The
Tenure-Track Program
Click here for information about TENURE
IN THE NIH INTRAMURAL
PROGRAM
Advantages of the
Tenure Track
- To Fellows:
- Provides a period of stable support to maximize creative
independence.
- Facilitates recruitment of female, minority, and disabled
scientists.
- Creates possible fast track to tenure status through early
access to independent resources.
- Engenders realistic understanding of career prospects at
NIH.
- Improves evaluation of progress through outside reviews and
provides feedback to tenure-track scientists.
- To Lab Chiefs:
- Establishes a recruitment and retention mechanism for the
most outstanding young scientists.
- Allows better planning for future staffing of
lab/branch.
- Provides a means to launch into new scientific opportunity
areas.
- To Scientific Directors and the NIH:
- Assures fresh talent through recruitment of outside
scientists and retention of the best NIH fellows.
- Enhances scientific quality and stimulates creativity and
collaboration.
- Develops future scientific leaders for NIH or
elsewhere.
NIH Intramural Research
Program Tenure-Track Procedures
- Introduction:
The primary purpose of an NIH
fellowship or clinical
associateship is to provide time-limited research training
and development opportunities to postdoctoral scientists. It is
anticipated that, upon completion of their fellowship, the vast
majority of all fellows will leave NIH to pursue careers at
extramural institutions. The tenure track has been created to
provide an opportunity for outstanding postdoctoral scientists
trained inside and outside the NIH Intramural Research Program to
prove themselves as independent scientists and to compete for
permanent positions as tenured independent investigators.
- Objective:
The NIH tenure-track has been created to provide an
unambiguous, uniform, and equitable mechanism for identifying and
promoting outstanding scientists to the ranks of permanent
intramural researchers. The goal of this system is to provide all
necessary resources and encouragement to tenure-track scientists,
thus giving them a fair opportunity to demonstrate their
creativity and productivity as independent scientists.
Tenure at NIH differs from tenure at an academic institution.
Tenure at NIH is defined as the long-term commitment of salary,
personnel, and research resources needed to conduct an independent
research program within the scope of the institutes' missions, and
subject to regular review by the Laboratory/Branch Chief or
Scientific Director and review and approval at least every four
years by the Boards of Scientific Counselors.
- Eligibility for Tenure Track:
Outstanding scientists engaged in clinical or laboratory
research become eligible to enter tenure-track positions after
completing postdoctoral training. This experience should have been
sufficiently extensive to allow thorough evaluation of an
individual's potential as a tenure-track scientist.
Guidelines for Assuring
Broad Scientific Input for New Tenure-Track
Positions
The intent of these guidelines is to guarantee that the decision
to dedicate resources to a tenure-track position is based on broad
input from knowledgeable scientists within the Institute in which the
appointment will be made. Because circumstances vary considerably
among Institutes, Laboratories and Branches, the following
guidelines are intended to provide several different possible
mechanisms to be used singly or in combination to garner scientific
input:
- Discussion and endorsement by the senior (tenured and
tenure-track) members of a Laboratory/Branch for the establishment
of a new tenure-track position.
- Discussion and endorsement by the Laboratory/Branch Chiefs of
an Intramural Research Program (IRP).
- Discussion and endorsement by a standing committee broadly
representative of senior scientists within an IRP, or newly
constituted to consider the establishment of a specific
tenure-track position. One possibility would be to use the Search
Committee, which would subsequently be charged to recommend a
candidate after deciding that the position should be
tenure-track.
- Discussion and endorsement by the Promotion and Tenure
Committee of an IRP.
The advice of the Board of Scientific Counselors may also be
solicited on the creation of tenure-track positions. The criteria to
be used by these groups include whether or not there is (a)
programmatic or scientific need within the Institute, Laboratory or
Branch for the tenure-track position, and (b) availability of
resources to support the tenure-track scientist.
- Search
and Selection Procedures
- The Tenure-Track Agreement:
The Tenure-Track Agreement, co-signed by the Scientific
Director, the Laboratory or Branch Chief, the Deputy Director for
Intramural Research, and the tenure-track candidate, confirms that
the specified research program of the tenure-track candidate is
consistent with the long-term goals of the Institute's intramural
research program. The Tenure-Track Agreement also defines the
timeline and resources--including space, personnel, and
budget--that will be allotted to the candidate. These resources
must be sufficient to permit the candidate to become established
as an independent scientist. It is the responsibility of both the
Laboratory or Branch Chief and the Scientific Director to
ascertain that these resources are assigned equitably and without
discrimination based on a candidate's gender, race, ethnic
background or physical handicaps. A copy of the tenure-track
agreement is to be sent to the Deputy
Director for Intramural Research for approval.
- Informing the Tenure-Track
Candidate:
Each tenure-track candidate will sign and receive a copy of
the Tenure-Track Agreement bearing the signatures of the
Scientific Director and Laboratory or Branch Chief. The
candidate's tenure clock begins after he or she signs the
Tenure-Track Agreement and an official personnel action converts
or appoints the candidate to the position of Investigator (tenure
track).
