Affiliated faculty

Rhode Island School of Design recognizes that the cultural and intellectual life of the College is enriched not only by the disciplinary expertise of departmental programs but also by the ways in which that expertise can create new pathways across departments and nurture mutual interest. Faculty affiliation across departments is one means to achieve this enrichment.

Conditions of Affiliation
Faculty affiliation is an uncompensated honorary designation, which, upon invitation, allows a full- or part-time faculty member, already hired at RISD and a member of one department/division, to participate in the curriculum of another department/division for a set period of time. Affiliated faculty will maintain all aspects of their appointments in their home departments, as defined by bargaining unit Full- and Part-Time faculty contracts. 

Librarians, Museum curators, and other staff members with appropriate academic expertise, or otherwise engaged in course teaching, can become affiliated with academic departments under these guidelines, as deemed appropriate by the affiliating departments.

Affiliation means:

•           Appropriate courses offered by affiliated faculty will be cross-listed on an equal footing with courses offered by the affiliating unit (including independent studies and other credit-bearing opportunities). Whether or not cross-listing is warranted is determined by the affiliating department head. 

•           Affiliated faculty will be invited to participate in discussions of curriculum and curriculum reform in the affiliating unit.

•           Affiliated faculty will be invited to participate in general meetings of the affiliating unit as advisory members (they will not have full voting rights).

•           Affiliated faculty may serve on committees in the affiliated unit where their expertise is relevant (on such committees, they will have full voting rights).

•           An affiliated faculty member may publicly identify the affiliation as a part of their title (Professor of X and Affiliated Faculty in Y) for their own professional purposes; likewise, affiliating departments may publicly list affiliated faculty in department publications (print and online). 

 None of these obligations may be required. An affiliated faculty member, for example, would not have to attend every meeting of an affiliating department. But in affiliation there is a presumption that a faculty member will have made some level of commitment to collegial participation in the department’s curriculum, research, and events. At the same time, the department head of an affiliating department should make every effort to include affiliated faculty in department activities, treating such faculty as they would other instructors in the department.

 Process for Establishing and Ending Affiliation
Affiliations will be for three years or until the expiration of an affiliated faculty member’s contract. In order to justify the significance of the designation, any affiliation ought to span at least one academic year; that is, the status is not intended for only a semester or for a half-year. Affiliations can continue or end after the designated three year period, after a review by the affiliating department’s faculty. 

Affiliation for any department or division is arranged through the Vice Provost/Dean of Faculty, with final approval by the Provost. Those interested in an affiliation should approach the Dean of Faculty, who will notify the head of the appropriate department/division, who will then arrange for consideration of the affiliation. The affiliation should be decided upon according to practices used by the department for deciding on faculty lines to search, typically a meeting and majority vote of the full-time faculty, along with a endorsement of the department's division dean. The department head/dean will then notify the Vice Provost/Dean of Faculty of the decision, with a rationale. The Dean will then submit the decision to the Provost, who will have final approval. It may be possible also for a department to initiate the process, by approaching the Vice Provost/Dean of Faculty with the name of a desired candidate, along with a rationale. The Vice Provost/Dean of Faculty will then approach the individual with the request. If the individual wishes to proceed, the Dean will submit the decision to the Provost for approval.

In the event that the faculty member or department wants to dissolve an affiliation before the end of its term, they may do so by informing the Vice. Provost/Dean of Faculty in writing, who will notify the appropriate parties of the decision. Dissolving an affiliation will not incur penalties on either the individual faculty or the affiliating department.