Splitting core appointment

[PI]

I am a full professor (STEM R1). My work is interdisciplinary and I have a core appointment in department A with joint appointments in B and C. All of my main lab space is in department A.

I have a possibility to move to another R1 where the core department would be B and the lab space may be in an institute where there are affiliate faculty from several departments. I am interested in departments A and C there as well to take on students etc. However, I would like a possible core appointment split between B and A. These are departments in two different colleges. Joint appointments would be easy for me to get. I can possibly get to split core appointments as well. There is another faculty who has a similar split.

The question is if this is a good thing to do. First, both Deans might be involved in negotiations and might delay the process. I am okay with the added service and being involved in both units equally. Aside from that what are the negatives for those who have such a split (or core appointment)? I am not sure if I need to even bring this up or simply take a joint appointment and keep it simple (with no financial obligations with A and C). One benefit I see is recognition in both sub-fields as a core faculty in that area and benefits in a variety of grant funding applications rather than being confined to one area. Department A is also a more well-known department in the university (better ranked). I could also design courses that suit students from both departments rather than just one of the departments. I like this possibility.

Before you ask, I can get positions in both A and B based on my work, and several colleagues in department A know me well. However, the available position is with B and I am happy to be in B if the offer is made. The main question is whether this has any negatives and would make things messy administratively to get a core appointment split. I am not sure when I should bring this up as well with the Dean for B.

[arcturus]

This sounds like something that could seriously delay or derail your appointment. In a different thread you expressed a desire to move to this new institution before the start of this academic year. The negotiations involved in a joint appointment would likely take weeks during the academic term and would likely be stretched out even further given July/August vacation schedules. That said, if this is something you want, you should make it part of the negotiations now, not after you are already at the university.

I don't fully understand the benefits of a joint appointment. Particularly one that crosses institutional structures, such as different schools within the university. In terms of funding, I would assume that you can apply for grants that are relevant to your research topic regardless of the label of your department. In terms of teaching classes, you can negotiate with your department regarding offering classes that would be of interest to both B and A (with emphasis on B). I think it is actually more difficult to negotiate the teaching aspects if you are joint. In terms of recruiting graduate students, you should be able to advise any student that is interested in your research program, regardless of department affiliation. You should be able to serve on a PhD committee regardless of department affiliation, etc.

For a joint appointment across different schools: who determines your raise? who evaluates promotion/tenure (may be moot, but there are distinguished professor ranks or named chairships too)? who determines your teaching load/class choice? who determines perks for your grants (return of overhead, reduced tuition for your students, etc)? who determines the appropriate level of service and actual service assignments? In sum: joint appointments can be great to extend connections, but they can also be fraught with uncertainty and complications.

[Puget]

That seems like a giant headache- why double the amount of administrators and institutional systems you have to deal with? I'm really not clear on what the benefit would be, and have only seen split appointments when that was the plan all along for budgetary reasons. Just take the joint appointment so you can take students from both programs if you want.

[mleok]

It's generally a bad idea to have a split appointment across departments under different deans. At the very least, you need very clear MOUs between the two departments about what happens if there is a difference of opinion about issues like promotions and merit increases. You would probably be better off just having a 0% appointment in the other departments that would allow you to serve as a dissertation chair for students in that department.

[jerseyjay]

I have a possibility to move to another R1 where the core department would be B and the lab space may be in an institute where there are affiliate faculty from several departments. I am interested in departments A and C there as well to take on students etc. However, I would like a possible core appointment split between B and A. These are departments in two different colleges. Joint appointments would be easy for me to get. I can possibly get to split core appointments as well. There is another faculty who has a similar split.

I am not in STEM, and I am not at an R1, so take this for what it is worth.

My advice is to talk to the other faculty who has this arrangement and see how it is working for them.

More broadly, my question is, why are you entertaining this possibility? I mean this seriously: what benefits do you see with this arrangement instead of having your core appointment in one school/department? The only concrete thing you mention is that you could take on students in different schools. Is it necessary to split your appointment to do this? Is this alone worth the trouble?

I have seen people split themselves between programs and schools. I certainly would not consider this (assuming there is an alternative) if you do not have tenure at the new position. But even if you do, there can be issues. The problem often is, who is actually supervising your work? That is, who makes decisions about promotion, sabbaticals, etc? What if they are working with different criteria? What if they dislike each other and you end up in the middle? Remember that administrators can change, so if the two deans today are fine with the situation, it is possible that in five years there will be two different deans with two different perspectives.

I would also clarify things like service and teaching. Are you expected to do service in both schools? Go to both department meetings? Is there something explicit about dividing your teaching/advising?

Also, is there an exit clause--that is, if things explode, is there a way to move to just one college/department?

[onthefringe]

I know several people who have done similar where I am and a vanishingly small number are better off than they would have been with a full appointment in one department and no cost adjunct appointments in other departments. Short answer is really think about not doing it unless there are very tangible reasons to consider it.

If you choose to do this, try to have written, signed documentation about how grant money is dealt with, including pre and post award support and where your indirect costs go and how they get managed. If this is a place where colleges or departments "pay" for space, how are all the departments contributing to that?

Try to have written, signed documentation about how each department will count your research, teaching (if relevant) and service duties so that they are proportional to your appointments. If there are perks that come from specific departments (access to grad students or support for same, access to seed or bridge money etc) try to have written, signed documentation describing your access to such things despite having a partial appointment.

Think about how things like raises are going to work. If department A wants to give you a 4% raise and department B doesn't have a raise pool or doesn't want to give you a raise will you only get a raise on part of your salary? If department A is then paying a larger fraction of your salary does that change your appointment ratio?

Really think hard about this, and as jerseyjay says, try to feel out or include in any appointment materials what an exit strategy might look like. Especially consider what happens if the institute that houses your space goes away — which department would provide you with space under that circumstance?