This page describes the process for hiring 9-month professional-track faculty only. For guidance on hiring 12-month research faculty, go to COE: Hiring Research Faculty.

About the PAR

For Provost’s Office guidance, see EVPP: Prior Approval Request (PAR).

For section-by-section instructions for processing a PAR in DEFINE, see COE: PAR - T/TT Electronic Document Processing Guide.

In *DEFINE, the document type for professional-track faculty PARs (except for Research Faculty) is FPN.

When is a PAR needed?

PARs must be processed for hires of new faculty, and former faculty whose employment has been terminated. Faculty are not hired via Workday. Once the PAR is final-approved, EVPP loads the appointment into Workday via the PAR. 

A PAR is needed in the following situations:

• New faculty member who has never taught at UT Austin.

• Rehire of former faculty member whose position was terminated.

• Faculty member whose position has been inactive for longer than three years.

• Current UT Austin faculty or staff member, who will be instructor of record or hold another faculty role in a new, different unit.

A PAR is not required in these situations:

• Professional-track faculty member who holds a current inactive faculty (F-INA) position in the correct unit. Position can be reactivated in Workday.

• Courtesy (0%) positions. Instead, use the Add Academic Appointment business process in Workday.

• Retired faculty member returning to teach. See COE: Hiring Retired Faculty.

Start dates

Professional Track positions should generally have a start date of either August 16 or January 1 during the long session; and May 16 or July 1 for summer assignments. In some circumstances, however, an earlier start date may be requested. The reason for the early start date should be explained in Section 8 of the PAR.

If a summer start date prior to 8/16 is requested, then the PAR should be dated for the fiscal year prior to the fall. For example, if a fall instructional assignment will begin August 16, 2025 (Academic Year 2025-26) and an early start date of August 1, 2025 is requested, then the PAR should be created for Fiscal Year 2024-25.

The account number entered in PAR Section 1, Funding Distribution, will be pushed to Workday as cost center for base salary. For fall appointments assigned an early start date prior to 8/16, the department will need to make appropriate costing adjustments in Workday. For example, for a fall appointment with an early start date of August 1, the account entered in PAR Section 1 for salary should reflect the funding source effective 8/16. Once the PAR has pushed to Workday, however, the department should adjust costing for the period 8/1-15 to come from the appropriate summer subaccount.

Requesting PI status prior to official start date

For future faculty in PI-eligible titles who need PI status prior to their official start date, see COE: Requesting PI Status Prior to New Faculty Start Date.

Hire process

For Provost’s Office guidance, see EVPP: Prior Approval Request (PAR).

Background check

Departments should initiate a background check as soon as a finalist has been determined. Effective fall 2025, APS will not accept the PAR nor push the position into Workday until after the background check has been confirmed clear. Faculty may not begin teaching or assumption of other work activities until after their background check has been confirmed clear; delays may also result in a postponed start date and impacts to employee benefits. See HR: How to Request a Background Check for more information.

Per HOP 5-1140: Criminal Background Checks, VII.A.2: No applicant may start work for the University, formally or informally, before having a Criminal Background Check completed and being approved by the University’s central Human Resources office. An employee that authorizes an applicant to begin work in violation of this provision may be subject to discipline, including potential termination of their employment. 

Process table

Documentation for hires with previous PARs

How to see whether a PAR was previously approved for a prospective faculty member

Follow the instructions at COE: PAR Information and FAQ > tab “How to find a PAR by EID”

Primary Language Determination Form

For a faculty hire with a previous PAR approved, no new language form is required. Submission of the language form with the initial PAR is all that is needed, and supporting documentation status for the language form on any subsequent PARs should be indicated as "Y (On File)” in PAR section 7, “Supporting Documentation.”

Reference letters

If the faculty candidate has not worked from UT for more than three years, new letters of recommendation are required.

If the PAR is for a new faculty position other than what the faculty candidate is currently assigned or has been assigned in the past, or is for a position in a different unit, three new letters are required.

