Join the Community-Based Faculty

Individuals not employed by Michigan State University who are interested in providing their service to advance the educational, research, and/or service missions of the College of Human Medicine are invited to apply for an appointment in the clinical/adjunct faculty appointment system.

To begin the application process, contact the Community Assistant Dean’s office in your community.

• Flint
• Grand Rapids
• Henry Ford
• Lansing
• Midland
• Southeast Michigan
• Traverse City
• Upper Peninsula

Clinical and adjunct faculty appointments in the College of Human Medicine are generally for three years. Individuals who wish to continue to serve apply for reappointment during the final year of their current appointment. Reappointment is at the discretion of the appointing department and the college.

The college uses two categories for clinical/adjunct faculty appointments. Most community-based faculty are appointed in the prefix system and use the “clinical” or “adjunct” prefix in their titles (e.g., clinical assistant professor, adjunct associate professor, etc.). Community-based faculty with certain roles at MSU may be eligible for the non-prefix system and if appointed in this category may drop the “clinical” or “adjunct” prefix.

• About the Prefix Category
  Individuals holding prefix appointments are expected to have the educational background and experience required for the rank, and they must be interested in providing some degree of service to the department and college even though they do not have a paid appointment. The “adjunct” prefix is used unless the appointee holds a professional medical degree, in which case the “clinical” prefix is used.
• About the Non-prefix Category

  The college relies on some clinical/adjunct faculty members to fill important teaching and administrative roles in the medical school. Because of the significant time commitment by these individuals, they are generally compensated by MSU through contracts between MSU and their employers despite not being on the MSU payroll. In recognition of their significant contributions, these individuals are invited to apply for a non-prefix appointment, provided they have a minimum time commitment of 20% effort and meet one or more of these criteria:

  • Hold an official administrative position in the college (e.g., clerkship director, course director, etc.). Official administrative positions are designated as such by the dean’s office.
  • Are paid by a College of Human Medicine-affiliated or College of Human Medicine-sponsored residency as core faculty or an administrator (e.g., residency director) for the program. “Core faculty” means a significant amount of your effort is devoted to teaching precepting and you are paid by the residency program or clinical entity specifically for that teaching role.
  • Are engaged in a meaningful, collaborative research relationship with one or more regular MSU faculty, as adjudicated by the senior associate dean for research.

  To comply with accreditation expectations, non-prefix faculty have the same effort allocation expectations as MSU-employed faculty in the health programs appointment system. These expectations include consistent effort and demonstrated excellence in the teaching, research and service missions of the college, in addition to the provision of patient care. Like the health programs faculty, non-prefix faculty are expected to work toward academic promotion by meeting rigorous promotion criteria.

  Individuals who are eligible for the non-prefix category but do not intend to work toward promotion in this category should request a prefix appointment.

  Additional considerations:

  • Non-prefix faculty must attest to, and be able to demonstrate, at least 20% effort on behalf of MSU in the areas of teaching, scholarly productivity/research, and institutional services, as outlined in the non-prefix promotion criteria. Teaching assignments must include both medical students and residents. Institutional service includes election or assignment to department or college committees, such as the Student Grievance Hearing Panel, a reappointment, promotion and tenure committee at either level, etc.
  • Initial appointment in the non-prefix category is at the rank of assistant professor. Higher rank requires previous appointment at the higher rank at another academic institution. It also requires peer review and recommendation at the department and college levels, and final approval by the associate dean for faculty affairs and staff administration.
  • Appointment in the non-prefix category continues only while the eligibility criteria continue to be met. Individuals who no longer meet eligibility criteria for the non-prefix category (e.g., unable to contribute 20% effort to teaching, research and institutional service missions, no longer hold the administrative position, unable to work toward academic promotion, etc.) will be transferred or reappointed to the prefix category.