Prior Approval Request (PAR) Process

Prior Approval Request (PAR) Process

Table of Contents

About the PAR
PAR Cover Sheet
Section One—Position Information
Section Two—Funding Commitments
Section Three—Biographical Information
Section Four—Endowments Information
Section Five—PARs for Fiscal Year
Section Six—Course Load Information
Section Seven—Supporting Documentation
Section Eight—PAR Comments
Research Faculty
International Hiring
PAR Checklists
Evaluating a PAR

About the PAR

What is the par?

The PAR is the Prior Approval Request process required for the hiring of faculty. Before a formal offer of employment is made to any faculty candidate, the hiring unit must be formally granted permission to make that offer. The process of vetting faculty candidates by all required parties is the PAR system. Part of the PAR system is the PAR packet which is comprised of specific items used for evaluation.

This process is necessary to ensure that The University of Texas at Austin maintains its high standards for the recruitment, hiring, and promotion of faculty. 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 uploaded to candidate’s Worker Documents in Workday. 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.

After a PAR for a tenured faculty hire is approved by the department chair (if applicable) and dean, the Provost’s Office thoroughly reviews the PAR packet, requests corrections (as needed), and routes it forward for final review and approval by the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School.

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.

 

PAR Doc IDs

Each PAR has a unique eleven-digit document number similar to H0FPN799154. The second digit, 0, refers to the component (ie. the specific University of Texas campus), which in the case of UT Austin is component 0.

The next three digits refer to the document type.

There are four types of FP* documents:

  • FPN-The request to hire professional-track faculty in all academic units, and the request to hire tenure-track faculty in departmentalized colleges.
  • FPX-The request to hire tenure-track faculty in a non-departmentalized college
  • FPT-The request to hire tenured faculty
  • FPR-The request to hire research faculty (Research Assistant Professor, Research Associate Professor, and Research Professor).

The last six digits fall in decreasing order as each new PAR is created throughout the fiscal year.

 

The PAR Process

  1. Academic unit initiates recruitment process. At a minimum there must be a posting on the UT Austin Faculty Careers page except in the case of Visiting, 0%-time, or Adjunct appointments.
  2. Candidate applies for position. It is important at this stage to collect data for the appointment processes summary.
  3. Academic unit chooses candidate(s), conducts interviews, and may even begin informal negotiations, but does not yet make a formal offer.
  4. Academic unit creates Prior Approval Request packet for candidate
  5. PAR routes for approvals

 

Tenured (FPT): Electronic document routes from department (departmentalized colleges only) to college with at least one signer at each level. Final approval is at the Provost level. The PDF PAR must receive signature approvals from the chair or director (departmentalized colleges only), the dean, the Vice President of Research, and the Dean of the Graduate School. A copy of the approved PAR will be e-mailed to the college PAR contact as a notification that approval is complete.

Tenure Track (FPN for departmentalized colleges and FPX for non-departmentalized colleges): Electronic document routes in the same way as FPT documents, but for departmentalized colleges final approval is at the college level. (For non-departmentalized colleges —FPX— final approval is still at the Provost level.) The PDF PAR must receive signature approvals from the chair or director (departmentalized colleges only), the dean, and for non-departmentalized colleges (FPX documents), the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.

Professional-Track (FPN): Electronic document routes from department (departmentalized colleges only) to college with at least one signer at each level. Final approval is at the college level.* The PDF PAR must receive signature approvals from the chair or director (departmentalized colleges only), and the dean.

*Professor rank professional-track hires into these titles require a Pre-Review by a subset of the President’s Promotion and Tenure review committee before making an offer.

  • Professor of Instruction
  • Professor of Practice
  • Clinical Professor
  • Adjunct Professor
  • Distinguished Senior Lecturer

Submit a pre-review request using the Pre-Review form via the Faculty Affairs & Academic Personnel Services Portal.

