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To ensure that the University maintains its high standards for the faculty recruitment and hiring, candidates are vetted via the Prior Approval Request (PAT) process and candidate dossier documents evaluated at several university levels.
The PAR defines the specific items that are needed for the recruitment and hiring of all types of faculty and how the candidates should be evaluated. Moreover, because the PAR is a well-defined mechanism with specific audits in place for a variety of situations, it enables The University to gather important data about the faculty population from the moment they are being considered for employment.
Only after final approval of the PAR, which is reflected in the signatures on the PAR packet AND final approval in the electronic PAR (FP*) document, may the hiring unit send out the official contract agreement letter (“Offer Letter”) to the faculty candidate for their signature.
A copy of the signed offer letter is sent to the Provost’s Office. A copy of the signed letter should also be retained in the hiring department and college. When the Provost’s Office receives the signed contract, the PAR can be ACCepted, which triggers the creation of the position and academic appointment in Workday through an overnight automated process. The processing of acceptance letters can take several days during peak processing times.
In the case of professional-track faculty, final approval of the PAR is at the college level, however, all PAR information is thoroughly reviewed in the Provost’s Office to ensure compliance. If errors are found, corrections will still need to be made even if the contract has been signed by the faculty candidate.
Final approval for tenured faculty is done after the PAR has been signed by the chair of the hiring department, the dean of the college, the Vice President for Research, and the Dean of the Graduate School. Before routing to the last two approvers, the Provost’s Office does a thorough review of the PAR packet.
Tenure-track faculty PARs are final approved in the college, except in cases of non-departmentalized colleges. Because a two-tiered system of approval is needed, tenure-track PARs for non-departmentalized colleges are final approved by the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.