General Guidelines for Professor of the Practice Appointments

The professor of the practice is a non-tenure track, 9 month academic year position. During the appointment candidates will be able to apply for tenure-track positions as they become available at Cornell.

Expectations of the candidate

Appointments to the professor of the practice title are expected to be for long term, non-tenure track faculty who provide effective, practice-oriented instruction in areas that supplement instruction provided by tenured and tenure-track faculty.  In the professor of the practice roles, the candidate must demonstrate the ability to provide students with a deeper understanding of the practical application of a particular field of study and to promote the integration of academic scholarship with practical experience. The candidate must also possess a demonstrated ability to deliver substantively unique courses and to assume sole responsibility for conceptualizing, designing, and initiating such courses, or to assume a leadership role in conceptualizing, designing and initiating team taught courses. Contributions to the mission of the unit over and above teaching contributions, such as institute development and leadership, is expected.

New appointments, reappointments and promotions

• Assistant professors of the practice should have up to six years of professional experience outside of the academic setting.
• Associate professors of the practice should have up to 12 years of professional experience outside of the academic setting.
• Full professors of the practice should have 12 or more years of professional experience outside of the academic setting.

The candidate’s relevant professional experience is expected to be outside of the academic setting; thus candidates should be external. Initial appointment of an external candidate to any professor of the practice rank requires approval from your SrAD, but does not require an initial dossier-based review if the candidate was found through a nation-wide search. Promotion and reappointment decisions will be made by the Office of the Dean, after review of the dossier and consideration of a recommendation by a faculty ad hoc committee. To assemble the promotion/reappointment dossier please refer to the guidelines here.

Migration of academic staff to any rank of professor of the practice is considered in exceptional cases only. Migrations require advance approval by your SrAD as well as an initial dossier-based review.

Appointment term

• Assistant professors of the practice: Up to 3 years, renewable.
• Associate and full professors of the practice: Up to 5 years, renewable.

Limitations

The percentage of positions bearing the professor of the practice and research professor titles may not exceed 10% of the college’s existing tenure-track faculty positions and may not exceed 10% of the number of tenure-track positions in any academic unit*.

Use of modified title

The professor of the practice titles can be modifiable by the terms "acting," "courtesy," and "visiting." Requests for the use of modified titles will be considered on a case by case basis. 

If you have any questions please contact the SrAD office. 

* Note: “Academic unit” refers to department, school, or other organizational level of faculty within the college.