Faculty member privileges and responsibilities

Faculty member privileges and responsibilities

Background

An appointed faculty member within the Institute of Biomedical Engineering equally benefits the Institute and the appointee. When you are an appointed faculty member, BME is fully committed to furthering your academic services and progress, and it is expected that you will be an engaged member in the BME Institute. By being part of BME, you can supervise, mentor, and teach graduate BME students as well as form collaborations with colleagues and peers within the biomedical engineering field. If your primary appointment is at a hospital, you also gain access to University of Toronto resources and funding opportunities.

Privileges

The following are some of the resources and services faculty members will gain by being appointed to BME. Please note that if you already have an appointment at the University of Toronto, some or all of these may already be granted to you:

• Access to University of Toronto library resources;
• Access to academic development programs at BME;
• Invitation to BME events, faculty meetings, faculty retreats, etc.;
• Access to internal communication and institutional services (newsletters, workshops, etc.);
• Ability to apply for grants (if eligible as status-only faculty) that require the applicant to hold a university appointment;
• Close collaboration opportunities with other BME faculty members;
• Graduate Faculty Membership (GFM) from the School of Graduate Studies, with the type of membership (i.e., Full vs. Associate) granted decided by the BME Cross-Appointment Committee.

SGS/GFM privileges include:

Responsibilities

Once appointed within BME, it is expected that you will be involved, in some capacity, with the following:

• Supervising undergraduate student thesis and research projects.
• Being the primary supervisor for graduate student thesis and research projects and contributing to graduate student stipend support.
• Being the SGS-appointed chair of a PhD defense once every two years, if you are cross-appointee from an affiliated hospital.
• Participating in academic collaboration with BME faculty and students in at least one of the Institute’s main research areas.
• Promoting the Institute and the field of Biomedical Engineering at the local, national, and international levels.
• Contributing to the goals and curricula of educational programs at the Institute by participating as a guest lecturer in graduate courses and/or making graduate courses in your home departments available to BME students.
• Contributing to BME curricula by teaching at least 25% of a graduate/undergraduate-level course, supervising MEng students, or participating as a speaker in the Graduate Student Seminars.
• Serving as a member of BME graduate supervisory and defense committees.
• Where relevant, attending faculty, staff, graduate committee, and/or strategy meetings in your research area on behalf of BME.
• Contributing to the profession of Biomedical Engineering through ‘community service’.
• Participating in BME seminars, summer student programs, and social events.
• Acknowledging BME in all communications including posters, seminars, and publications that involve BME-affiliated trainees and resources.
• Being included as cross-appointed faculty in the BME directory and email listserv and providing updates of personal and research profile information upon request.
• Providing a summary report detailing current and planned research activities at the time of initial appointment and at each subsequent appointment renewal date.

Contacts and additional resources

• BME faculty appointment enquiries: director.bme@utoronto.ca
• BME faculty application support: projects.bme@utoronto.ca
• BME appointment application: https://bme.utoronto.ca/faculty-research/faculty-appointments/