Single Semester/Year Appointment and Reappointment Procedures (Lector-Track)

Last Revised: 10/6/2021

Criteria

Individuals engaged in the teaching of languages at Yale may be appointed to one of these ranks: lector, senior lector I, or senior lector II. They are characterized by an increasing level of programmatic and pedagogical responsibility and by the qualifications and experience of the candidates appointed to them. Please refer to the appointment criteria for the lector-track ranks, as set forth by the Language Study Committee with the concurrence of the Steering Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The rank of lector is appropriate for individuals who have native or near-native language proficiency and some training in language pedagogy, have earned a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, but who have had relatively little teaching experience. That experience might range from teaching during graduate training to fewer than three years of full-time teaching at the college level.

The rank of senior lector has two levels, characterized by programmatic and pedagogical responsibility and the qualifications and experience of the individuals appointed to them. Senior lectors with appropriate qualifications may be asked to engage in a limited amount of teaching in non-language courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.

Terms of Appointment

Lectors may be appointed for terms varying from one semester to three years, renewable to a maximum of six years in the rank. Lectors who are not promoted within six years of continuous appointment are not renewed.

Senior lectors I may also be appointed for terms varying from one semester to three years, and senior lectors II, one semester to five years, in each case depending on professional accomplishment, development as a teacher, programmatic needs, and available resources.

The University does not typically make initial appointments at the level of senior lector II.

Process

Reappointments of one semester or one year require the approval of the FAS Dean’s Office, but do not require the appointment of a search committee or a department faculty vote. Department chairs instead, in consultation with their faculty colleagues, make their recommendations directly to TRAC. (However, if the department wishes to undertake a review, the procedures for a full reappointment review may be followed.)

Similarly, if the department wishes to request additional teaching resources for current instructional faculty, they should submit their recommendations directly to TRAC.

The department submits the following materials as a single PDF document to TRAC for final review. The PDF should be sent to the relevant senior associate or assistant dean, with a copy to fas.dean@yale.edu, with the subject line:

Appointments:

TRAC Appointment Dossier, [Candidate’s Name]:

  1. Candidate’s CV
  2. Candidate’s cover letter, if available
  3. 2 Letters of Recommendation
  4. Any other relevant documents for review

Reappointments and Teaching Resource Requests:

TRAC Reappointment Dossier, [Candidate’s Name] or TRAC Teaching Resource Request, [Candidate’s Name]:

  1. Brief rationale from the chair for reappointment, including courses to be taught, how they fit into the curriculum, and any additional relevant information (past teaching performance, enrollments, etc.). Any requests to increase teaching resources (with corresponding FTE increase) must be justified in detail and approved by TRAC.
  2. Any other relevant documents for review

TRAC, in collaboration with the FAS Dean’s Office, then makes a determination after a review of relevant enrollments, the general necessity of the reappointment/additional teaching resource, and available resources. If TRAC (or as appropriate, the FAS Dean’s Office) approves the recommended reappointment, the department chair consults with the FAS Dean’s Office regarding length of term, salary, and other conditions of the appointment. The FAS Dean’s Office drafts a letter for the candidate for review by the chair. 

Following approval of the letter, which must be co-signed by the chair and a relevant dean, the FAS Dean’s Office sends it to the candidate, with copies to the chair, the Office of Faculty Administrative Services (OFAS), and others as appropriate. Any subsequent modifications to the offer must be pre-approved by the FAS Dean’s Office. If the candidate accepts the offer, they must acknowledge and agree to its terms by signing the reappointment letter and returning it to the FAS Dean’s Office at fas.dean@yale.edu.

The department’s chair’s assistant (or equivalent) reappoints the candidate in Workday (referring to the Workday Training website), and submits the supporting documents to faculty.admin@yale.edu according to the FAS Chart of Required Documents.