As we prepare to transition to Workday, it’s helpful to get familiar with how academic appointments are represented in the new system. Workday’s Academic Foundation makes it easier to track faculty roles, appointments, and academic structures—all in one place.
- In Workday, an Academic Appointment connects a person to an Academic Unit through a Position—linking role, pay, and hierarchy all in one place.
- Academic appointments in Workday will replace several separate tracking tools and spreadsheets currently used across campus.
- Faculty with multiple roles (for example, dual appointments across departments or colleges) will have more than one appointment, clearly displayed in Workday.
n this post, we’ll break down the essential terms related to Academic Appointments in Workday.
Academic Unit
Think of this as the organizational home for faculty. It could be a department (e.g., History), or a college (e.g., College of Science). Academic appointments are tied to these units.
Primary Academic Unit
When an individual has multiple appointments, this unit identifies the faculty member’s home department or school.
Academic Appointment
The academic appointment is the cornerstone of faculty position management in Workday. An Academic Appointment records a faculty member’s formal relationship with an academic unit (like a department or school). A person can hold multiple academic appointments.
Appointments can be primary, secondary, or joint. An Academic Appointment consists of the academic track, rank, and tenure status (defined below).
Academic Track
This defines the category of the faculty member’s position. Common tracks that will be included in Workday at Clemson will include but are not limited to:
- Tenure-track series (Instructor, assistant, associate and full professor; librarian, assistant and associate librarian)
- Research Faculty (research assistant professor, research associate professor, research professor)
- Extension Faculty (extension assistant professor, extension associate professor, extension professor)
- Clinical Faculty (clinical assistant professor, clinical associate professor, clinical professor)
- Lecturers (lecturer, senior lecturer, principal lecturer)
- Professor of Practice
- Post Doctoral Fellow
Tenure Status
This shows whether a faculty member:
- Has tenure
- Is on a tenure track
- Is in a non-tenure role
Academic Affiliate
An individual affiliated with the institution, like a visiting scholar or adjunct faculty, who may not be a paid employee but still contributes to academic activities.
Academic Period
Defines how long an appointment lasts (e.g., 9-month, 12-month, or semester-based) and often aligns with payroll schedules.
Period Activity Pay (PAP)
A method of compensating faculty for specific activities beyond their typical workload, for additional duties outside of their primary appointment, or for faculty primarily hired for temporary instruction.
Academic Pay Basis
Describes how pay is distributed over the appointment period—such as 9-month or 12-month pay.
Name Professorships
These are academic appointments funded by gifts. They often come with recognition and sometimes financial benefits.
Why It Matters
Understanding these terms helps faculty and staff navigate Workday more effectively, ensuring accurate records, timely compensation, and proper alignment with institutional goals. Whether you’re onboarding new faculty or managing academic HR processes, clarity around these concepts is key.
As we move closer to go-live, you’ll see these terms appear in training materials and job aids related to Academic Staffing and Faculty Management.
