Accelerated advancement may be used to recognize faculty members who have made exceptional contributions to UCSF’s academic mission. Many people at UCSF are outstanding. Therefore, this should be reserved for truly exceptional contributions. Truly exceptional contributions are defined as accomplishments that far exceed the expectations of the faculty member’s academic series in one or more of the following categories: teaching and mentoring, research and/or creative activities, professional competence, contributions to diversity, and/or university and public service.
Department chairs, division chiefs, and promotions committee members are encouraged to develop a transparent, consistent process to identify faculty who should be considered for accelerated advancement and to evaluate requests for accelerated advancement. It is important to note that a faculty member may request accelerated advancement even if the division and/or department do not support the request, though departmental support often helps reviewers to assess the achievement in the context of departmental standards. Each department can develop examples related to their specialties, but the general principles used to identify examples listed below should be followed.
These School of Medicine criteria are intended as a companion to the 2019 Guidelines for Advancement, which apply to all the schools at UCSF. Please note that in order for faculty members to be considered for an acceleration, they must be:
- Outstanding in each category (there should be no deficiencies)
- Demonstrate exceptional achievement in one or more of the categories during the time frame of evaluation.
Accomplishments That Demonstrate Exceptional Achievement
State, National and International Honors
- Election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation
- Election to the Association of American Physicians
- Election to the National Academy of Medicine
- Election to the National Academy of Science
- Election as a Fellow to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science
- Receipt of the Nobel, Lasker, Shaw, or Breakthrough Prize, or the National Medal of Science.
- Receipt of a highly selective national service award, national diversity award or similar honor from a state or national professional society that represents the highest honor bestowed by the society and there are only one or two recipients each year.
UCSF Awards and Honors
- Chancellor’s Award (Diversity or Public Service)
- Holly Smith Award for Exceptional University Service
- UCSF Academic Senate Distinction in Mentoring Award
- UCSF Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award
- UCSF Academic Senate Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award
- UCSF Academic Senate Distinguished Service Award
- UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award or equivalent
- Election to the Academy of Medical Educators
UCSF Service
Limited to two accelerations total for service on each committee
- Committee on Academic Personnel: completion of 3-year term of service (may be considered at the completion of each 3-year term of service)
- Committee on Animal Research: completion of 3-year term of service (may be considered at the completion of each 3-year term of service)
- Committee on Human Research: completion of 3-year term of service (may be considered at the completion of each 3-year term of service)
- SOM Admissions Review Committee: completion of 3-year term of service on the high-intensity, time-intensive admissions committee (may be considered at the completion of each 3-year term of service)
Departmental Leadership
- Exceptional accomplishments, beyond what would be expected, during or leading to a major leadership role and/or has had a regional or national impact.
Other Types of Exceptional Achievements
In addition to the accomplishments listed above, the bulleted examples represent the type of achievement that may support consideration for acceleration. The departmental promotions committee and Chair are expected to review all requests and determine whether to support a request for accelerated advancement.
- Clinical
- Development, implementation, and leadership of a substantial, impactful clinical program that impacts patient populations regionally or nationally and/or has led to new treatment guidelines.
- Education
- Development, implementation, and leadership of a substantial, innovative educational program and that has been adopted outside the department as a model program
- Research
- Contributions, including publications, competitive extramural funding or awards that exceed expectation for the individual’s academic series/rank and beyond the level of achievement of departmental peers
- Public and University Service
- Development or leadership of a program that has had a substantial and sustained impact on the community’s health and well-being, where the faculty member led the conception and implementation of the program
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Exceptional performance (with tangible successes) in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within the University and School
- Receipt of a Chancellor’s Award for Diversity (women, disability, LGBTQI, MLK leadership)
Important Notes
- Accelerated advancement may be considered as part of a retention strategy when a faculty member is being actively recruited to another institution. In this instance, the faculty member must meet all academic standards for outstanding performance, in addition to the retention issue. Retention typically merits a one-year acceleration.
- In general, the Dean’s office and CAP do not support requests for acceleration which are based on accomplishments from previous review periods. However, consideration will be given to accomplishments from the immediate prior cycle which were initiated but not completed or received in time for consideration during the prior review cycle.
Owner: SOM Office of Faculty & Academic Affairs (Contact: [email protected])
Approver: Christina Mangurian, MD, MAS, Vice Dean, Faculty & Academic Affairs
Approval date: 07/01/24 (Last updated: 07/01/26)