Guidelines to assist faculty members with the appointment of postdoctoral scholars

Prospective postdoctoral scholars typically contact the faculty with whom they wish to undertake their training. All inquiries the OPA receives regarding postdoctoral training at Northwestern are directed to pages on the OPA website that help candidates locate faculty members by school and/or research discipline. Faculty may also find information on “Exploring Postdoctoral Training Opportunities” under the Postdoctoral Scholar Resource pages useful in reviewing prospective candidates.

1.    Faculty members are the hiring managers, particularly in the appointments of those scholars who will be employees of Northwestern University. Importantly, the University relies upon faculty members to identify candidates, review credentials and references and select candidates for postdoctoral appointments. Although other postdoctoral scholar category appointments are not university employments, the onus remains on appointing faculty members to ensure a similar assessment is conducted of all prospective postdoctoral scholar candidates.

2.    It is important that no offer should be made to the potential postdoctoral scholar by either letter or email, until a recommendation for appointment form has been approved by the school dean/center director’s office. 

3.    Once a candidate has been selected by a faculty member for training, they can initiate the appointment process by completing the OPA’s Recommendation for Appointment Form. The form with instructions is available as a fillable PDF. To ensure an efficient and streamlined appointment process, the OPA upgrades the form as it becomes aware of downstream issues that it believes can be avoided by capturing further information during the appointment process¹. 

4.    To be appointed as a postdoctoral scholar at Northwestern, the applicant must have completed a PhD or other advanced degree prior to the appointment start date.  It remains the responsibility of the appointing faculty member to confirm this status.  If a candidate is recommended for appointment whose degree has not yet been conferred but who has completed all degree requirements, the candidate must provide the dean’s office with either a certificate of completion or letter from their current graduate school or university office that clearly states this information.  No personal letters or emails from faculty or referees can be substituted for this as compliance with funding requirements for appointments as postdoctoral scholars can be put at risk. The certificate must provide the following information on official certificate or stationary:

o    This is to certify that (candidate's full name) has completed all the requirements for the degree (name of degree such as Doctor of Philosophy) to be formally awarded on (mm/dd/yyyy of graduation ceremony) and signed by the university official (such as dean/ director/ chancellor’s office etc.)

5.    The term of an appointment is based on the appointment category and has a direct impact on the university benefits eligibility of the appointee.  Appointments can be for a minimum term of one year and can be made for three years at a time, conditional to availability of funding. VPD category appointments have a maximum term of one year.

6.    As graduate students are often seeking postdoctoral appointments to complete ongoing research while seeking their next position, shorter term appointments are permitted only for appointments of Northwestern graduate students who have completed all degree requirements and must provide the dean’s office with a completion certificate from the Graduate School.  Attempts should be made to determine suitable appointment terms and avoid month-to-month re-appointments.  If funding is available, it is highly recommended that the appointment be for a period of one year or longer as it is fairly common for postdoctoral scholars to leave prior to the end date of appointment. 

7.    All other exceptions must be approved by the OPA prior to submission of a recommendation for appointment form. 

8.    The term of appointment can potentially impact (negate) international tax treaty agreements which international postdoctoral scholars might have planned to avail while undertaking their training in the US.  Candidates can be directed to discuss and examine policies of this type carefully before entering the US.  In the case of scholars already in the US, this determination should be made prior to acceptance of a training appointment.  While not comprehensive, to help assess impact of appointment terms on tax treaties, the OPA may be able to provide a list prepared by Payroll and should be contacted as needed.

9. International applicants and postdoctoral scholars must follow guidelines and stipulations of the International Office (IO) as well as the terms of their Visa documents.  In particular, scholars on visas must not work in a location and/or on projects that are not described in their visa documents.  Departments, faculty and postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to discuss individual cases with the international office directly as the need arises.  Scholars should also be directed to check with the IO prior to planning or embarking on any international travel to conferences, meetings or trips to their home country. There is a lot of information on the International Office web pages, and contacting the staff with any questions is highly encouraged.

10. An appointment letter template is available at the OPA web pages. 

Footnotes:

1.    To allow time for administrative adjustments, each version of the form is made available with an effective date that is at a minimum 15 days past the date the form is available. The OPA also sends information on form upgrades to the dean’s and center director’s offices in a timely manner.  Payroll works closely with the OPA and only accepts forms with the correct effective date. To avoid the potential of having to redo a form, department administrators are encouraged to download the form directly from the OPA website when initiating an appointment.  This will ensure the latest version of the form is being completed.  Alternatively, schools and centers may chose to link directly to the OPA web page from any internal process their departments rely upon.