Postdoctoral Scholar Reappointment

Postdoctoral scholar appointments are intended to provide a full-time program of advanced academic preparation and research training under the direction and supervision of a faculty mentor. Postdoctoral scholar appointments are temporary and have fixed end dates. The total duration of an individual’s postdoctoral service may not exceed five years, including previous postdoctoral experience outside of UCSF. Under unusual circumstances the University may grant an exception to this limit, not to exceed a sixth year.

The University has the sole discretion to appoint, reappoint, or not reappoint a postdoctoral scholar and to determine the duration of such appointments.

To obtain additional information related to the terms of service, review the Postdoctoral Scholar Contract, Article 2 Appointments. 

Reappointment of the postdoctoral scholar is based on several factors including but not limited to:

• Continuation of project/work
• Funding
• Performance
• Eligibility of the individual to continue in a postdoctoral scholar position

Dependent upon the source of funding, the postdoctoral scholar’s reappointment title may change.

Depending on the source of funding, the postdoctoral scholar’s reappointment title may change.

• Postdoctoral scholar – Employee Title Code 3252: An appointment is made in this title when principal investigator (PI)-awarded extramural funding or other University discretionary funds are used to support the salary for the position.
• Postdoctoral scholar – Fellow Title Code 3253: An appointment is made in this title when the postdoctoral scholar is awarded a fellowship or is appointed to a training grant (stipend) offered by an extramural agency. The money is granted to the University, which allows the stipend to be paid through a University account via the University’s payroll system.
• Postdoctoral scholar – Paid Direct Title Code 3254: An appointment is made in this title when the postdoctoral scholar is funded by an external agency and the agency pays the salary directly to the postdoctoral scholar, such that the funding does not flow through the University.
• Interim postdoctoral scholar – Employee Title Code 3256: An appointment is made in this title when a University of California graduate student who recently obtained their PhD degree or equivalent needs a short-term appointment to complete an existing project from their graduate education program before moving on to other employment. This appointment is limited to individuals who have completed their graduate work within the University of California.

A postdoctoral scholar may hold two postdoctoral scholar titles concurrently if the funding sources are combined.