of full-time teaching experience at undergraduate or professional graduate levels, evidence of sustained, high-quality teaching and student mentoring, evidence of pedagogical innovation and curriculum development, promise or evidence of leadership skills or potential, and a documented and sustained commitment to fostering learning, research, service, and/or outreach in a diverse community.
i. In discussion with the Dean, SADAA and/or the SADFD, an individual seeking promotion from Assistant to Associate Teaching Professor may initiate the request for promotion based on the quality of performance and increased responsibilities commensurate with the guidelines described above. If the candidate or program director decides to pursue promotion, they submit to the SADFD requesting consideration for promotion.
ii. Once agreed upon by the Dean’s office, the candidate will prepare a promotion dossier that must include (1) a current CV, (2) a personal statement of teaching, mentoring, and (if applicable) administrative accomplishments and future goals and plans, including their relevance to the mission of the program and School; (3) letters of evaluation from two faculty or program directors with whom the candidate has worked; (4) results of student course and student mentoring evaluations for at least the last three years; (5) evaluations from teaching assistants with whom the lecturer has worked or whom the lecturer has supervised (if available); (6) letters from current and former students; and (7) copies of annual performance reviews (if available).
iii. When the file is complete, the documentation is presented to a committee comprised of at least three tenured Professors, Professors of Practice, and/or Associate or Full Teaching Professors from the Brooks School. The committee is responsible for making a recommendation, in the form of a formal letter, on the suitability of the candidate for promotion to the rank of Associate Teaching Professor.
iv. Eligible Brooks faculty vote on whether to support promotion. The voting polity for this decision is all tenure-line Associate or (Full) Professors, all Associate or (Full) Teaching Professors, and Professors of Practice.
v. Informed by the recommendation of the review committee and the faculty vote, the Dean of the Brooks School will decide whether or not to promote the candidate to the rank of Associate Teaching Professor.

e. Promotions from Associate to Full Teaching Professor. Consistent with the guidelines for promotion noted above, requirements for promotion with the title of (Full) Teaching Professor will include will include the equivalent of at least twelve years of full-time teaching experience at undergraduate or professional graduate levels, a reputation for excellence in pedagogical innovation and curriculum development, evidence of sustained, high-quality teaching and student mentoring, leadership experience (in program administration or other administrative roles), and a documented and sustained commitment to fostering learning, research, service, and/or outreach in a diverse community.
i. In discussion with the Dean, SADAA and/or the SADFD, an individual seeking promotion from Associate to Full Teaching Professor may initiate the request for promotion based on the quality of performance, leadership experience, and reputation commensurate with the guidelines described above. If the candidate or program director decides to pursue promotion, they submit to the SADFD requesting consideration for promotion.
ii. Once agreed upon by the Dean’s office, the candidate will prepare a promotion dossier that must include (1) a current CV, (2) a personal statement of teaching, mentoring, and (if applicable) administrative accomplishments and future goals and plans, including their relevance to the mission of the program and School; (3) letters of evaluation from two faculty or program directors with whom the candidate has worked; (4) results of student course and student mentoring evaluations for at least the last three years; (5) evaluations from teaching assistants with whom the lecturer has worked or whom the lecturer has supervised (if available); (6) letters from current and former students; (7) copies of annual performance reviews (if available). In addition, the SADFD will also solicit recommendations from the Brooks faculty and the candidate for names of potential external (to Brooks) letter writers that can comment on the candidate’s reputation for excellence in pedagogical innovation and curriculum development. The SADFD will solicit these letters and must receive at least two letters for the dossier to be complete. These letters may come from writers that are internal to Cornell but external to the Brooks School.
iii. When the file is complete, the documentation is presented to a committee comprised of at least 3 tenured faculty, Professors of Practice, and/or Associate or Full Teaching Professors from the Brooks School. The committee is responsible for making a recommendation, in the form of a formal letter, on the suitability of the candidate for promotion to the rank of Teaching Professor.
iv. Brooks faculty vote on whether to support promotion. The voting polity for this decision is all tenure-line (Full) Professors, all (Full) Teaching Professors, and Professors of Practice.
v. Informed by the recommendation of the review committee and SADFD, the Dean of the Brooks School will decide whether or not to promote the candidate to the rank of Teaching Professor.

