The guidance on this page pertains to both tenured faculty, and tenure-track associate and full professors.

For an overview of the process for recruiting and hiring tenure-track faculty, see COE: Hiring Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty.
For additional guidance on hiring joint faculty, see COE: Hiring Joint Faculty.

Associate and full Professors without tenure

UT Austin may occasionally consider persons external to the University for appointment as senior faculty members to the ranks of Associate and full Professor without tenure. Hires of tenure-track associate and tenure-track full professors follow the same requirements as for Hiring Tenured Faculty described on this page, to include pre-review and review/approval of the PAR by the EVPP review committee.

Tenure-track associate and full professor appointments are typically most appropriate for new, external senior hires whose careers have been in a non-academic setting where there are limited opportunities to teach, to compete for external support, or to publish independent work. The decision on whether or not to pursue tenure for Associate or full Professor hires rests with the College and is made on a case-by-case basis. These appointments must be full-time, and may not be used for internal hires nor for promotions.

Tenured hire process

Before beginning, review EVPP: Hiring Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty.

Tenured faculty hires involve three concurrent subprocesses: (1) tenure review, (2) negotiations and offer letter drafting, and (3) preparation and review of the PAR packet. Each involves different individuals and offices and requires approvals from various College and University leaders. The table below describes a general timeline, organized by subprocess, action, and responsible party. Detailed instructions for each subprocess are provided in the tabs on this page.

These subprocesses can begin in parallel; it is not necessary to wait for one to finish before starting another. However, completion of some steps may depend on progress made in others.

