Promotion & Tenure

All physicians in the Department of Pediatrics at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital have an academic appointment through the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Faculty who practice at the main campus may have an appointment within the Clinician-Educator track of Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor; physicians based solely at outreach hospitals have an appointment within the Health System Clinicians track of Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Associate Professor, or Clinical Professor.

Promotion on all regular faculty tracks requires evidence of scholarly activity, although the amount and type of such activity varies for the different tracks. Visit the NUFSM Faculty Affairs Office website for more information on appointments, promotion, and tenure, and instructions on how to prepare your promotion packet.

The Dept of Pediatrics APT Committee has also prepared this check list for preparing your CV and personal statement for promotion.

All materials for the FSM promotion and tenure process must be submitted to the Department of Pediatrics Office of Faculty Development at ofd@luriechildrens.org by April 18. Please copy your Division Head. If you do not receive a confirmation of receipt within 24 business hours, please contact ofd@luriechildrens.org. Click here for packet instructions.

Please see the Feinberg “Faculty Career Tracks” for information regarding the tracks that are available to faculty.

 Clinician-Educator

 Health System Clinician

 Investigator

 Team Scientist

 Research Faculty

This pathway was established by the Department of Pediatrics several years ago to provide opportunities for faculty members whose effort is devoted to the provision of clinical care, and whose work activities do not include the scholarship that would support academic promotion through the University promotion process.  Please note that appointments on the Clinical Promotion Pathway (CPP) are considered to be hospital appointments and have no relationship to NU for Feinberg School of Medicine. 

If you plan to apply for appointment or promotion on this pathway, please review your eligibility with your Division Head. The faculty member will have a career development plan and/or job description focused primarily on clinical activities (baseline 0.9 cFTE), and therefore unlikely to lead to promotion in the NU-FSM academic system. Eligible faculty have a minimum 0.5 FTE holding appointment as a Health System Clinician, Instructor, Assistant or, rarely, Associate Professor on the Clinician-Educator track.  Faculty continue to be eligible for the CPP pathway as they take on leadership responsibilities with commensurate FTE support (e.g. a faculty member with 0.2 offset as a director for a clinical program is eligible if their baseline clinical distribution was 0.9 cFTE, and is now 0.7cFRE due to leadership offset).

The background and application materials are:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Examples of Advancement Criteria
• Assistant Clinician Checklist
• Associate/Distinguished Clinician Checklist
• Feinberg CV template
• Instructions on generating a Feinberg Faculty Portal CV
• tips for your CV and personal statement

The submission deadline is July 1, 2025. Letters of support are due July 15. If you have questions about your career path, you may contact ofd@luriechildrens.org. To meet with an advisor, please schedule using our Advisor Session Request Form.