External Employment Guidelines for Tenured Faculty
The University offers tenured faculty three ways to concurrently hold their academic appointment while engaging in collaboration with other institutions, companies, and industries. Such arrangements are intended to complement, not replace, existing gift- and grant-funded research partnerships between faculty and external partners. These three ways are described below.
Academic Leave Without Pay (LWOP)
Also known as Professional Leave of Absence. A temporary leave taken to perform academic activities for an external organization, for which compensation is NOT administered through UT. See External Appointments Guidelines (pdf) > Section B. For process guidance, see COE: Leave of Absence (Unpaid Time Off) > Professional Leave of Absence.
Consulting
Per HOP 2-2220: Faculty Consulting and Other Professional Activities, Including Outside Employment, any faculty member is eligible to request approval for consulting concurrently with their University appointment as long as the work does not exceed 20% of their full-time obligation in the fall and spring terms. See External Appointments Guidelines (pdf) > Section D.
See HOP 5-2011: Conflict of Interest, Conflict of Commitment, and Outside Activities and Procedures - Faculty Disclosures of Outside Activities (pdf) for information on how to request approval for outside professional activities including consulting. The Office of Research Support and Compliance (ORSC) serves as the central administrative review office for outside professional activity requests for faculty and PI-eligible staff.
External Appointment
An External Appointment is a structured arrangement allowing tenured faculty to request to dedicate a portion of their time to external professional activities while maintaining a proportionate tenured University faculty appointment. The faculty member’s duties and responsibilities during the appointment are formally defined and documented. University External Appointments Guidelines took effect in May 2025 for External Appointments beginning in Academic Year 2025-26.
For information including eligibility, term limitations, and more, see External Appointments Guidelines > Section C, External Appointments for Tenured Faculty.
Note that per UT System: Rule 31007: Tenure > Section 7, a tenured UT Austin faculty member may not hold a concurrent tenured position at another institution without the written permission of the appropriate Executive Vice Chancellor.
See more at EVPP: External Appointments for Tenured Faculty.
How to request an external appointment
Faculty member should carefully review the guidance at External Appointments Guidelines (pdf).
Faculty member and department Academic HR Partner should carefully review the guidance at EVPP: External Appointments for Tenured Faculty.
Follow the instructions at EVPP: External Appointments for Tenured Faculty > Request process, which includes submission of the External Appointment for Tenured Faculty request form in ServiceNow. In the last section of the form, “Required Approval Routing,” add all of the following EIDs:
Faculty Member
Chair or Chair Delegate
Dean’s Staff: steffek (Karla Steffen
Dean or Dean Designate: malochb (Beth Maloch)
If the request is approved by EVPP, finalize the MOU, obtain all needed signatures, and email a copy to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu. The department should also maintain a copy for their records.
Department Academic HR Partner processes a Data Change BP in Workday to update the faculty member’s FTE during the period of approved external appointment. Upload a PDF copy of the ServiceNow approval to the BP and reference the ServiceNow ticket number in BP comments. Example: “External appointment approved by EVPP on MM/DD/YYYY, reference SN ticket [HRCxxxxxxx].”
IMPORTANT: Academic HR Partner should schedule a reminder to change the FTE back upon completion of the external appointment.
Required documentation for online ServiceNow request
Guidance includes the completion of the following FOUR documents, which should be uploaded to the ServiceNow request:
Document | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
UTRMS-COI Outside Activities Pre-Approval Request |
| PDF proof of submission must be uploaded to the Provost’s request form (see step 3 of these instructions) |
(If applicable) Research Portfolio and Outside Activity Information Form |
| Submit if faculty member has research activities managed by any of the following:
If applicable, PDF proof of submission must be uploaded to the Provost’s request form |
Mentoring Plan | External Appointments Mentoring Plan Checklist Submit as a single PDF document aggregating mentoring plan for all mentees. |
|
Draft of MOU, based on External Appointments MOU template |
|
Please send suggested additions to this page and notifications about broken links to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.