School of Medicine

Faculty Appointments & Promotions

The School of Medicine is committed to fostering the development of dedicated clinicians, scientists, public health professionals, and educators who will have a sustained positive impact on the health of individuals, communities, and the world. To accomplish this, the School of Medicine depends on the committed participation of excellent faculty in a broad range of disciplines.

The Office of Faculty Affairs manages the appointment and promotion process for all Tufts University School of Medicine faculty. Faculty appointments are proposed by the TUSM Academic Chair in partnership with our affiliated hospital Chiefs and Chairs. If you are a prospective faculty member, please reach out to your chief or chair to start the process.

The resources on this page are intended to guide and support both faculty and department administrators through the TUSM faculty appointment, promotion or tenure processes. Please note that documents may be revised periodically so we do not recommend you download and save the materials, but rather use this webpage for the most up to date forms and templates.

  • The Committee to Address Revisions the the Clinical Appointment and Promotion Process (CARCAP) is pleased to announce a revised clinical appointment and promotion policy. After two external reviews, one year of development by the CARCAP, review and approval by the TUSM Faculty Senate, and approval by the TUSM Dean and the University Provost, the revisions are slated to be implemented on July 1, 2025. The revised policy is linked below. Faculty appointments and promotions currently underway or initiated before July 1 will be processed using the prior policy.

    Approved Clinical Appointment and Promotion Policy Revisions

    Important Things to Note about the Revised Policy

    • Revised policy expands the current criteria; it does not remove it.
      • All past criteria for appointment and promotion in a clinical department remain in the revised policy. The major change is that impact is now the main criterion. To help you compare the current and new policies, the CARCAP Chair has created a Crosswalk of the Two Criteria Policies
    • Prior tracks and prototypes have been removed from the revised policy.
      • Faculty will be proposed for appointment or promotion using one singular "track" with no prefixed modifier. Additionally, there are no prototypes under the revised policy (e.g. "clinician/scholar").
    • Faculty with current titles that include a prefixed modifier (e.g. "clinical" or "research") can request a review and track change that would remove the prefix from their title. Additional details about this process will be shared once the revised policy is implemented.
    • The revised policy will take effect July 1, 2025.
      • Faculty proposals currently underway or initiated before July 1 will be processed using the prior policy.
      • Any proposals submitted on or after July 1 will need to adhere to the revised policy.
    • The Office of Faculty Affairs is working to update resources, forms and templates. We will maintain the current resources on this page until the revised policy is implemented. As of July 1, the resources will be updated on this page.

     

    We have prepared a  Policy Revisions Frequently Asked Questions document that addresses the major points. 

    We thank you for your patience as we work to update materials, systems, and process documentation related to these changes. The OFA team is working hard to make this a smooth transition for all.

  • TUSM uses Interfolio to collect, review, and process faculty appointment and promotion requests. All faculty appointment or promotion requests must be formally initiated in Interfolio by your department chief or chair. To be eligible for a faculty appointment, you must meet the minimum teaching requirement of at least 50 hours per year. TUSM recognizes formal teaching as well as mentoring, advising, and supervision of any TUSM learners.

    To apply for a faculty appointment at TUSM, please start the process by speaking with your department chief/chair to discuss the appropriate rank for your appointment and establish if you meet the minimum eligibility requirements.

    All faculty appointment requests require an up to date academic curriculum vitae (CV). The CV is an integral part of your appointment dossier. It is used (along with other materials) to evaluate your readiness for appointment or promotion, thus, it is important that your CV is accurate and contains evidence of your accomplishments and contributions to academic medicine. 

    Appointment Forms and Templates

    The following forms and templates are available to assist you while compiling your materials for appointment or promotion.

    CLINICAL DEPARTMENT APPOINTMENT OR PROMOTION

    For appointments and promotions within one of the twenty-one CLINICAL departments, please use the resources below (please note some of these materials will be changing as of July 1, 2025):

    • All appointments require an academic CV
      • Tufts CV Format [MS Word download] - recommended but not required
      • Academic CV Guidelines (NEW) - if using a non Tufts format, please see these guidelines to ensure all necessary categories are included to avoid any delays in your processing
    • All professorial level appointments (Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor) require an Impact Statement
      • TUSM Impact Statement - a personal narrative of your most significant accomplishments to help guide the review of your appointment or promotion proposal
    • Appointments or promotions at the Associate Professor or Professor ranks require some additional materials:
      • Referee Tracking Sheet - a list of colleagues your department can solicit referee letters from (updated template coming soon)
      • Senior Referee Letter Guidance 2025 -  a guide for understanding how many referees you need to identify for your department to solicit reference letters from; it includes what types of referees you can choose and how many of each type you need

    Criteria for Appointment and Promotion

    The School of Medicine is committed to fostering the development of dedicated clinicians, scientists, public health professionals, and educators who will have a sustained positive impact on the health of individuals, communities, and the world. To accomplish this, the School of Medicine depends on the committed participation of excellent faculty in a broad range of disciplines.

    Current criteria for appointment or promotion can be found in the TUSM Faculty Handbook (also linked below). Please note that these criteria are currently under review and may be revised in the near future. We recommend you use the links provided on this page instead of downloading and saving the documents.

     

    BASIC SCIENCE DEPARTMENT APPOINTMENT, PROMOTION OR TENURE

    For appointments and promotions within one of the five BASIC SCIENCE departments, please use the resources below:

    Criteria for Appointment and Promotion

    The School of Medicine is committed to fostering the development of dedicated clinicians, scientists, public health professionals, and educators who will have a sustained positive impact on the health of individuals, communities, and the world. To accomplish this, the School of Medicine depends on the committed participation of excellent faculty in a broad range of disciplines.

    The links below are for sections of the TUSM Handbook that present overviews of the basic science academic tracks, ranks and titles, and offers guidelines and criteria for such appointments and promotions.

  • This section is intended primarily for clinical department administrators who are involved in the compilation and submission process for faculty appointments and promotions through Interfolio.

    General Process Information

    All faculty appointment requests must be submitted via Interfolio for processing. The Office of Faculty Affairs no longer accepts email submissions. If you have not yet been training on Interfolio, please reach out to Phoebe Wood to set up a training session.

    Additionally, if you are new administrator and need to be oriented to the faculty appointment process at TUSM, please reach out to our office to set up an orientation session (Phoebe Wood).

    Forms and Templates

    Current forms, templates and resources can be found here: Resources for Administrators

    Please note that some forms are now fillable forms on Interfolio so please use them for reference only (*Faculty Appt Form and Deactivation Form)

    Many of the forms and templates will be updated, effective July 1, 2025, when the revised appointment and promotion policy is implemented (see Recent Changes and Revisions for details)

    Criteria for Appointment and Promotion

    The School of Medicine is committed to fostering the development of dedicated clinicians, scientists, public health professionals, and educators who will have a sustained positive impact on the health of individuals, communities, and the world. To accomplish this, the School of Medicine depends on the committed participation of excellent faculty in a broad range of disciplines.

    Current criteria for appointment or promotion can be found in the TUSM Faculty Handbook (also linked below). Please note that these criteria are currently under review and may be revised in the near future. We recommend you use the links provided on this page instead of downloading and saving the documents.