Criteria for Initial Rank

Each full-time tenure-track faculty member, including professional librarians on full-time assignment, shall be appointed to one of the following ranks: lecturer, instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. All such appointments to a particular rank shall be made by the President upon the recommendation of the Provost with the advice of the Search Committee.

To be eligible for an initial appointment to a particular rank, the faculty member must meet the following minimum qualifications:

1. Non-tenure Track Rank:
   1. Lecturer/Visiting Faculty
      1. Lecturers/Visiting Faculty are full-time, non-tenure-track, at-will members of Limestone University faculty.  The minimum requirement for appointment is a master’s degree in the teaching field.
      2. Lecturer/Visiting Faculty appointments are made annually for nine (9) months or twelve (12) months, depending on hire for day campus or online. 
      3. Lecturers/Visiting Faculty teach a normal load of 15 credit hours per semester over that calendar year unless given release time for other duties. 
      4. Lecturers/Visiting Faculty may be renewed pending satisfactory evaluation of teaching and other duties by the Academic Dean.
      5. Lecturers/Visiting Faculty are hired and appointed by the processes used to hire and appoint all full-time faculty, regardless of tenure track status, outlined in the Method of Initial Appointment. 
      6. Lecturers/Visiting Faculty report to their respective College Dean.
      7. For Lecturers Only: Like other full-time faculty, Lecturers are expected to devote time to service, which can include recruitment, advising, assisting with student registration, attending graduations, providing input for the selection of library materials, assisting with the development of the semester schedule, maintaining currency in the teaching discipline, and attending and participating in department, College, and faculty meetings.  
2. Tenure-track Ranks:
   1. Instructor: A master’s degree or equivalent in the teaching field will be required for hiring at the instructor level.
   2. Assistant Professor: The terminal degree (see Table I) with fewer than five years of university-level teaching experience is the normal criterion for hiring at the level of Assistant Professor.
   3. Associate Professor: The terminal degree (see Table I) and five (5) years of full-time teaching experience at the university level are the normal requirements for the rank of Associate Professor.  A person hired at the associate professor level should demonstrate distinction in teaching and campus leadership (service as chairperson of campus committees, etc.).
   4. Professor: The terminal degree (see Table I) and eight (8) years of full-time teaching experience at the university level are the standard criteria for the rank of Professor.  A person hired at the professor level should demonstrate high distinction in teaching and campus leadership.

Terminal Degrees: The credential that Limestone University considers the terminal degree in each academic discipline is listed below in Table I.