Types of Faculty Appointments

Full-Time: A full-time faculty employee is an individual who is appointed to an authorized position and is scheduled to work on a regular basis for a minimum of 17.00 Load Credits (LCs). A full course load for a 9-month appointment that includes scholarship or clinical work, university service, and advising is defined 24 LCs. 

Clinical Faculty: Employees in this group are licensed or certified professionals whose primary responsibility involves teaching students in both academic and clinical settings, supervising clinical experiences, and engaging in professionally related service. While they may, they are not required to participate in research or scholarship activities as part of their regular assignment. They will serve on select committees involving curriculum or program-related issues. They are eligible for promotion but not tenure. Eligible academic programs for hiring Clinical Faculty are healthcare programs that require the faculty to be licensed practitioners (e.g., Nursing, Physician Assistant, and Social Work).

Adjunct Faculty: Adjunct faculty are contracted on a per-course basis, and unless part of an affiliate faculty contract are limited to no more than 23 LC in any 12 month period.

Affiliate Faculty: An Affiliate Faculty member is an adjunct faculty member on a teaching-intensive one-year contract for between 24 and 32 load credits in an academic year beginning with Fall term. Affiliate Faculty are the only adjunct appointments eligible for full employment benefits, including healthcare. 32 LC are contracted at the full-time faculty index salary; 24-31 LC are prorated downward from that index. Load may be spread throughout academic units. Any LC above the contracted amount will be paid at the adjunct/overload rate. Affiliate faculty appointments do not carry a rank, and are not eligible for promotion. Affiliate faculty hold regular office hours but do not advise, are not assigned university or college committee work, and have no requirements for scholarship or clinical practice unless such is part of maintaining a required professional license. This appointment type is not intended to carry noninstructional load, like chairing a department or leading an academic program. Affiliate faculty are eligible for faculty professional development funds.

Eligibility: The candidate must be a current or prospective adjunct at Bethel University, be academically qualified or have acceptable tested experience in an area related to his or her teaching and have a strong record of teaching performance. 

Adjunct Clinical Faculty: Adjunct Clinical faculty are preceptors who mentor students in clinical settings, usually for no compensation. Bethel provides the benefits for those adjunct clinical faculty as detailed in the Adjunct Clinical Faculty section, but no other faculty policies and no other benefits apply to these faculty. Adjunct Clinical Faculty will carry the rank Adjunct Clinical Instructor of (Department/Program) 

A benefits-eligible employee is either full-time or part-time, but meets the benefits eligibility threshold of .75 FTE for staff or 17.00 Load Credits (LCs) for Full-time faculty.

July 9. 2024

Office of the Provost