Research Faculty (FPR): Electronic document routes from department (departmentalized colleges only) to college with at least one signer at each level. Final approval is with the Vice President for Research. The PDF PAR must receive signature approvals from the chair or director (departmentalized colleges only), the dean, and the Vice President for Research.

  1. PAR receives final approval (per routing details above) putting the electronic document (FP*) in Offer Pending Status. Candidate is recognized as Prospective Faculty in EID system. Academic unit is now authorized to send formal offer letter to candidate
  2. Academic unit receives original, signed offer letter from candidate indicating their formal acceptance of UT’s offer.
  3. Academic unit submits a copy of the signed offer letter to Academic Personnel Services (APS) via the Faculty Affairs and Academic Personnel Services Portal. A copy should also be uploaded to the candidate’s Worker Documents in Workday.
  4. Provost’s Office processes signed offer letter.
  5. EVPP updates PAR status to Offer Accepted on electronic PAR document (FP*), indicating to the system that the candidate has accepted our offer of employment.
  6. Overnight batch process of accepted PARs creates new positions and academic appointments in Workday. Candidate is recognized as Future Faculty in EID system.

PAR Cover Sheet

The PAR Cover Sheet is a general summary of the data that can be found in each section of the electronic PAR. Also included on this front page, is the document ID, found in the upper-right corner, information on the creation of the PAR, which includes:

  • Creation date
  • Creator’s name
  • Creator’s EID

Background Check

A background check is required by institutional policy for newly appointed faculty.  For this purpose, the faculty hire will receive an email with instructions for accessing the Background Check Administration (BCA) system to provide the necessary information for conducting the background check.

 

Creating a New Electronic PAR Document

NEW – Create a NEW document—This is the first action for the creation of any PAR. When entering a NEW action, you will be forwarded to a page that will require the Instructional Unit code, the Job Code, Fiscal Year of the assignment, and the EID of the faculty candidate. Even if the PAR creator thinks that the faculty candidate is new to The University of Texas system, it is important to verify that the candidate does not already have UT EID by entering a question mark in the field provided for EID. All variations of the name should be researched before answering N (no) to the question “Has this person ever had a job at the University; been enrolled as a student; been assigned an EID from other PARs or job applications; or used an EID within the last year?

TIP: It is common for new faculty (particularly tenure-track faculty) to have had a voucher payment processed for travel expenses for giving a talk as part of their recruitment process. When this happens, an EID is created for them. It is important that this same EID is used when created the PAR for this candidate. Entering a question mark in most of the fields in the PAR will give instructions or additional information. You may navigate to each section of the PAR by either entering an X in the corresponding field in the bottom section of the Cover Sheet or entering the number of the section in the Action field near the top of the page.

 

PAR Actions

Allowable actions vary by the status of the PAR. Generally, the PAR Action options are:

APP – Approve to sign this document and route forward—the person taking this action certifies that all the information in the document is accurate and follows all the regulations and policies surrounding the hiring of faculty at UT Austin.

ROU – Display how this document has been ROUTED—ROU is a useful tool for checking on the progress of an electronic PAR.

NOT – Display document NOTES—If there are special circumstances associated with a PAR, it may be useful for the creator to record them in Notes. It is not advisable, however, to use Notes as a means of communicating issues and circumstances to others evaluating the PAR. It does, however, serve as a good way to include special information as part of the historical record. Just be aware that these Notes will remain a part of the official document.

CPY – COPY the document with a new document number—the Copy function of a PAR is useful when creating PARs with similar attributes. Keep in mind, however, that it must be kept within the same document type (FPN, FPT, FPX, or FPR).

FYA – Send document copy to person FOR YOUR APPROVAL—When a particular administrator is not usually on the routing chain for approval of a PAR, but it would be appropriate that they approve the document, an FYA can send the electronic document to their Inbox for their approval before it continues routing forward.

FYI – Send document copy to person FOR YOUR INFORMATION—As a courtesy or to notify another administrator of the potential hire, an FYI can be used to place the electronic document in someone else’s inbox so that they be aware of the document despite not being on the routing chain.