Subprocess	Responsible party	Step	Action
Offer letter	COE Faculty Affairs	1	Summer/fall: COE Faculty Affairs sends weekly calendar holds for late November-May to Chairs and Administrative Managers in each recruiting department. Holds will be cancelled or confirmed as needed. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss and finalize faculty offer letters.
Recruiting	Department	2	Department recruits for position following all steps at COE Recruiting Process.
Recruiting		3	Department: a) identifies position finalist
Tenure review			b) contacts the Senior Associate Dean to request a tenure candidate pre-review. See tab “Pre-review” on this page.
Offer letter			c) submits a COE Faculty Hire Form, including as much information as is available at that moment
	COE Faculty Affairs	4	COE Faculty Affairs: a) begins drafting the offer letter based on the information submitted by the department on the COE Faculty Hire Form. See Offer letters on this page.
	COE Faculty Affairs	4	b) schedules a meeting for the soonest available calendar hold date. Attendees: department chair, Administrative Manager, Assistant Director for Faculty Affairs, Chief Business Officer, and Dean-delegate. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss, review, and finalize the draft offer letter.
	COE Faculty Affairs, Department, and College leadership	5	Meeting takes place.
	COE Faculty Affairs	6	Draft offer letter is finalized based on meeting conversation and shared with Department.
	Department	Optional	AFTER draft offer letter has been approved by all meeting participants, and the finalized draft shared by COE Faculty Affairs with the Department, the Department may share the draft with the finalist. Once a draft offer letter is approved, any changes made to it also require Dean's approval. IMPORTANT: This draft must be watermarked "draft," and should not be signed by anyone, as it is not a contract. It must be clearly stated in all communications about it that the draft does not represent an actual offer of employment, is subject to modification, and is not final until the PAR has been final-approved by the Dean's Office.
Hire		7	Process a faculty job requisition in Workday. See COE: Job Requisitions in Workday - Faculty
		8	a) Check whether the prospective faculty member has an existing EID in order to prevent problems that result when an individual has multiple EIDs. Search the following: Workday employee records UT EID Administration - Recommended search parameters: Show “anyone” at “any UT institution” whose “first and last name” “contain” [enter name]. Cross-check any results with other UT employment/student/vendor records. DEFINE commands: GT9 (Transactions by Vendor ID; enter EID in “Misc.” field), AL1 (Legacy employee records system; change Year field to “75” to search all UT employment records) b) If they do not have an existing EID, ask them to create one at UT EID Self-Service Tools and report it back to you. If finalist does not already have an EID, department directs finalist to create one at EID Self-Service Tools > Get a UT EID and report it back to department.
		9	a) Process FPT (DEFINE PAR document). See COE: PAR - Electronic Document Processing Guide. b) Collect all supplementary documentation listed on the “Document checklist” tab on this page.
		10	Approve completed FPT forward to COE Faculty Affairs.
Tenure review		11	If EVPP approves the tenure pre-review in step 3b above, the department should work with the appropriate Dean's Office contact on the Tenure Dossier Review. See tab “Tenure dossier review” on this page. Note that the FPT cover pages will be included in the tenure dossier.
Tenure review		12	Department BC/EC votes on tenure, and vote totals are entered into the PAR.
Hire		13	Forward completed but unsigned PAR packet as a single PDF to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu. PAR packet should include all items listed on the PAR documentation checklist tab on this page, in the order described.
Tenure review	COE Faculty Affairs	14	College Advisory Committee votes on tenure. COE Faculty Affairs enters College vote totals into PAR.
Hire		15	COE Faculty Affairs routes PAR cover sheets and draft offer letter to Chief Business Officer (CBO) for non-signature approval of financial commitments.
Hire		16	a) FPT and PAR packet review. b) PAR routed for chair and Dean signatures in DocuSign.
Tenure review	Department	17	Shares signed copy of PAR cover sheets with Dean’s Office (Sonja Runberg) for inclusion in the tenure dossier. See Tenure dossier review on this page, document #1.
	Dean's Office	18	Dean's Office forwards tenure dossier to EVPP for review.
		19	EVPP informs Dean's Office of their tenure decision (usually within 7-10 business days).
		20	Dean's Office notifies COE Faculty Affairs.
Hire	COE Faculty Affairs	21	a) If EVPP approves tenure case AND b) if PAR packet is approved by Dean/Dean designee, COE Faculty Affairs approves FPT and adds approval notes in DEFINE.
Hire			c) FPT routes to EVPP.
Offer letter			d) COE Faculty Affairs shares signed PAR and Word version of final offer letter with Department.
	Department	22	a) Format final offer letter on department letterhead, update date, remove watermark, etc. Review letter carefully to ensure that it is complete, accurate, and correctly formatted.
			b) Chair signs letter.
			c) Sends offer letter to finalist for signature.
		23	Sends offer letter signed by finalist to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.
Recruiting		24	Closes position in Interfolio and communicates with applicants.
Hire	COE Faculty Affairs	25	COE Faculty Affairs: a) forwards signed PAR and offer letter to APS via ServiceNow: APS/Faculty Affairs requests.
			b) shares PAR and offer letter with COE Finance Team.
			c) adds PAR and offer letter to faculty personnel files.
			d) adds new hire to COE SharePoint Lists.
	APS	26	a) EVPP final-approves the PAR upon receipt of the signed offer letter and pushes the hire to Workday.
	APS	26	b) FPT updates as follows and onboarding processes can begin: Status: APPROVED -- COVER SHEET -- Document ID: 60FPT999XXX Action: ___ Summary: Faculty, Lisa Offer Accepted - Position in Workday
Recruiting	Department	27	Close the Interfolio position following the guidance in tab "Close position" on this page.

Pre-review

See EVPP: Hiring Tenured & Tenure-Track Faculty > Candidate Pre-Review.

The Provost’s Office will review the curriculum vitae for potential tenured faculty hires once a finalist has been identified, to determine whether a tenure review is likely to be successful. The tenure review committee will provide feedback on areas needing additional information and/or clarification in the forthcoming Prior Approval Request (PAR) documentation. Negotiations may continue while the pre-review process is taking place.

Questions identified in the pre-review must be clearly addressed in the Prior Approval Request (PAR).

Instructions

The department chair discusses the case with the Senior Associate Dean.
Senior Associate Dean submits form "Pre-Review for Tenure" at Faculty Affairs/APS ServiceNow: Complete Forms and uploads the following documentation to the request:
1. Current CV for the candidate
2. Brief description of the recruitment/identification/finalist process and rationale for selecting this finalist above others. Please explain the meaningful efforts that were used to recruit a broad pool of the most talented and accomplished candidates in the field.
3. EEO report from Interfolio (if recruitment was managed in Interfolio)
4. In the section "Required Approval Routing," add the following:
  1. Dean's Staff: Karla Steffen
If EVPP approves tenure pre-review, the department may request a provisional offer letter from COE Faculty Affairs by submitting a COE Faculty Hire Form, including as much information as is available.

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 - Electronic Document Processing Guide.

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.

In *DEFINE, the document type for both tenure-track and tenured Associate and full Professor PARs is FPT.

