News - Academic Personnel & Faculty

October 2026 eDigest

This month’s update includes important AP Census reminders, faculty search tools and training opportunities, upcoming international scholar workshops, and helpful APF resources for academic administrators.

Key Dates & Reminders

October 31, 2026: Complete Census-Impacting Workday Updates

The annual Academic Personnel (AP) Census uses a snapshot of academic personnel data as of October 31 and serves as a key source for university-wide reporting. Please review and resolve any census-impacting data issues in Workday by October 31, 2026.

To prepare, review AP Census audit reports and verify appointment, position, and employment records for accuracy, including expired appointments, end-dated positions, primary academic appointment assignments, and rank/job profile alignment. APF recommends using reports R0716.1, R0716.2, R0361, R0321, and R0469 to identify and resolve potential census-impacting issues.

For guidance, visit the Workday Academic Personnel Audit Reports page and AP Census Preparation FAQ page. Administrators may also contact an Academic Affairs & Operations specialist in the Office for Academic Personnel & Faculty for assistance with census-related updates.

Faculty Recruitment & Search Support

Updated Faculty Search Position Page Experience

Interfolio is modernizing the Faculty Search (FS) applicant review experience with a redesigned Position Page that offers improved performance and new tools to support applicant review and search administration.

New capabilities include:

Selecting applicants across multiple pages and taking bulk actions, including status changes, archiving, tagging, and emailing.
Searching and filtering applicants using a redesigned filter panel with responsive, searchable controls.
Sorting by any column in the applicant table to quickly identify and prioritize candidates.

These enhancements are designed to streamline the applicant review process and help users manage searches more efficiently.

Questions? Contact acadpers@uw.edu.

Additional Faculty Search Committee Training Opportunity

If your faculty search committee chair has not yet completed the required 90-minute APF training for faculty search committees, registration is still open for an online session on Monday, November 9, 2026, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.

If your unit needs a custom offering of the required training, would like training on a specialized topic, or has questions related to faculty search processes, please contact the APF Inclusive Excellence team at facadv@uw.edu.

International Scholar Support

Restricted Party Screening Required for All Visa Requests Starting November 2, 2026

Based on guidance from the UW Research Security program regarding federal restrictions that limit or prohibit activity with individuals or entities on federal restricted party lists, units will be required to perform restricted party screening for all visa requests submitted to ISO on or after November 2, 2026. In order to submit any visa request on or after that date, the requestor will have to check a box on the visa request form reading:

We have completed restricted party screening for this individual and any known affiliated institutions, foreign scholarships or other foreign support (if applicable) for this individual, consistent with the guidance and requirements of the Restricted Party Screening: How-To Guide.

Additional guidance on how to conduct restricted party screening is available in the How-To Guide and from the UW Research Security program. For more information regarding or help with restricted party screening, please contact researchsecurity@uw.edu.

Upcoming Trainings

ISO Visa Basics 2 – Processes

Wednesday, November 4, 2026 | 2:00 p.m.
ISO advisors will build on the foundation of Visa Basics 1 by providing detailed process timelines for commonly sponsored visa types and tips and best practices for success.

Lux Basics

Wednesday, November 18, 2026 | 2:00 p.m.
This new joint training between ISO and HRIS will explore the Lux visa request tool and all the ways it can support your visa workload. A Q&A session will follow.

J-1 Exchange Visitors

Wednesday, December 9, 2026 | 2:00 p.m.
This foundational workshop will explain everything you need to know about sponsorship for J-1 Exchange Visitors and provide useful tools for streamlining visa processing. This session will also discuss what may change for J-1 exchange visitors if the new rule ending Duration of Status goes into effect.

You can register for any of these sessions through APF’s Upcoming Trainings & Forums calendar.

We hope to see you there!

APF Resources Spotlight

Find the Resources You Need, When You Need Them

Looking for guidance on academic personnel processes, policy information, training materials, or Workday resources? The APF Resources page serves as a central hub for tools and information that support academic administrators across the University.

From promotion and tenure guidance and faculty search resources to visa and immigration information, FAQs, recorded trainings, and administrative tools, the site brings together many of APF’s most frequently used resources in one convenient location. Whether you’re onboarding to a new role or looking for a quick reference, the APF Resources page is a great place to start.

Bookmark the APF Resources page for easy access to guidance, training, and support resources throughout the year.

What Open Access Week Has to Offer UW Faculty

Each year, International Open Access Week brings together scholars, educators, students, librarians, and institutions to explore how knowledge is created, shared, and accessed. This year’s programming from UW Libraries offers faculty practical opportunities to learn about scholarly publishing, research dissemination, grant requirements, open educational resources, and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on knowledge sharing. Faculty are encouraged to review the full schedule of events and identify sessions most relevant to their research, teaching, and professional interests.

View Open Access Week Events

Why open access matters

Much scholarly research remains locked behind subscription paywalls, limiting who can access and benefit from new knowledge.

Why it matters to faculty:

Increase the visibility and reach of your research.
Support broader scholarly collaboration and discovery.
Meet evolving funder and public-access requirements.
Expand the impact of scholarship beyond academia.
Help students and communities access research that can inform learning, policy, and practice.

Open access helps ensure that knowledge generated at universities can be found, shared, and used by the widest possible audience.

This year’s theme: The Cost of Knowledge

The theme for International Open Access Week 2026 is The Cost of Knowledge.

The theme encourages researchers and institutions to examine the financial, human, and environmental costs of creating, sharing, and sustaining knowledge, particularly as scholarly communication becomes increasingly influenced by commercial interests.

Key questions include:

Who has access to research?
Who pays for publishing and dissemination?
How can scholars and institutions support more equitable access to knowledge?
What role should emerging technologies, including AI, play in the future of scholarly communication?

What UW Libraries has to offer

Throughout Open Access Week, UW Libraries will host events that combine big-picture discussions with practical guidance and skill-building opportunities.

Featured sessions include:

Navigating NIH Data Management and Sharing Grant Requirements
Publishing on the Cheap (online and in person)
Navigating Scholarly Publishing and Sharing Your Work
Storytelling and Mapping with Humap
Open Access and Your Thesis or Dissertation
Getting Started with Podcast Mixing
Recording Studio Open House
OER 101: Find, Create and Adapt Free Course Materials
The Cost of Knowledge: What AI Takes, What It Gives Back

Resources available year-round

UW Libraries also provides ongoing support for:

Publishing support and consultations
Open access publishing guidance
Open access policies and compliance requirements
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Research data management
Scholarly communication and research dissemination

Learn more

Whether you are preparing a manuscript, developing course materials, managing grant-funded research, or exploring new ways to share your work, Open Access Week offers valuable opportunities to learn and connect.

View the full Open Access Week schedule on the UW Libraries calendar and explore the many resources available to support your scholarship, research, and teaching.

International Postdocs – Two Upcoming Events

International postdoctoral scholars take note! There are two significant events coming up in the early weeks of the fall quarter:

Immigration Options for Post-Docs on October 15, 2026 // 10–11 am – This webinar will address immigration planning over the lifetime of your career. It is offered by the law firm Fragomen through the Interstride platform (Interstride registration is free). For details and registration, see the Immigration Options for Post-Docs event listing on the UW Career & Internship Center website.
UW Quarterly International Scholars Orientation on October 16, 2026 // 10–11 am – The orientation will include an introduction to UW visa processes, travel considerations, and maintenance of status issues, as well as an opportunity to ask questions of an ISO advisor. For registration, see the International Scholars Orientation calendar entry.

For either event, space may be limited.

For these and other upcoming events, see the postdocs calendar: Postdocs Events Calendar.