PRT – PRINT the document—When the Creator of the PAR has completed the document, Verified (see below) that it passes all audits, and approved it off the Creator desk, PRT action can be taken to print out the PAR in proper format for routing it forward with the PAR packet for signature approval. These documents must be printed to a printer with a Terminal Identification (TID) or sent to the Data Processing shelf for your unit. The PAR cover sheet can also be sent to Green Output.

VER – VERIFY that the document is correct—VER of the PAR checks for audits in the electronic PAR that ensure the circumstances detailed in the document follow all business rules. There are two types of audit messages, a Warning and an Error. A Warning is a notification that some detail about the PAR is missing or that there is a circumstance in the PAR that will prohibit acceptance of the PAR, but it can still be approved forward. An Error means that something in the PAR is not following proper business rules and the document cannot be approved until the situation is resolved. In both cases, a brief explanation of what is wrong with the PAR will be explained in the message along with which section of the PAR the problem can be found. All Warnings that will prohibit acceptance of the PAR should be resolved before approving forward to the Provost Office.

REC – RECALL the document back to your inbox—If after approving the PAR forward, you wish to make changes, you may recall it back to your electronic desk as long as it has not yet been approved off the next desk in the routing chain. The creator of a PAR, however, may recall the document at any stage of the routing chain as long as it has not yet been final approved.

SUP – SUPERSEDE a document after final approval—After a PAR has been final approved, no further changes can be made on the document. When the circumstances of the potential hire change after that point, it is necessary to supersede the PAR. Much of the information from the original PAR will be transferred to the new superseding PAR. This new superseding PAR will now be the official electronic document and must be routed forward. The superseding PAR must also be printed, or sent to Green Output,  and routed for signature approval as well, unless the supersede was purely an administrative function, such as updating an account number. If the supersede in any way changes the understanding of the contract between the candidate and The University, it must be signed by all relative administrators.

DEL – DELETE this document—If after the PAR has been created but not final approved, it is discovered that the PAR is not necessary or there is an error that a Supersede will not remedy, the PAR creator may DELete a PAR. It is important to know, however, that deleting a PAR removes all record of that document, including the document ID.

 

Provost’s Office Only PAR Actions

 ACC – Formal offer to faculty ACCEPTED—Only when the original offer letter signed by the head of the hiring unit and the faculty member is received by the Provost’s Office can the PAR be ACCepted. The formal contract (the offer letter) is the only single document that carries the assurance that all parties understand and are in agreement with the hiring of the individual. After receiving the signed offer letter, it could take several days before the PAR is ACCepted due to the high volume of documentation received by Academic Personnel Services daily.

CAN – CANCEL Prior Approval Request—Occasionally it is necessary due to unforeseeable administrative issues to take an action on a PAR to remove it from circulation because it can be neither ACCepted nor DEClined. The Provost’s Office action will end the life cycle of the PAR while retaining a formal record of the document, but it can only be taken after the PAR has been final approved. This action is rarely taken, as the nature of the process of a PAR after it is final approved should result in either acceptance or declination of the formal offer. The CANcel will be the result of administrative error or some extraordinary circumstance.

DEC – Formal offer to faculty DECLINED—When a faculty candidate declines the formal offer, the hiring unit must contact the Provost’s Office with documentation explaining that the offer was declined along with specific reasons why it was declined. The Provost’s Office will retain declined PAR files for three years.

TIP: The final status of all PARs should be ACC (Accepted). Unless the PAR has been CANcelled or DEClined (these actions can only be done in the Provost’s Office), there should be no PAR left in any other than Accepted. If the college is unable to take an action on a PAR, the Provost’s Office should be via the Faculty Affairs & Academic Personnel Services Portal. The ticket should explain why the PAR is no longer relevant and request that it be CANcelled.

Section One – Position Information

Section one of the PAR provides all the details associated with the assignment and position. When entering or looking for information on dates or rates, it can be found in section one. Other details such as tenure status and position type, can also be addressed in section one.