Start dates

Tenured and tenure-track faculty positions in COE start either August 1 (fall semester) or January 1 (spring semester).

Funding and cost center

The account number entered in PAR Section 1, Funding Distribution, will be pushed to Workday as cost center for base salary, and should represent the department’s long session instructional account for tenure-track faculty, effective August 16. In COE, fall jobs for new tenured and tenure-track faculty begin prior to the University’s academic start date, on August 1. August 1-15 salary is listed in PAR Section 2, Funding Commitments. Once the PAR has pushed to Workday as a “future faculty” position, the department should adjust costing in Workday for the period August 1-15 to come from the appropriate summer subaccount, as it is listed in PAR Section 2 Funding Commitments.

PAR documentation checklist

For a list of required documentation for the PAR vs. for the tenure dossier, see EVPP: Tenure Review vs. PAR Packet Matrix.

Tip: Are the pages in your PDF different sizes? See COE: Adobe Acrobat for instructions on fixing this!

Additional resources:

EVPP: Prior Approval Request (PAR) Process > Section Seven - Offer Status and Supporting Documentation
EVPP: Hiring Tenured & Tenure-Track Faculty > PAR Requirements for Tenured Hires > Required Documentation for Tenured Hires (Full PAR Packet)

PAR documentation requirements for tenured joint hires

For joint hires, each unit must submit a separate ServiceNow PAR ticket. Each packet should include the dean and chair statements specific to that unit, as well as separate PAR coversheets signed by the appropriate unit leadership. All other documentation may be shared across both packets. At least three external review letters are required, and the same set of letters should be included in each packet.

Instructions

After approving the DEFINE FPT 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.

