Office of the Provost Guidance on the Annual Faculty/Librarian Hiring Request Cycle

The purpose of this document is to clarify, in a generalized fashion, the norms and expectations for the annual cycle for the request and approval of faculty and librarian hiring at the University of Washington.

As a preface to the hiring cycle details, the following table outlines the relationship between the hiring and budget cycle timelines:

Process Name Cycle Dates Cycle-Specific Notations
Hiring Plans September-August
  • Submission due May-August annually
  • Plans frozen May 2
  • REVIEW details below
Budget Development Cycle November-June
  • Budget requests released mid-November
  • Budget submissions due early February
  • Budget hearings between late March-early April
Fiscal Year July 1-June 30
  • Actualization of budget development cycle work

 

Budget development and hearing: (November-April)

  • Deans and chancellors will be asked to preview their hiring plans for the coming academic year and provide preliminary information on the current academic year’s hiring plan progress. Materials will be available to leadership mid-November, with a due date in early February.
  • This preview will take two forms: (1) the budget development templates will prompt deans and chancellors to reflect progress on their current and future hiring plans by entering specific data into the fiscal vitality reports; and, (2) the budget hearings will allow for a discussion of current and future hiring plans in light of the unit’s strategic goals. This will not only afford the Provost an advance look at future hiring in the important context of a unit’s budget, but will also provide an opportunity for feedback prior to formal submission of the hiring plan in the following months.’
  • Your preview will be shared with the Office of Academic Personnel to support the review of your hiring report and hiring plan submission.

 

Hiring report: (May-August)

  • The conclusion of the preceding year’s hiring cycle is the submission of a report on hiring outcomes. This report should identify the completed hires, hires that have not been completed and are requested to be carried forward, and hires being withdrawn.
  • The hiring report tool becomes available in May and must be completed before the next year’s hiring plan can be submitted.
  • The preceding year’s plan becomes frozen effective May 2nd – no further additions or modifications will be approved.
  • The plan expires either when a new hiring plan is approved or on September 1st, whichever is sooner.
  • Hires should be completed and processed so that they can be included on a Board of Regents agenda prior to the start date. Exceptions should be rare.
  • As a member of the AAU, the University of Washington honors the May 1 deadline in the recruitment of faculty members from other institutions as adopted in APS 41.2. Your efforts to honor the intent of this policy statement are requested.

 

Submission of hiring request: (May-August)

  • The hiring plan should be prefaced with a succinct overview statement describing the proposed hires in the context of the unit’s strategic goals, academic motivations, faculty diversity and affirmative action goals, and justification for proposed senior hires. The statement should also address the feasibility of the proposed plan in the coming year’s hiring cycle in terms of the initiation and execution of the searches.
  • In their hiring request, each school, college, or campus is required to include all professorial appointments in the tenure track/tenure, without tenure by reason of funding (WOT), clinical practice, research, teaching, and clinical dental pathway tracks; all librarian appointments in temporary, non-continuing/continuing, and provisional/permanent status; awards of tenure (i.e., proposed track change of Associate Professor or Professor WOT by reason of funding to Tenure Track); artist in residence and senior artist in residence; and professor of practice appointments. The inclusion of lecturer, clinical, visiting, and acting appointments varies by unit and is separately communicated.
  • Each proposed hire must be accompanied by an affordability statement outlining the unit’s ability to fund the proposed hire in terms of salary obligations, relocation and startup costs, and other associated financial obligations. Given that this statement will be made after the conclusion of each unit’s budget submission to the Provost, we urge harmony between the hiring plan’s affordability statement and the unit’s fiscal vitality report.
  • There is a general expectation that recruitments and hires will be at the junior level regardless of funding source. Requests for approval of hires at the Associate Professor or Professor level (Associate Librarian or Librarian) must include a rationale for an exception to the general expectation. It is expected that units will make at least 80% junior hires as a rolling average over time (approximately two to three years). The exceptional circumstances motivating senior hires should be justified in detail – merely replacing separating senior level faculty is not sufficient justification. You are encouraged to conduct a recruitment assessment that considers the needs for each position including leadership, diversity, disciplinary expertise, and specific instructional and/or research gains to be achieved that can lead to an effective recruitment strategy. This assessment should help you in developing your hiring plan request and, where appropriate, in justifying a senior level hire.
  • If a search for a carry-forward position was not initiated in the prior year, the reasons should be explained, along with an assurance that the search will be initiated in the coming year.
  • Upon approval, recruitments can be initiated through Interfolio. There should be no advertising or hiring above the approved level or beyond the approved number of positions.
  • Deans and chancellors should submit a comprehensive hiring plan that is realistically achievable. Additions and modifications may be requested to their hiring plans through May 31st of the hiring year, but such requests should be limited.
  • Deans and chancellors are strongly encouraged to share their proposed hiring plans with their elected faculty/librarian councils in advance of submission to the Provost.

 

Original Document Creation Date – October 8, 2018
Last Updated – May 2, 2022