Academic appointments are integral to a faculty member’s relationship with an institution. Unlike the private sector, where job titles might shift more fluidly, appointments in higher ed are deeply tied to rank, department affiliation, contract dates, and a host of other critical data points.

In the video above, Kelly Sutton—co-founder and CTO of Scholarly Software—walks through how Scholarly manages academic appointments, why they are central to the platform, and how the Scholarly AI Assistant can answer complex queries using that appointment data.

Why Academic Appointments Matter

Academic appointments are the foundation of a Faculty Information System. Appointments aren’t just job titles; they’re formal relationships that define rank, department affiliation, administrative roles, and more. Because Scholarly focuses on appointments first, it can surface insights and functionality tailored to higher ed—not always available in standard HR systems.

Scholarly surfaces appointments as one of two types: primary and additional.

• Primary Appointments: Typically the “home” department or rank of a faculty member. You’ll see details such as start date, end date (if applicable), and notes tied to the appointment.

• Additional Appointments: Additional appointments might be administrative positions, joint appointments, or endowed professorships. Institutions can choose to mark certain appointments as “featured,” which displays that title across the system.

When it comes to the information attached to each appointment, Scholarly works with each customer during implementation and onboarding to configure how appointments are surfaced. Need to attach an appointment or re-appointment letter? Scholarly handles it.

How Scholarly Brings Appointment Data to Life

1. Directory Integration
   In Scholarly, the directory automatically updates when an appointment changes. If a faculty member’s end date or promotion is approaching, you can future-date that information so you don’t have to scramble on day one of academic year.

2. Real-Time Reporting & Dashboards
   Because Scholarly understands exactly who is in which rank and department at any given time, its reports are highly accurate. You can filter faculty by date, rank, department, or any other appointment-related field. If you need visual snapshots—like the number of associate professors in a given department—dashboards update in real time with interactive charts.

3. Grids
   Scholarly’s “grids” provide a dense, spreadsheet-style view of your institution’s data. You can quickly filter on specific ranks, departments, or other fields and then export exactly what you see into a CSV or Excel file. For example, if you need all the associate professors in Sociology (and their contact info), a few clicks will get you a downloadable list.

4. Scholarly AI Assistant
   One of the most powerful features is the Scholarly AI Assistant. It can query appointment data in natural language to answer sophisticated questions, such as:

   • “How many promotions has the Sociology department had in the last 20 years?”

   • “Who was promoted in 2014 and when?”

   Because the AI Assistant is “appointment-aware,” it draws on historical start/end dates, ranks, and departments to return precise results—no manual lookup required.

Seamless Data Integration

Scholarly can serve as the authoritative source of appointment data or integrate with existing HR systems like Workday, PeopleSoft, or Banner. If your institution already maintains appointments in another database, Scholarly can import or sync that data to ensure your directory, dashboards, and queries are always up to date.

Why This Matters for Higher Ed

• Accurate, Historical Records: Maintaining a clean history of appointments means never losing sight of who was where—and when.

• Streamlined Processes: Administrators save time by future-dating changes and letting Scholarly automatically update titles and roles.

• Deep Insights: With rich, structured data behind every faculty record, you get powerful analytics at your fingertips—no need to piece together spreadsheets from multiple systems.

• AI-Driven Queries: The Scholarly AI Assistant ties it all together, letting you ask complex questions and receive quick, data-backed answers.

If you have any questions or want to see a deep dive on another aspect of Scholarly, let us know. The Scholarly platform is all about giving higher ed institutions the flexible, data-rich tools they need—starting with academic appointments and expanding into every area of faculty activity.