Order in PAR packet	Document	Details	Notes
1	PAR cover sheets, unsigned	Department should send PAR cover sheets without signatures. COE Faculty Affairs will obtain all signatures in DocuSign.	Use Green Output to print from DEFINE to PDF. See guidance at COE: PAR Information and FAQ > tab “How to print a PAR to PDF”
2	Dean's assessment/statement	Include the information listed below. Do not duplicate information found in the chair’s statement. Assessment of the candidate’s teaching and research/scholarly/creative activity, including discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate’s record. Report on the vote of the college-level review. Explanation of negative votes or abstentions. Describe how this hire fits in with the overall hiring strategy for the college. Explain how the hire would advance the quality of the college/school/department. Address whether this is a lateral move or promotion. If a promotion, address number of years in current rank. Reflect on the external review letters that are received and included in the packet. Identify and explain letters that are not arms-length or not at the full professor rank. It is not necessary to extensively quote the review letters. Endowment holder recommendation may be included within this statement.	This must be a signed, original document on university letterhead.
3	Department chair's assessment/statement	Details the strengths of the faculty candidate and why hiring this individual is necessary. Include the following: Assessment of the candidate’s teaching and research/scholarly activity including discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate’s record. Report on the vote of the department-level review. Explanation of negative votes or abstentions. Thorough explanation of recruitment process strategy. Please explain the meaningful efforts that were used to recruit a broad pool of the most talented and accomplished candidates in the field. Discussion of the candidate’s research/scholarship/creative activity within the context of the field and department. Discussion of future trajectory of candidate’s research/scholarship/creative activity.	This must be a signed, original document on university letterhead.
4	Current CV	Candidate may need to submit a new CV if the one submitted with their application is out of date. In particular, funding (if applicable) and projects in process should be up-to-date.
5	Research and teaching statements (if submitted by the candidate during the recruitment process or as part of the application materials)
6, if provided as a separate document rather than included within Chair's statement	Teaching assessment (either as a separate document, or included within the Chair's statement)	Include the following: List of courses the candidate is likely to teach over the next three years and how these courses enhance the programmatic priorities of the department and college. Evidence of the candidate’s teaching effectiveness. Describe assessment process and give additional information if the candidate has not previously taught, such as describing the proactive strategy the department will use to ensure success.	Must be a signed, original document on university letterhead. May be included as either a) a separate document written by the hiring committee chair or department chair, or b) part of the chair's statement.
7	Sample solicitation letter	Sample solicitation letter used to solicit outside review letters
8	Reference letters	At least three arm's length assessment letters. Must be signed, and on the referee's employer's letterhead. For tenure-track hires, all reference letters must be from outside the University. Unsigned letters will not be accepted. If the letters come in via email, the email message from the referee must be printed out and submitted with the letter of recommendation. That email cannot be from a third party - it must be directly from the referee. Letters from reviewers who are not sufficiently arm's-length will not count toward the minimum requirement. The guiding principles for selecting reviewers for promotion and tenure purposes are applicable to the hiring process. For joint hires, include 5-6 letters, since more than one department is being represented in the hire.	If the letters come in via email, the email message from the referee must be printed out and submitted with the letter of recommendation. That email cannot be from a third party - it must be directly from the referee.
9	Attachment A: Primary Language Determination Form	If Primary Language is not English, also see Attachments B-D below. COE Faculty Affairs can obtain signatures on these forms during approval routing in DocuSign.	If creating a new PAR for a faculty member with a previous PAR on file, it is not necessary to submit the Primary Language Determination Form. Indicate status "On File" in PAR section 7, "Supporting Documentation." See whether a PAR has previously been approved for a faculty member by following the instructions at COE: PAR Information and FAQ > tab “How to find a PAR by EID”
Only if relevant	Complete these only if Attachment A above indicates that their Primary Language is not English	Attachment B Descriptions of Levels of English Proficiency	Attachment B does not need to be included in PAR packet, but provides definitions for completing Attachment C.
		Attachment C Assessment of English Proficiency
		Attachment D Appointment Status Recommendation
Only if relevant	Documentation of approved funding commitments provided by sources external to COE (Provost's Office, other CSUs, etc.)
10	Appointment Process Summary (If recruiting was not conducted, skip ahead to item 13)	Completed by Search Committee Chair in collaboration with department AM
11	Interfolio EEO report (If recruiting was not conducted, skip ahead to item 13)	(Replaces former Applicant Pool Statistics Table)	See instructions at Interfolio: Run an EEO Report. After selecting Unit, Position, and Form, go to Download (CSV) and choose Response Summary. Reformat in Excel for easier readability, set page orientation to Portrait, and ensure all columns will print on a single page. Save to PDF.
12	Interfolio job posting (If recruiting was not conducted, skip ahead to item 13)	Printout of job posting from either Interfolio or Faculty Careers - UT Austin. (COE Faculty Affairs will upload a PDF of the posting to department’s recruiting folder on Box, with posting number in the file name)	Posting number must match the Job ID entered in section 7 of the PAR.
13 (submit only if recruiting was not conducted)	Approved Posting Exemption Request and supporting letter, approved by both Dean and EVPP - submit only if recruiting was not conducted	Use of Posting Exemption Requests should be limited as much as possible, and used only for Partner Hires or for exceptional circumstances.	Posting exemption request must be approved by both Dean and EVPP before routing PAR to COE Faculty Affairs. If a Posting Waiver was approved in lieu of posting, type "Waiver" in PAR section 7 comments on "Job ID" line. See additional information about posting waivers at COE: Posting Exemption Requests.
13 (submit only if recruiting was not conducted)	Applicant Screening Questions - submit only if recruiting was not conducted	Completed and signed by prospective hire	For applicants who applied in Interfolio, the information on this form was already collected during their application process,
14	Provisional/contingent offer letter or term sheet (if applicable)	Prepared by COE Faculty Affairs according to the appropriate EVPP Offer Letter Template.	To request a provisional offer letter from COE Faculty Affairs, the department should submit the online COE Faculty Hire Form.
15	DRAFT of offer letter	Prepared by COE Faculty Affairs according to the appropriate EVPP Offer Letter Template. Include a "DRAFT" watermark on all pages. Draft should not be signed.	If a provisional offer letter was provided by COE Faculty Affairs (item #14 above), COE Faculty Affairs will also prepare a draft offer letter for the PAR without need for the department to submit an additional COE Faculty hire Form. If a provisional letter was not already provided by COE Faculty Affairs: To request a draft offer letter from COE Faculty Affairs, the department should submit the online COE Faculty Hire Form. IMPORTANT: The draft does NOT represent an offer of employment, and the letter must not be signed by the prospective faculty member until after the PAR has been approved by the Dean's Office. If a draft is shared, it must be clearly communicated that the draft does not represent a final contract and is contingent upon the Dean's approval.

Tenure dossier review

See a list of documentation required in the Tenure Review Packet at EVPP: Tenure Review vs. PAR Packet Matrix.

