Secondary Appointments

Updated 9/5/2024

Faculty who hold a primary appointment in one department, program, or school may hold a secondary (sometimes called “courtesy”) appointment in another. Faculty holding a secondary appointment may be eligible to teach, advise students, and supervise dissertations in the secondary department, program, or school, depending on its customs and policies. Refer to section IV.F of the Yale Faculty Handbook for voting rights policies for secondary appointments.

Terms of Appointment

The secondary appointment term may only be up to the end date of the primary appointment, but no longer than 5 years (including tenured faculty). Under most conditions the secondary appointment may be initiated and renewed by vote of the faculty in the secondary department or school with approval of its dean.

Secondary teaching appointments are only granted to non-ladder faculty when the appointment is necessary to teach a course, generally when (1) the primary appointment is not in the FAS, (2) the candidate only holds a FAS research appointment, such as associate research scientist or a postdoctoral associate, or (3) the candidate holds a different teaching rank than what is required for the course (e.g., lector-track versus lecturer-track).

Note: The FAS Dean’s Office does not send separate offer letters for secondary ladder appointments and does so only in rare instances when a secondary appointment is attached to an initial primary appointment.

Request Submission

To request a secondary appointment or reappointment, the chair of the secondary academic unit, supported by academic unit staff, prepares the following supporting documentation (as one PDF) and submits the request to fas.dean@yale.edu with a copy to the relevant dean with the subject line: Secondary Appointment Request, [academic unit], [candidate last name, first name]. 

1. Secondary academic unit chair letter of endorsement and rationale for the appointment
2. Secondary appointment form with approvals from primary academic unit chair or school dean
3. If an initial appointment: candidate CV
4. If paid by secondary unit: faculty compensation approval form
5. For all ladder appointments (of any term length) and multiyear non-ladder appointments: department faculty vote form from secondary unit

Approval and Appointment Process

Once approved, the FAS Dean's Office returns the secondary appointment form (and, if applicable, the faculty compensation approval form) to the secondary academic unit for processing.

Academic unit staff refer to the FAS chart of required documents, submit the listed materials to the Office of Faculty Administrative Services (OFAS) at faculty.admin@yale.edu, and process the initial appointment or reappointment in Workday.