Junior Promotion

Criteria for Junior Promotion (clinical faculty promotion from the rank of lecturer to the rank of assistant professor) 

All clinical faculty members may request junior promotion at any time that they fulfill the requirements for appointment at the rank of assistant professor, irrespective of time of year or duration of time as lecturer.

Full-time clinical faculty who are appointed initially at the rank of lecturer will usually be requested to hold off on requesting promotion to assistant professor until successful Continuing Faculty Appointment Review (CFAR). This enables CFAR review materials to be used for junior promotion, simplifying the work involved.

Promotion on the basis of sustained contribution to the academic mission may occur in the absence of meeting the requirements for initial appointment at assistant professor. There is no set timeline, but generally, for the criterion of sustained contribution to the academic mission, the application should demonstrate sustained contributions and scholarship in the Department of Medicine for at least three years. This is typically seen with Clinician Teachers who have three to five years of outstanding teaching evaluations and often one or more teaching awards or nominations.

Application Process and Documentation Requirements

The offices of the physician-in-chief (chief of staff or chief of medicine at community hospitals) are expected to work with the faculty member to assemble and submit the package requesting junior promotion. Faculty members without a hospital affiliation should work directly with the Department of Medicine (DoM) office and the relevant departmental division director (DDD) to prepare the request package. Complete application packages must be submitted online with the application form. 

The following materials are required:

• Lecturer to assistant professor promotion application form
• Joint letter of support for the promotion signed by hospital department chief and University department division director (DDD) that provides justification for promotion. *If in private practice, DDD signature is sufficient.
• Updated curriculum vitae
• Academic Position Description (required for all full-time and part-time clinical faculty)
• Academic Plan (required for all full-time clinical faculty, completed document must be signed and included with the academic position description)
• Academic Activities (required for all part-time clinical faculty, completed document must be signed and included with the academic position description)
• Copy of initial Offer of Academic Appointment Letter (signed)
• Internal letters of support (two - three)
• Demonstration of Teaching Effectiveness

All requests for Junior Promotion are vetted by the Department Appointments Committee, which meets monthly, and the Department Chair. If supportive, the Chair submits a request for promotion to the Faculty of Medicine for approval. For full-time clinical faculty, these requests are reviewed by the Faculty Appointments Advisory Committee (FAAC), which makes a recommendation for or against promotion to the Dean. Junior promotion applications for part-time and adjunct clinical faculty are approved by the senior advisor to the Dean on Clinical Affairs on behalf of the Dean.

DAC Meetings for the 2024-2025 Academic Year

All questions regarding Junior Promotion should be addressed to the Department of Medicine Academic Appointments office at dom.academicappts@utoronto.ca.