Effective spring 2023, the Office of Research and Compliance (ORSC) also reviews tenure dossiers for potential conflicts of interest. The Provost's Office will share tenure dossiers with ORSC - there are no additional steps for College staff.

For joint hires, only one tenure dossier packet is needed. The tenure statements from the Dean and department chair of the joint college/department, and a copy of the joint PAR coversheet with signatures, should be included with the primary department’s packet. See additional information about joint hires at COE: Hiring Joint Faculty.

Instructions

Department Administrative Manager emails the following to Sonja Runberg, with a cc to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu:
1. Name of prospective tenured hire
2. Proposed rank for hire (Associate Professor or full Professor)
3. The tenure dossier materials listed below, in the order described, saved as a single PDF
Sonja Runberg works with the Senior Associate Dean to share the tenure dossier materials with the College Advisory Committee (CAC) for review.
CAC reviews and votes on the tenure case, and the Dean adds a statement/recommendation to the dossier.
Sonja notifies COE Faculty Affairs of the CAC vote totals. COE Faculty Affairs record vote totals in the PAR.
Sonja Runberg submits tenure dossier to EVPP. Provost review is typically completed in 7-10 days of receipt.
Sonja notifies COE Faculty Affairs of the Provost's tenure decision.
For next steps, see Tenured faculty hire process on this page, step 21.

Tenure dossier checklist

For a list of required documentation for the PAR vs. for the tenure dossier, see EVPP: Tenure Review vs. PAR Packet Matrix.

Order in tenure dossier	Document	Also included in PAR packet?	Details	Notes
1	PAR cover sheets, signed	Y (But tenure dossier copy should be signed)	For tenure dossier review, the PAR cover sheets should be signed. Note: Certain required information for the PAR approval in DEFINE is not needed in the tenure dossier for new hires. For this reason, the DEFINE document may be in any status (i.e. created, in process, rerouted) while the tenure review is taking place. Use Green Output to print from DEFINE to PDF. See guidance at COE: PAR FAQ - Green Output.	Use Green Output to print from DEFINE to PDF. See guidance at COE: PAR FAQ - Green Output.
2	Dean's tenure assessment/statement	Y	For required content, see table item #2 on the Documentation checklist tab on this page	This must be a signed, original document on university letterhead.
3	Department chair's tenure assessment/ statement	Y	For required content, see table item #3 on the Documentation checklist tab on this page	This must be a signed, original document on university letterhead.
4	Current CV	Y
5	Research and teaching statements (if submitted by the candidate during the recruitment process or as part of the application materials)	Y	For required content, see table item #5 on the Documentation checklist tab on this page
6, if provided as a separate document rather than included within Chair's statement	Teaching assessment (either as a separate document, or included within the Chair's statement)	Y	For required content, see table item #6 on the Documentation checklist tab on this page	Must be a signed, original document on university letterhead. May be included as either a) a separate document written by the hiring committee chair or department chair, or b) part of the chair's statement.
7	Sample solicitation letter	Y	Sample solicitation letter used to solicit outside review letters
8	External reference letters, arm's length - minimum of 3	Y	For requirements, see table item #8 on the Documentation checklist tab on this page	If the letters come in via email, the email message from the referee must be printed out and submitted with the letter of recommendation. That email cannot be from a third party - it must be directly from the referee.
9	Appointment Process Summary (If recruiting was not conducted, skip ahead to item 12)	Y	Completed by Search Committee Chair in collaboration with department AM
10	Interfolio EEO report (If recruiting was not conducted, skip ahead to item 12)	Y	(Replaces former Applicant Pool Statistics Table)	See instructions at Interfolio: Run an EEO Report. After selecting Unit, Position, and Form, go to Download (CSV) and choose Response Summary. Reformat in Excel for easier readability, set page orientation to Portrait, and ensure all columns will print on a single page. Save to PDF.
11	Interfolio job posting (If recruiting was not conducted, skip ahead to item 12)	Y	Printout of job posting from either Interfolio or Faculty Careers - UT Austin. (COE Faculty Affairs will upload a PDF of the posting to department’s recruiting folder on Box, with posting number in the file name)
12 (submit only if recruiting was not conducted)	Approved Posting Exemption Request and supporting letter, approved by both Dean and EVPP - submit only if recruiting was not conducted	Y	See table item #13 on the Documentation checklist tab on this page