Policies & Handbooks

The Faculty Affairs Office's policies are guided by the Office of the Provost, the Office of Research and Feinberg Administration. Browse the categories below for more information.

Policies

The list below highlights policies of interest to faculty. Visit the Feinberg Policies and Northwestern University Policies pages for more comprehensive lists.

Disrupting Bias in Academic Medicine

Feinberg is committed to fostering a culture of belongingness and inclusion; therefore, building diverse and exceptional talent in scholarship, clinical care, leadership and community engagement. To that end, faculty are required to attend the Disrupting Bias in Academic Medicine.

Faculty Disclosure Policies

All full-time, part-time and contributed services regular and research faculty are required to submit an online joint affiliate annual disclosure survey. The survey includes questions related to external professional relationships and activities for the previous calendar year. The joint affiliate annual disclosure survey launch is announced via email on Feb. 1 each year. Disclosure of potential conflicts of commitment or conflicts of interest is not optional; those who fail to submit their disclosure survey on an annual basis place renewal of their faculty appointment in jeopardy when their current appointment expires. In addition, promotion candidates must have completed the current form in order for the promotion process to proceed.

Questions regarding the Feinberg Disclosure and Professional Integrity Policy or the joint affiliate annual disclosure survey can be directed to the office of Robert M. Rosa, MD, chief compliance officer, at 312-503-0336.

Family Leave Policy

In the regular faculty family leave policy, the university expanded its accommodations for faculty parents for childbearing, adoption and child rearing in response to recommendations received from the Faculty Family Leave Committee, a group of faculty convened by the Provost to provide advice on issues of concern to all faculty.

Research faculty or regular faculty who do not meet eligibility of the policy described above may receive up to 12 weeks of leave related to medical/maternity leave, comprised of six weeks paid leave (paid by the department or charged to grant) and up to six weeks of non-paid leave (unused vacation may be used to offset a portion of the unpaid leave).

Outside Appointments

To request approval to obtain an outside appointment, faculty should complete this form and send to their Department Chair's Office.

Faculty must obtain approval from their Department Chair and the Dean’s Office before accepting an appointment at an another institution.
Faculty must disclose any existing outside appointment in their annual disclosure survey for review by the Dean's Office.
Faculty should forward a copy of the agreement/appointment letter from an outside institution to the Dean's Office for review to identify any potential red flags that should be addressed.
Faculty cannot use Northwestern's name in any work done for the outside institution, except as a method of identification.