College of Education process for hires of tenured and tenure-track faculty

See supplementary guidance for administrative staff at COE Recruiting Procedures for Administrative Managers.

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Phase 1:  Prior to search

1. Department chair submits a search request to the Dean for approval, with a cc to the department Administrative Manager, including the position title and rank and draft job description.

2. If the Dean approves the search request, the department chair submits a proposed search committee and search chair (include at least one T/TT faculty member from outside of the department)

3. Once the search committee is approved, the department chair appoints the search committee, and the department chair and/or search committee creates a job posting.

4. Search committee chair submits posting for approval by Senior Associate Dean. Include the following:

   1. Boilerplate language about the college, signature impact areas, and funding

      1. For an example of boilerplate language, go to: Box (access restricted) > COE HR - Faculty HR > All Departments Faculty Recruiting XX-XY > Job posting template and example

      2. Box folder access requests can be sent to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu

   2. List of required and preferred qualifications for junior and senior level positions 

5. If the Senior Associate Dean approves, the department Administrative Manager submits the posting in Interfolio. See COE: Interfolio > Posting a position in Interfolio for instructions.

6. Dean's Office Faculty Affairs will receive a notification requesting approval of the Interfolio posting and will forward a copy of the posting to the Senior Associate Dean for approval. If approved by the Senior Associate Dean, Dean's Office Faculty Affairs will approve the posting in Interfolio.

Where are UT Austin faculty positions posted?

Positions created in Interfolio are pushed automatically to the UT Faculty Careers web site, and then scraped out to the Chronicle of Higher Education, and HigherEdJobs when they meet all of the following parameters:

1. Position has been submitted for approval, reviewed, and approved by an Administrator in Interfolio

2. Must be "Open" - today's date is on or after the position's Open Date and before the Close date at 12:00 EST (unless set to "Until filled" or "Set not to close")

3. Not Archived (a setting in position management)

4. Has a position status of "Accepting Applications"

If international applicants are being considered

Additional recruiting requirements must be satisfied in order to sponsor an employee for employment-based Lawful Permanent Residency.

The U.S. Department of Labor requires that employers sponsoring non-U.S. citizens for permanent residency (via the EB-2 Advanced Degree Professionals category of I-140 Petitions) have posted at least one ad (print or online) in a national, professional journal for at least 30 calendar days. Departments should keep this in mind if international candidates will be considered for hire. Documentation of start and end dates of the ad, as well as the text of the ad, will be required for permanent residency applications.

For more information, see the following:

• Texas Global: Hiring International Employees

• Texas Global: Sponsoring Faculty and Staff for Permanent Residency

• Contact Texas Global - International Student and Scholar Services with any questions

Faculty Search Promotion and Social Media Toolkit

In collaboration with the COE Marketing and Communications (MarCom) team, all faculty have access to the COE Faculty Search Social Media toolkit to help promote COE’s open tenure/tenured track positions. This toolkit provides you with ready-to-use social media images, suggested captions, and easy-to-follow guides to help you share these opportunities organically on Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

Why this matters: By using these branded visuals and content, we strengthen our collective voice and reinforce our community’s goals. Your participation is key in amplifying our faculty searches and showcasing the collaborative spirit that defines our brand.

 View the Toolkit

Additional advertising options

Departments may wish to share their job postings more widely. Additional advertising options are listed below. Note that some services require a fee.

• Professional networks

• LinkedIn

• Job Elephant

• American Educational Research Association (AERA) Jobs

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Phase 2:  After position is posted

Department/Search Committee Chairs should ensure that all candidates within each search are treated the same. For example, if interviews are conducted virtually, all interviews in that round should be conducted virtually, or if delays arise in the interview schedule, all interviews should be postponed to fall within the same timeframe. Per HR guidance, virtual interviews should not be recorded, unless all candidates are asked in advance of the interview and each is given the option to opt out of recording.

Steps:

1. Search committee chair seeks ongoing consultation with Senior Associate Dean regarding applicant pool and recruitment efforts.

2. Search committee narrows the pool of candidates for Zoom interviews, or equivalent.

   1. Search committee may wish to use a selection matrix. See COE: Evaluating Candidates in Faculty Searches > Selection Matrix.

   2. Training on evaluating applications in Interfolio is available at Interfolio: Evaluating Applications.

3. Search committee conducts video interviews with semifinalists.

   1. See COE: Evaluating Candidates in Faculty Searches > Interviewing.

4. Search committee narrows the semifinalist list to two or three potential on-campus interview candidates.

   1. If any of the finalists are non-U.S. citizens, the department should schedule a meeting for the candidate with Texas Global - International Student and Scholar Services during their on-campus visit. See more at COE: International Hiring.

5. Search committee chair writes On-Campus Interview Request Memo. Note that some items included in the On-Campus Interview Memo will also be used in the Appointment Process Summary for the PAR, the hiring documentation processed by the department Administrative Manager. 

6. At least three business days prior to meeting, search committee chair sends the materials listed below in a single email to the Dean, with a cc to the Senior Associate Dean, the department Administrative Manager, Claire Bush, and COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu. The Office of the Dean EA will upload the materials to Box.

