A joint appointment is one in which the faculty member’s FTE resides in one department (referred to as the primary or home department), but he or she is given a without salary (WOS) appointment in one or more secondary departments. Though appointed at 0% time, the joint appointment may sometimes involve the buying out a portion of time of the faculty member by the secondary department.

It is the responsibility of the Chair of the department proposing the joint appointment to coordinate the process. This consists of ensuring that the dossier, at minimum, contains a report of the faculty vote of the proposing department and a current C.V.

The Chair must ensure that the dossier contains participation from the faculty member’s primary department. A vote of the faculty of the primary department is required where departmental bylaws stipulate such a vote.

In the absence of departmental bylaws, or any custom and practice, a recommendation from the primary department can take the form of:

1. a full faculty vote and department letter,
2. standing or ad-hoc committee vote and report, or
3. Chair’s letter of recommendation.

Joint appointments made at the Professor and Associate Professor ranks are subject to review by the Council on Academic Personnel and the approval of the Vice Chancellor, Academic Personnel.

Joint appointments made at the Assistant Professor rank do not require review by the Council on Academic Personnel, and are subject to the approval of the Dean, providing that the Dean does not also serve as Chair.

D. Merits and Promotions

Recommendations for subsequent advancement are subject to the review and approval authority requirements applicable to the personnel action and require action by each department except where there is a waiver. See E. below. The primary department has the responsibility to coordinate and obtain the other department’s recommendation and ensure campus deadlines are met.

Whenever an appointee serves on a joint appointment basis the department with primary jurisdiction has the responsibility to coordinate and obtain the other department’s recommendation concerning advancements or other academic personnel actions of the individual. Any submission of academic actions on the individual’s behalf must include the recommendation of each Department Chair as well as the faculty vote from each department.

1. Request for Waiver

At anytime during the duration of the joint appointment, where appointment in the secondary department is at 0% time, the holder may request in writing that the secondary department consider waiving participation in his/her personnel actions. This request, addressed to the Chair of the secondary department, will be considered by the full faculty and voted upon. If the faculty accepts this waiver request by a majority vote, the Chair will forward the result of the vote and make a recommendation to the relevant Dean for final approval.

2. Duration

The approved waiver may be in effect for a period of up to three years and may be reconsidered at the request of the appointee or through a majority vote of the secondary department.

When a holder of this type of a joint appointment is promoted in rank or advanced in step, he or she is to be viewed as holding the new step or rank in both the primary and secondary department, irrespective of whether the secondary department has waived participation in the academic personnel reviews of the appointee.

3. Participation in Secondary Department Matters

A holder of a joint appointment who waives the participation of the secondary department in his or her academic personnel reviews, thereby also waives the right to participate in and the right to vote on academic personnel matters in the secondary department so long as the waiver of the department’s participation in his or her own academic personnel reviews is in effect.

The waiver of participation and the right to vote does not extend, however, to matters in the secondary department that do not involve academic personnel issues.

4. Procedures

Deans should develop procedures to accommodate requests and ensure that faculty review and vote are acted upon in a timely manner.

Requests for waivers and faculty vote documentation are to be maintained in either the department or Dean’s Office. It will be the Dean’s Office responsibility to monitor the three year waiver period and ensure that notification is issued in advance of the expiration of the waiver period.

When initiating a joint appointment in a secondary department, the candidate must be informed of the waiver option. If a waiver is requested at the time of appointment, the vote page should indicate two votes. The first vote addressing the joint appointment action, the second vote addressing the request for waiver.

When preparing Merit and Promotion dossier for individuals who have opted or waive secondary department review, simply indicate the effective dates of the waiver at the bottom of the vote page. This will enable all reviewing agencies to easily identify action that are subject to the waiver option, and avoid unnecessary delay.

A split appointment is one in which the FTE of the faculty member is split between two or more departments.

Split appointment made at the time of hire, require each of the departments involved to process the dossier in accordance with procedures that would be applicable if the entire FTE were to be in that department.

In the case of splitting an FTE that has previously been located only in one department, a vote of the faculty in each of the departments is required. The dossier should consist at minimum of a report of the vote of each department, a departmental letter from each of the departments and the proposed appointee’s C.V.

The proposing department coordinates the process.

All split appointments require review by the Council on Academic Personnel and are subject to the approval of the Vice Chancellor, Academic Personnel.

Recommendations for subsequent advancement are subject to the review and approval authority requirements applicable to the personnel action. The primary department has the responsibility to coordinate and obtain the other department’s recommendation and ensure campus deadlines are met.

The following guidelines, which build incrementally on existing policy and practice, were developed in order to recognize and benefit involved faculty with the intention of serving as a mechanism to strengthen and improve the environment for multidisciplinary work at UCLA.

1. Full-time, 100% appointments may be made in CIIs. Such faculty must hold a 0% appointment in an academic department or in the relevant division of the College of Letters and Science. In the case of specific CIIs, numerical limits on the number of 100% appointments may be set.
2. 100% of an FTE for a faculty position may not reside in an IDP.
3. Split appointments may be made between departments and CIIs/IDPs. Such appointments will ordinarily not be made at the time of initial appointment. Split appointments are limited to tenured faculty members only.
4. Joint or split appointments are the primary form of ladder faculty appointments in CIIs whereas joint appointments are the primary form in IDPs.

1. Faculty members holding full-time, joint, or split appointments in a CII or joint or split appointment in IDPs have voting rights in that unit.
2. CIIs and IDPs have the same responsibilities for academic personnel actions (i.e. promotions, advancements, and terminations) as do departments. CIIs have full responsibility for those who hold 100% appointments within the CII and shared responsibility for those who hold joint or split appointments. IDPs have shared responsibility for individuals holding joint or split appointments in the IDP.
3. CIIs and IDPs have the same role as departments in the following matters:

1. making nominations for Distinguished Teaching awards;
2. determining representation in the Legislative Assembly; and
3. determining participation in elections for Faculty Executive Committees.

Initial appointment and all subsequent personnel actions require the consent of the involved academic unit(s), and are subject to the normal review requirements appropriate to the action.