STIPULATIONS REGARDING RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS WITHIN THE FACULTY AND AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS*

1. Each professional research position shall be categorized as belonging in one of the six ranks described below and the appointee shall be subject to the conditions applicable to that rank. (Ordinarily, appointees' titles should incorporate the name of the rank to which their positions are assigned; when exceptional titles are approved the rank must be clearly designated on the appointment form. The title "Curator" is reserved for administrative appointees.)
2. The professional research ranks are:

   Category I: (Post-Doctoral Fellow)

   Definition: Positions, whether or not paid through Harvard, in which individuals continue their studies under the general supervision of one or more Harvard faculty members.

   Terms and Conditions:

   1. Ordinarily appointees should have received their doctoral degrees recently
   2. Individuals may serve in this category, whether full or part time, for a maximum of three years, except that extensions of up to two years may be granted to post-doctoral fellows in fields where such appointments are the norm. Such extensions will ordinarily not be granted to individuals who have held post-doctoral appointments elsewhere.

   Category II: (Visiting Scholar)

   Definition: Positions in which individuals, ordinarily on paid leave from a scholarly post elsewhere, carry out their own work in association with Harvard faculty members.

   Terms and Conditions: Individuals may serve in this category, whether full or part time, for no more than two years consecutively, but are eligible for reappointment after a lapse of years approximating that which separates sabbaticals.

   Category III: (Research Associate)

   Definition: Positions paid through Harvard in which professionals participate in research projects directed by one or more Harvard faculty members.

   Terms and Conditions:

   1. Appointees must be paid more than a nominal salary.
   2. Reappointment beyond the eighth year in this rank, whether full or part time, shall be permitted only after review and approval by the department and the Dean. Prior Harvard appointments in other research categories and in instructional ranks will be counted in the eight years. For this review (and subsequent reviews at five-year intervals thereafter) the Dean shall require evidence of substantive collective review by the recommending unit's scholarly body. When a review results in an extension or change of the appointment, the Dean shall arrange for the appointee to receive a letter stating the terms of continued service in explicit detail. Appointments in other categories after the eighth year are occasionally possible; departments should consult the Committee on Research Policy for further information.
   3. The CRP shall monitor appointments in this category regularly, reviewing numbers in rank, length of service, salary ranges, etc.
   4. Appointees shall be eligible to serve as Co-Principal Investigator (with others who have PI privileges) on projects on which they play a major role.

   Category IV: (Senior Research Fellow)

   Definition: Positions that provide individuals, paid through Harvard, somewhat greater job security and a degree of independence in carrying out research necessary to the program or programs of several Harvard faculty members.

   Terms and Conditions:

   1. Appointees must be paid more than a nominal salary.
   2. Appointees shall be eligible to serve as Principal Investigator only with the explicit approval of the ad hoc committee appointed by the Dean and under conditions specified by it.
   3. Appointments shall be of unspecified duration, subject to twelve months' notice of termination.
   4. Recommendations for appointment must be approved by the ad hoc committee appointed by the Dean.
   5. It is understood that under no circumstances will such an appointment be made for a project or a program that is wholly dependent upon the presence or the continuing interest of a single member of the Faculty.
   6. The Office for Faculty Affairs, in conjunction with the divisional deans, shall monitor appointments in this category regularly, reviewing numbers in rank, length of service, salary ranges, etc.
   7. The Dean will arrange for appointees to receive a letter setting forth the terms of the appointment in explicit detail and a copy of these stipulations.
    

   Category V: (Associate of [name of relevant administrative unit])

   Definition: Unpaid professional positions for individuals appointed to further well-defined, specific institutional objectives.

   Terms and Conditions:

   1. Recommendations for such appointments shall be made only by departments (ordinarily museums or other related institutions) that have negotiated with the Dean an allotment of such positions based on their demonstration of a generic need for such service.
   2. The Dean shall require evidence of substantive collective review of the particular appointment by the recommending unitís senior scholarly governing body at the time of first appointment and at five-year intervals should a particular appointee serve so long.
    

   Category VI: (Research Fellow)

   Definition: Positions, in areas where extensive postdoctoral experience prior to junior faculty appointment is the norm, that accord recent recipients of doctoral degrees a modicum of independence in conducting research, under the auspices of Departments or Centers.

   Terms and Conditions:

   1. Research Fellows must be paid more than a nominal salary through Harvard.
   2. Research Fellows shall be eligible for limited Principal Investigator privileges. The Dean shall specify limitations, including mechanisms for review of substance, and space and resource commitments, with advice from the Committee on Research Policy where appropriate.
   3. Searches for appointments to this rank must be authorized, in advance, by the Dean, who will stipulate search procedures and oversight mechanisms with due concern for breadth of the selection process and the relationship of Research Fellows to junior faculty and to those holding other categories of research appointments.
   4. Individuals may serve in this category, whether full or part time, for a maximum of five years. Appointees will be eligible for appointment to junior faculty positions (consonant with item 9 below) but not to other categories of research appointments.
      
3. All professional research appointees shall be officers of the University and entitled to such privileges as that designation entails.
4. It is understood that every research project must be sponsored by a member of the Faculty, as defined in Statute 5, with the exception of a Research Fellow or a Senior Research Fellow under the conditions stated above. On the basis of this understanding, only a Professor, an Associate Professor, an Assistant Professor or a Senior Lecturer may be designated as "Principal Investigator" or "Project Director."
5. Appointments to all ranks, except Senior Research Fellow, shall be made for periods not to exceed twelve months. It is understood that no commitment may be assumed beyond the term stated in the written notice of appointment.
6. Appointments in Categories I, III, and VI may be invited by one or more of the departments of the Faculty to offer instruction in a given year, provided always that the department in question also recommends him or her for appointment as Lecturer during the year. In no case will instructional commitments or appointments of this type be made on other than an annual basis. It is understood that such instructional responsibilities will not be so great as to constitute a "substantial teaching burden" as defined by the Corporation's vote of May 7, 1962, embodying Stipulations Regarding Extra Salaries and Teaching, Research, etc.
7. All holders of research appointments are considered to be employed on a twelve-month basis, and thus entitled to a one-month vacation but not to additional compensation for teaching or research during the summer months.
8. Associate Professors shall be ineligible to hold appointment in Categories I-IV and VI for a period of twenty-four months following the termination of their last Faculty appointment, except during the summer months.
9. Ordinarily in calculating the number of years of service in the non-tenure instructional ranks for which an individual is eligible, no more than two years of service in the professional research ranks of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, full or part time, may be excluded.

Footnotes

* Voted by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, March 17, 1980 and amended on March 13, 2000 and on April 20, 2004 (superseding vote of September 14, 1964 and amendments thereafter).