TIP: Search in Workday for the Job Family Group report for more information on faculty job families and profiles.

The job code for Assistant Professor (Visiting) is the same as the job code for Assistant Professor. The only distinction between these two titles is that Assistant Professor (Visiting) is a temporary assignment with a definitive end date. Assistant Professor (Visiting) is still a tenure-track position.

 

Assignment Dates

All faculty positions beginning in the Fall will have a start August 16. If the assignment starts in the Spring, the start date will be January 1. It is recommended that tenured and tenure-track faculty starting in spring attend the new faculty orientation the following August. If the hiring college does require this of the faculty member, this must be reflected as a commitment in Section 2.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty may start earlier than August 16 (or January 1 for Spring start dates) for course development, or if they have a corresponding Administrative and Professional position such as a director or dean position that begins in the summer preceding their fall start.

Professional-Track positions should also have a start date of either August 16 or January 1 during the long session; and May 16, or June 16 for summer assignments. Only in rare circumstances should there be any variation from these dates. An example might be a new faculty member being brought in to replace a colleague on an emergency basis. Whatever the reason, it should be explained in Section 8.

 

Percent Time

Percent time corresponds to effort and should follow a standard established by the hiring unit and college. For instance, the college should establish its interpretation of how course load and/or course credit hours taught corresponds to percent time and ensure that that standard is applied equitably among all faculty.

Contract Term

  • Short Term – Generally, 1 year or less. Also used for an assignment beginning in the summer and ending not later than 8/15 of the following summer
  • 2 year – 2 years or less, but more than 1 year
  • 3 year – 3 years or less, but more than 2 years
  • 2 year rolling – a 2 year contract term extended one year each year rather than the assignment of a new contract term after the previous term has ended
  • 3 year rolling – a 3 year contract term extended one year each year rather than the assignment of a new contract term after the previous term has ended

TIP: Multi-year contracts were designed to recognize extended and exemplary service to the instructional mission at UT Austin. Therefore, multi-year contracts can only be extended after six semesters or more in rank at UT Austin. Multiple-year contracts need to be 50% time or greater for the full fixed period.

Rate

Faculty rate is market-driven, but a rate out of proportion with other faculty in the same title should be closely examined. If a rate is significantly under or over the rates of a faculty member’s peers, and there is no clear explanation in the PAR, this should be questioned and brought to the attention of hiring unit head. If there was an error it must be corrected. If the rate is as intended, then an explanation should be given in a letter from the hiring unit head.

Job Code

See section on Tenure Status for list of faculty job codes at the top of this section.

TIP: Tenured and tenure-track positions are referred to as “permanent” faculty positions, while professional-track positions are “temporary.”

Position Type

  • Primary
    • All faculty must have a primary position even if only 0% (professional-track only)
    • Organizational home of faculty member
    • Owning unit must be an academic department
    • Owning unit generally takes lead in administering if there are joint positions
  • Joint
    • Owning unit must be an academic department
    • Formal relationship, full-fledged faculty member

Because a faculty member may have only one Primary unit, it is sometimes necessary to end a prior position in order to create a new primary position in a different unit or submit a PAR to create a second faculty job, and then switch the Primary and Joint academic appointment Identifiers. This is not uncommon for professional-track faculty whose credentials qualify them to teach in a variety of fields. This will require some coordination between the current and future primary units. The unit that is currently the primary unit must first consent to any changes related to that faculty member’s primary position. Clear details about why the changes are needed (e.g. to create a primary position in another unit) should be included in the PAR Comments section.

TIP: A Courtesy Academic Appointment may be provided to a faculty member who needs an affiliation with a secondary academic unit but does not need a regular faculty position. This appointment is processed in Workday, not the PAR, and it is not a position or job. The following applies:

    • Owning Unit may be an academic department, program, or research center
    • Associated/affiliated faculty member
    • Funding and % time are N/A; may have supplement
    • Any funding contributed to % time is entered on the primary or joint position

 

Funding Details

This field is optional.