- Timetable, Stop-the-Clock and
Extend-the-Clock Provisions:
Tenure at the NIH can be achieved in six years (eight years
for anyone doing clinical or epidemiological research), or earlier
by special exception, and funding is provided for that entire
period. In 2008, as part of an effort to make the IRP a more
family-friendly place, an additional year was provided, with the
option to opt out of the additional year. In order to give
tenure-track investigators the full period, a BSC review could be
scheduled to coincide with the end of the last (sixth or seventh)
year, give or take a couple of months. Simultaneously or shortly
thereafter, the SD or IC Promotion/Tenure Committee should arrange
for 12 letters of evaluation, so that once the BSC review is
completed, the IC Promotion/Tenure Committee could immediately
complete its review and the case could be sent on to the Central
Tenure Committee. If the BSC review and letters do not support the
possibility of tenure, the candidate would be notified at once and
have an additional year to look for another job. Exceptions are
described below.
The clock was extended to seven years (nine for clinical or
epidemiological research) to allow a candidate extended family or
sick leave, using leave and/or leave without pay for reasons such
as childbirth, adoption, major illness, or family emergency. The
tenure clock will not be stopped for accrued annual or sick leave.
If a candidate should require that the clock be reset beyond seven
(or nine) years, this request would require the Lab/Branch Chief's
and Scientific Director's approval as well as approval in the
Office of Intramural Research.
At the candidate's request, and with the approval of the
Laboratory or Branch Chief, the tenure clock may be adjusted to
permit a candidate to work part-time to accommodate care for
children or other family members. The adjustment in the tenure
track will be proportionate with the reduction made in working
hours and salary. Thus, for example, if a scientist arranges to
hold a half-time appointment for his or her first two years as a
tenure-track candidate, completing the tenure track with a
full-time appointment, he or she would be evaluated for tenure 7
or 8 years after entering the tenure track but with 6 or 7 years
cumulative time on the job. Adjustments in the tenure clock may
not be made after-the-fact, and cannot be made to extend the
candidate's time on tenure track for more than 10 years.
By written agreement between the Laboratory or Branch Chief and
the Scientific Director, and with the candidate's consent, an
exceptional candidate may be evaluated for tenure before six years
(eight years for clinical and epidemiology investigators) have
elapsed. Standards for granting early tenure will be identical to
those applied to other candidates.
- Evaluation of Tenure-Track
Candidates:
Tenure-track scientists will be evaluated continually by their
Section- and Laboratory or Branch Chief and the Scientific
Director. One of these individuals will meet annually with the
tenure-track scientist to provide oral and written evaluation on
performance. Copies of this evaluation, signed by the
Laboratory/Branch Chief and the Scientific Director, shall be
provided to the candidate and to the review team evaluating the
candidate for tenure.
Formal reviews will be conducted within approximately three years
by the Board of Scientific Counselors or other formally
constituted review team established by the Scientific Director and
approved by the IC Director. The review team will recommend that
the candidate be: 1) continued in the tenure track, 2) dropped
from the track, or 3) considered for early evaluation for tenure.
The Board of Scientific Counselors shall identify particular areas
of strength and weakness and suggest steps necessary to improve a
candidate's chances of securing tenure. To be continued in the
tenure track, a candidate must demonstrate continued research
progress consistent with the programmatic and research goals
defined in the Tenure-Track Agreement. The pace of this progress
should be sufficient such that, if continued, the candidate would
achieve considerable standing as an independent scientist in the
research community after six years (eight years for clinical
investigator).
If a candidate is not continued in the tenure track, or is denied
tenure, he or she will be permitted one terminal year.
The Tenure
Decision
Candidates for Tenure shall be reviewed by the IC's Promotion and
Tenure Review Panel which shall notify the candidate in writing
whether he or she will or will not be advanced for tenure
consideration. The Committee shall solicit outside letters on behalf
of the candidate, and, in concurrence with the Scientific Director
and IC Director, shall make a recommendation to the NIH Central
Tenure Committee that is chaired by the DDIR. Criteria
used in the evaluation of candidates for tenure by the NIH
Central Tenure
Committee shall include: the scientific merit of their
research, the contribution of their work to their laboratory or
section, scientific independence, productivity, leadership, potential
for sustained intellectual growth, and other contributions to the NIH
Intramural Research Program. This evaluation will consider a
candidate's publications and the impact of those publications on
other scientists, letters of recommendation from NIH and non-NIH
scientists, participation in and chairing of scientific conferences
and symposia, development of innovative techniques or patentable
products, overall contribution to intramural research at NIH,
mentoring and other leadership within the laboratory, branch, or
section, and adherence to the highest ethical standards in the
conduct of science.
After reviewing the candidate, the NIH Central Tenure Committee makes
its recommendation on tenure. The DDIR shall issue the final approval
or disapproval for each conversion to tenure. The Scientific Director
will notify candidates in writing of the DDIR's decision.
If a candidate is advanced for tenure consideration before six years
(eight years for clinical and epidemiology investigators) have
elapsed, and is denied tenure, his or her Scientific Director, with
approval of the IC Director, may re-submit the tenure application at
a later date, but before the six year maximum (eight years for
clinical or epidemiology investigators).
Sample
Tenure-Track Agreement
Updated July 11, 2008
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