   1. Completed On-Campus Interview Request Memo

   2. CVs of all proposed finalist interviewees

   3. CVs of all semi-finalists

7. Search committee chair and department chair meet with the Dean and Senior Associate Dean for review. Dean reviews on-campus interview list for approval.

8. If approved by the Dean, candidate interviews are scheduled through the hiring department. On-campus schedules are created, including both an interview with the Dean, and a meeting with the Associate Deans. The Associate Deans will block time for this purpose.

9. Job talks are advertised by the department broadly across all COE departments.

Additional steps for College-Wide hires

In addition to all steps above:

• Search committee chairs should plan a schedule that ensures the candidates will have broad exposure to departments where there might be a fit.

• Job talks should be widely advertised across all departments.

• Include departmental representation for dinners/slate of appointments.

• Candidate should meet with department chairs representing potential affiliations and have conversations about what those potential affiliations might be.

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Phase 3:  After campus interviews with finalists

1. Evaluations are collected by the search committee from faculty and students: evaluation forms, written or verbal feedback to committee members, search chair, department chair; or any other evaluative information.

2. Search committee deliberates and makes a hiring recommendation.  Based on their review, they may recommend: (a) one candidate, (b) more than one candidate (rank-ordered), or (c) no candidate.

3. Search committee chair writes Hire Recommendation Summary Report and submits to the department chair. The report should include the following information:

4. Department chair reviews the Hire Recommendation Summary Report.

5. Search committee members should perform reference checks of each finalist, asking the same questions to each reference about each candidate.

   1. See HR: Check References for guidance.

   2. For example reference check questions, see COE: Evaluating Candidates in Faculty Searches > Reference checks.

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Phase 4: Before BC/EC meets

1. The department chair receives Hire Recommendation Summary Report from the search committee chair.

2. Department chair emails Hire Recommendation Summary Report to the Dean and Senior Associate Dean. 

3. Optional: Department chair schedules a meeting with the Dean. The Hiring Recommendation Summary Report must be sent at least three business days in advance of meeting.

4. The Dean approves moving recommendation forward for BC/EC discussion and vote.

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Phase 5: BC/EC meeting and following

1. Department chair submits Hiring Recommendation Summary Report from the search committee to the BC/EC and convenes the group for discussion and anonymous vote on the finalists.

   1. College-Wide hires: If the BC votes in favor of proceeding with the hire, department chairs work together to determine the distribution of the appointment (usually not 50/50). Search committee chairs meet with the Dean to provide a summary of assessment by the BC/ECs.

2. After the BC/EC vote, department chair submits Hiring Recommendation Summary Report to the Dean and Senior Associate Dean, and a cover letter that captures the following:

   1. EC/BC discussion

   2. EC/BC vote

   3. their own evaluation of the candidates

   4. any other information pertinent to the Dean

3. If the Dean approves, department chair (or in the case of a College-Wide hire, the chair of the department with the greater share of affiliation) and Senior Associate Dean discuss salary and start-up package. It is strongly encouraged to capture agreed-upon offer items in email rather than just verbally, and cc or forward these to the department Administrative Manager for reference during the draft offer letter writing process in collaboration with COE Faculty Affairs, including all helpful details and specifics.

   1. Special circumstances:

      1. If proposed hire is at tenured Associate or full Professor level, Senior Associate Dean submits candidate's CV and a Preliminary Request to the Provost’s office for approval before offer is made. See COE: Hiring Tenured Faculty > tab "Tenure pre-review."

      2. If proposed hire is not a U.S. citizen, department should consult with Texas Global - International Student and Scholar Services before offer is made, and cc COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.

4. Once approved by the Dean to proceed with the hire, the department chair should begin working with the department Administrative Manager and COE Faculty Affairs on the hiring process, including PAR, Offer Letter, and Hiring Tenured Faculty process if appropriate. Keep in mind that these processes can take a great deal of time and effort, and please plan accordingly.

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After the conclusion of the search

Disposition the Interfolio position

Immediately after the conclusion of a faculty search, be sure to ask the department Administrative Manager to close the Interfolio position (archive) and indicate an outcome. For searches that did not result in selection of a candidate, 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.). See Interfolio: Close a Position and Select Applicant(s).

Communicate with applicants

After closing the position in Interfolio, the Search Committee Chair should communicate to all applicants that the position has closed. 

This can be done in Interfolio - see instructions at Interfolio: Email Applicants. To email all applicants not selected for interview, check the "Applicants" box at the top of the table, and then deselect the names of those interviewed. The email message to applicants not interviewed might be something like: 

“Thank you very much for submitting an application for the Assistant/Associate Professor position in Department Name at The University of Texas at Austin. We regret to notify you that your application has not advanced to the interview stage. We appreciate your time and interest, and wish you the best in your job search endeavors.”

For applicants interviewed but not selected for hire, the Search Committee Chair should send a more personalized email. 

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Interfolio for search committee members

See COE: Interfolio for Faculty Search Committees.

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Please send suggested additions to this page and notifications about broken links to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.