If the previous PAR is 18 or fewer months old, APS may waive the reference letter requirement on a case-by-case basis. To request a waiver, please submit a request through the Faculty Affairs & Academic Personnel Services Portal, and include the EID, PAR doc ID, and dates of previous reference letters. If the letter requirement is waived, the supporting documentation status for reference letters on the PAR should be marked as "On File," and a copy of APS' approval should be included in the PAR documentation.

Additional resources:

• EVPP: Prior Approval Request (PAR) Process > Section Seven - Offer Status and Supporting Documentation

• EVPP: Prior Approval Request (PAR) Process > PAR Checklists

PAR documentation checklist

Instructions

After approving the DEFINE FPN document off the creator's desk, order materials as they are listed below and saved as a single PDF and send to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.

Offer letters

Note that every commitment of funding (relocation, early start date, TA/GRA, etc.) must be captured in both the offer letter and Section 2 Funding Commitments of the PAR. For assistance with wording of non-standard offer items not included in the EVPP template, please contact COE Faculty Affairs.

Who writes professional track offer letters?

Offer letters for professional track hires are drafted by the hiring departments, in collaboration with any joint hiring departments.  Please contact COE Faculty Affairs with any questions.

Where do I find offer letter templates?

In order to ensure the most current template is being used, each offer letter should be drafted based on a newly-downloaded template for the appropriate hire type based on the Provost's Office current template at FA/APS ServiceNow Portal > Knowledge (top right corner) > FA/APS Knowledge Articles (top left corner) > Offer Letter Templates > Departmentalized CSUs.

When renewing contracts, please use the COE FileMaker Pro professional-track faculty database and template for your department.

What is the offer letter process?

A draft of the offer letter, including a "DRAFT" watermark on each page, should be included in the PAR packet. The draft offer letter does not represent a promise of employment or any other commitment.

Once the PAR is final-approved by the Dean, COE Faculty Affairs will email the PAR packet signed by the Dean to the department Administrative Manager, indicating that the PAR has been approved. When this email indicating approval has been received, the department can send an offer letter to the candidate. However, all PAR information is thoroughly reviewed in the Provost’s Office to ensure compliance, and if errors are found, corrections will still need to be made even if the contract has been signed by the faculty candidate.

After the offer letter has been signed by the candidate, the Administrative Manager should upload the signed letter to the same Faculty Affairs & Academic Personnel Services Portal help ticket on which they submitted the PAR. Once APS has processed the signed offer letter, they will push the hire to Workday.

The department is responsible for maintaining professional track faculty personnel files, including PARs and offer letters.

Can I share a draft of the offer letter with the candidate prior to PAR final approval?

The department may, if they wish, share the draft with the candidate. It must be clearly indicated via watermark that the copy is a draft, and any associated correspondence must explicitly state that the draft is “pending final modifications and approval of the Dean and Provost.” The draft offer letter should not be signed by anyone, as it does not represent a contract. 

PAR-Workday integration process

Upon final approval of the PAR, the following information is brought over to Workday from the PAR, overwriting the initial data entered on the job requisition:

• Personal information (name and contact information)

• Job Details (benefits eligibility, Job Profile, FTE, etc.)

• Compensation

• Pay Group (determined pay frequency, e.g., monthly)

• Education

• Academic Appointment

Closing the position

Immediately after the conclusion of a faculty search and/or once the posting is no longer needed, the department should close the Interfolio position (archive) and indicate an outcome. Online training for this step is available at the following links:

• Close a Position - Interfolio Faculty Search Institutional Administrator Training 

• Interfolio — Close a Position and Select Applicant(s)

For searches that did not result in selection of a candidate:

1. Add a note about why no selection was made (e.g., cancelled due to lack of funding, position no longer needed, lack of qualified applicants, etc.).

2. Close the associated job requisition in Workday, if one was created. Use the current date as effective date, and reason “position cancelled.”

Professional-track faculty employment lifecycle

Source: Academic Worker Life Cycle Flow.pptx