Section Two – Funding Commitments

This section is optional.

If a commitment is entered, ‘Type’ is the minimum requirement (an error will display if not included).

Validity checks are in place to confirm that the required data is entered or accurate.

Section Three – Biographical Information

This section is optional, except for the following fields:

  • Degree
  • Degree Candidate
  • Contingency Type (if applicable)
  • Email Address

Note that some biographical information such as race, gender, citizenship, and birthdate may auto-populate if the candidate is current employee or was previously employed at the university.

 

Degrees and Contingencies

ALL degree information listed on the faculty candidate’s CV must be entered in the Degree portion of Section Three. You must clear out two moreables to get to the degree detail page where the degree information is entered.

  • Degree Abbreviation — If a degree abbreviation is listed on the CV that is not found in the PAR system, contact Academic Personnel Services via our portal with detailed information regarding the degree information.
  • Equivalent will fill in automatically
  • Terminal degree refers to the level of the degree. A terminal degree is the highest degree that can be earned in that specific field of study. (PhD is the terminal degree for most fields of study.) It should not be confused with highest degree. Terminal Degree is a yes/no question.
  • Highest degree is the highest degree that the faculty candidate has earned. This, too, is a yes/no question.
  • Year is when the degree was officially earned. If the faculty candidate is still working on the degree the value for the year earned should be “9999.” If the value is “9999” the highest degree value must be “N.” For degree contingencies, the year for the respective degree must be “9999.”
  • CIP stands for Classification of Instructional Programs. Governed by the Board of Education, each discipline is given a specific code. This field is necessary for reporting and credentialing purposes. A look-up for the codes is given by entering a question mark in the field.
  • FICE stands for Federal Interagency Committee on Education. Although the Board of Education has since moved to a new coding system, UT still uses FICE codes. In instances where a degree was earned as a foreign institution, a stand-in for a FICE code can be created by Academic Personnel Services. This request can be made by sending a request via our portal with specific information about the institution in question (official name, past names, location, etc) and a link to the institution’s official website. This in rare circumstances, this may even be necessary for domestic institutions. However, a thorough search for the institution in the FICE look-up should be done first.

TIP: When looking up institutions beginning with “University of” the search should begin “Univ of.”

 

Degree Candidate

This is an automated field value. If “9999” was entered as a value for any degree, the result in Degree Candidate will be “Yes,” otherwise the value will be “No.”

Contingency Type

A contingency on a PAR is made when, at the time of formal offer, a faculty candidate will be in the process of earning a degree that the hiring unit is requiring for the position. There are three types of contingencies:

  • AP—Appointment Contingency means that if the faculty candidate does not earn his degree by the time of the assignment start date, the offer is retracted (ie. there will be no appointment).
  • RR—Rank and Rate is made when the rank and rate will be reduced if the faculty candidate does not earn the degree by the assignment start date. RR contingency is made for Assistant Professor hires. The alternate rank defaults to Instructor. An alternate rate will need to be entered back on Section 1, the fields for which will only be selectable after the contingency is made.
  • RK—Rank contingency is made when only the rank will be reduced if the degree requirement is not met.

To clear a pending contingency, an official notification that the candidate’s degree has been conferred must be sent to the Provost’s Office along with a request to “complete” the contingency. In cases where the candidate has completed all requirements of the degree, but it will not be officially conferred until after the assignment begins, the Provost’s Office will accept a letter from the thesis or dissertation supervisor explaining that ALL requirements of the degree are complete and stipulating the specific date the degree is due to be conferred. This must be a signed letter from the supervisor on letterhead. Notification of passing a dissertation defense is not sufficient. The candidate must have completed all requirements.

Beside the contingency type, the deadline for the requirement to be met must be entered. Typically this is 8/16, but may be made earlier (but not later) should the hiring unit feel it is necessary. For a Spring hire the contingency should be met before January 1.

A description of the contingency may be entered below the date, but it is not required.

