Fall 2021 Adjunct Faculty Appointments

By
Latha Venkataraman
July 14, 2021

Chairs, Directors, Academic Deans, and Departmental Administrators:

Columbia University is requiring all faculty to be fully vaccinated (or request a medical or religious exemption) for the Fall Term when faculty and students will meet in person for all class sessions. This includes all adjunct faculty who will be teaching in the Fall. Adjunct faculty need to upload vaccination documentation (or request a medical or religious exemption) as soon as they are appointed and no later than August 20, 2021. The ReopenCU app, which we have been using for daily symptom checking and completion of other required safety measures, is the vehicle which adjunct faculty should use to upload this information.

To enable and expedite this process we recommend the following:

  • Adjunct Faculty Who Are Being Reappointed: Departments and schools must submit the reappointment transactions for their adjunct faculty using rosters or other PAC transactions. Departments in the Arts and Sciences should submit their transactions to Joseph Werst and those in Engineering to Randy Torres no later than by July 30, 2021 to obtain the Dean’s Office approvals first. These transactions and those from other schools should be submitted to Academic Appointments within the Provost’s Office no later than by August 6, 2021.
  • New Adjunct Faculty Appointments: Departments and schools must expedite TBH/REH transactions or nomination forms for all new adjunct faculty as soon as the individuals have provided the departments with their required paperwork (i.e., tax forms, signed NYS 195 and I-9 forms). These transactions should be submitted to Academic Appointments by August 6, 2021, or soon thereafter but no later than by August 20, 2021. Departments requiring the approval of a dean’s office should submit their transactions even earlier to ensure that these deadlines are met.
  • Adjunct Faculty Offer/Reappointment Letters: All departments and schools must include in their offer/reappointment letters language that clearly indicates Columbia’s vaccination policy as detailed at https://provost.columbia.edu/news/required-updates-offer-and-reappointment-letters-academic-personnel. Specifically, the following paragraphs must be included: 

The University has announced that COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory for all University faculty, officers of research, officers of the libraries, and students and that full vaccination should be completed as soon as possible. In addition, faculty and students will meet in person for all class sessions this Fall. To enable you to comply with the vaccination mandate and teach in person, your departmental administrator will alert you once your appointment has been updated in the Human Resources system. At that time, you should reference https://covid19.columbia.edu/content/columbia-university-vaccination-attestation-tutorial to obtain the procedure for uploading your vaccination attestation. It is imperative that you follow these guidelines as soon as you are notified since proof of your vaccination will be required to give you access to the campus.    

In addition, all faculty, officers of research, officers of the libraries, students, and staff returning to campus must comply with the basic public health protocols that define Columbia’s approach to protecting the safety of the community. These include the following:

  1. Gateway testing before return, if you have not been on campus since January 2021
  2. Online Return-to-Work Training
  3. Daily symptom self-check through the ReopenCU app
  4. Participation in surveillance testing if and when the University implements an ongoing testing regimen
  5. Continued observance of all protocols including wearing face coverings and maintaining physical distance when applicable.

For more information, please see the University COVID-19 website at https://covid19.columbia.edu/. Compliance with these measures is mandatory. The health of all depends upon our collective and ongoing commitment.


  • Vaccination Upload: Once the faculty member’s record appears in PeopleSoft, their department should notify them that they need to upload their vaccination documentation through the ReopenCU app to comply with the University’s policies.
  • Adjunct Faculty Lists: To ensure that all adjunct faculty are abiding by the University’s vaccination policy and to help expedite the appointment process, please send a list of all the adjunct faculty who will be appointed/reappointed for the Fall Term to Carmen DeLeon and Zeid Sitnica at [email protected] by July 23, 2021. Please also submit updated lists if faculty members are added after that date.