Postdoctoral Scholars and Fellows

Please visit the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs for complete information.

What is a Postdoctoral Scholar or Fellow?

The Penn State Committee on Postdoctoral Fellows recommended the following definition for postdoctoral scholars and fellows at Penn State.

"The Committee recommends that the following definition of a postdoctoral appointment be universally adopted and consistently applied by all colleges at Penn State. This definition has been adapted from the recommendation of the Association of the American Universities' Committee on Postdoctoral Education Report and Recommendations, March 31, 1998. The definition of a postdoctoral appointment is:

• appointee was recently awarded a Ph.D. or equivalent doctorate (e.g., Sc.D., M.D., D.D.S., J.D.) in an appropriate field; and
• the appointment is temporary; and
• the appointee receives training under the supervision of a senior scholar or a department in a university or similar research institution (e.g., national laboratory, NIH, etc.); and
• the appointment involves substantially full-time research or scholarship; and
• the appointment is viewed as preparatory for a full-time academic and/or research career; and
• the appointee has the freedom, and is expected, to publish the results of her or his research or scholarship during the period of the appointment; and
• the initial appointment and renewals are not longer than a six-year period at Penn State, with exceptions granted to meet specific training needs of an individual and only after careful review by the college and appropriate central administrative officer."

Penn State's policy statement describing the Postdoctoral Appointment