Grievance Procedures

a. Right to Appeal
Any faculty member who is reviewed for and denied promotion to Associate or Full Teaching Professor may appeal that decision at the Brooks School Review Committee Review and Brooks Dean levels. The candidate shall be informed of this right, and the procedures for exercising it, when they are first notified in writing of a negative promotion recommendation or decision.

b. Waiver or Loss of Appeal Rights
The candidate may waive the right to written explanations from the review committee chair and the Dean, or may decline to pursue the appeals procedure at any stage. However, the appeal procedures herein described must be followed sequentially. Waiver of any stage of the appeals procedure shall cause the candidate’s right to proceed further to be forfeited. Thus, failure to request reconsideration of a negative Brooks School Committee recommendation, or failure to respond to a negative proposed decision by the Dean, will constitute waiver of further appeal rights.

c. Appeal at the Brooks School Review Committee Recommendation Level
Any faculty member has a right to receive a timely reconsideration of a negative Brooks School Review Committee recommendation before that decision is brought to the Brooks faculty for vote.
i. Within three weeks after being notified that the Brooks Review Committee recommendation is negative, the candidate will receive a written statement of the reasons for the decision and the nature of the evidence unless the candidate expressly relinquishes their right to receive the statement within one
week of said notice. The statement shall respect the limits set by the need to preserve confidentiality.
ii. If the candidate wishes to have the committee recommendation reconsidered, they shall respond to the review committee chair in writing within three weeks of receipt of the chair’s statement of reasons. The candidate may address any issue that they deem appropriate, and may present new evidence.
iii. The eligible voting faculty shall have access to both the chair’s statement and the candidate’s response before the vote shall be taken. All votes are advisory to the Dean.

d. Appeal at the Brooks School Dean Level
i. If the Brooks Dean reaches a negative decision following a negative review committee recommendation and a negative faculty vote, the dean shall provide the candidate with a written statement of the reasons for that decision, within the limits set by the need to preserve confidentiality.
ii. If the Brooks Dean reaches a negative decision following either a positive review committee recommendation or a positive (majority positive) faculty vote, the dean shall, prior to finalizing the decision, appoint an ad hoc committee comprised of three Cornell faculty members at an equivalent or higher rank (Associate or higher for promotion to Associate; full or higher for promotion to Full) who are not part of the Brooks School faculty. Within three weeks of receipt of the report of the ad hoc committee, the Brooks Dean shall furnish the candidate and the Brooks School faculty with a preliminary written statement of the reasons for that decision and the nature of the evidence within the limits set by the need to preserve confidentiality. For a two-week period following receipt of the statement, the candidate and/or Brooks Faculty shall have the opportunity to respond to the Brooks Dean, prior to the Dean’s final decision.

Appointment Lengths

According to the Enabling Legislation, Teaching Professor appointments may be up to five years in length. In the Brooks School, the length of appointment for a newly hired Assistant or Associate Teaching Professor will be up to 3 years. Assistant Teaching Professors who are reappointed after a three-year term will typically be appointed to a second three-year term. Associate and Full Teaching Professors who are successfully promoted into these titles will have a typical length of appointment of 5 years.

Support for Professional Development

All Assistant Teaching Professors will be assigned a faculty mentor, drawn from the pool of faculty at one of the following titles: Associate Teaching Professor, (Full) Teaching Professor, Associate Professor, (Full) Professor, or Professor of Practice. Teaching Professors at all ranks are also encouraged to pursue professional development opportunities through pedagogically or scholarly-oriented conferences and leadership trainings. There is no sabbatical program for faculty holding Teaching Professor titles at any rank. Externally funded scholarly leaves for professional development purposes will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

D. Limitations

Scope

As noted in the enabling legislation, the teaching professor titles may not be used to replicate the combined teaching and research responsibilities of the tenure track faculty. Accordingly, job duties of a teaching professor appointment will not require conducting research, publishing its results, or mentoring PhD 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 will not be required for appointment, reappointment, or promotion within the teaching professor track in Brooks.

Faculty with Teaching Professor titles may choose to engage in research activities with students (e.g., working with undergraduates on a research project related to their area of expertise), and teaching faculty that are on 9-month appointments may support research with grants through summer salary. In most cases, however, student-engaged research mentorship activities will not count as one of the six courses that constitute a full courseload for Teaching Professors unless approved by the SADAA and Dean.