The alternate rank for Assistant Professor is Instructor, which is also a tenure track title. In a case where a proposed Assistant Professor does not meet the contingency and must begin as an Instructor, their tenure clock still starts. (In the case of a tenure-track Spring hire, the clock does not begin until the following Fall.) Even if the faculty member completes their degree requirements shortly after the assignment start date, they will still remain in the Instructor title until the following Fall. A faculty member may remain in the Instructor title for a maximum of three years.

 

TIP: It is important not to confuse the degree contingency process with the credentialing process. These are two different processes. If the official transcript is being used for both processes, two copies must be sent to the Provost’s Office with notes on each explaining the purpose for sending them. Never assume the Provost’s Office will be able to deduce why you’re sending a document to the office.

The only contingency available for non-tenure-track faculty is AP.

 

Previous Affiliation and Contact Information

Only an email address is required.

Section Four – Endowment Information

Endowment Information

Section four of the PAR is for informational purposes only. It reflects any endowment information associated with the faculty candidate’s record. If endowment information was entered in Section 1 (which is optional), it will also be reflected here. Nothing may be altered in this section.

Section Five – All Prior Approval Request for Fiscal Year

PARs in Fiscal Year

Section Five lists all other PARs that may have been created for the faculty candidate during the given fiscal year. This can be useful as a reference when working with other departments and colleges on a joint assignment. Nothing may be altered in this section.

Section Six – Course Load Information

This section is optional, except for the following fields:

  • Abbr
  • Course

TIP: In some instances, the course may not yet be entered into the course information database that feeds the PAR system, teaching assignments may not yet be known, or the candidate may not be teaching their first semester. If any of these reasons apply, enter the first semester of hire and clear out the moreable on the left to enter a comment explaining why course information was not provided.

Section Seven – Offer Status

This section is required except for Supporting Documentation fields.

Workday Job Requisition

The job requisition is required to approve PAR forward and should be created and approved in Workday before initiating a PAR. Salary information should not be included in the job requisition as this can cause integration issues during the position integration with Workday. The requisition only validates at the VERify step and not also when entered in this field.

 

Job ID

There are five value types available for Job ID:

  • Position ID generated by Interfolio – This number is the last five or five digits in the URL of the posting on Faculty Careers. It can also be found by searching for the position name in Interfolio.
  • Waiver – A waiver (or posting exemption) may be granted approval by the provost in exceptional circumstances when foregoing the formal recruitment process is warranted. The form for requesting a recruitment waiver may be found on the Faculty Affairs & Academic Personnel Services Portal. A copy of the approved exemption should be included with the PAR packet when it is submitted to the Provost’s Office.
  • Extrnl Firm – Refers to recruitment conducted by an external firm. (Spelling of this value is correct and due to character limit.)
  • Spousal – This value is used only for the recipient of a dual-career hire or spousal hire agreement, not the principal hire (ie. the faculty member whose acceptance of our office is contingent upon the hiring of their spouse). A spousal hire must also include a waiver form approved by the provost. If “Spousal” is entered as a value for Job Posting Number, the EID of the principal hire must be entered below it. A look-up is provided by entering a question mark in the field. The name of the principal faculty member will display beneath the EID.
  • N/A – A posting number, waiver or spousal agreement is Not Applicable (N/A) if the faculty assignment is a 0%-time, if it is an adjunct or visiting title, or if it is for a Modified Service assignment. A Modified Service assignment is any faculty assignment of a retired faculty member. Such an assignment must be under 50% time. The PAR will automatically recognize the assignment as Modified Service, assuming the retirement has been finalized.

TIP: Modified Service is a function that in most cases can be taken care of exclusively in Workday. As long as the faculty member’s position exists in Workday, the PAR is not necessary as there will already be an existing position in place.

 

Supporting Documentation

These fields are optional.

 

English Proficiency

The item selected must reflect the information on the Language Proficiency form. The options are:

  • Primary English
  • Primary Not English, No Restrictions
  • Primary Not English, With Restrictions
  • Foreign Language Exemption

Foreign Language Exemption may only be used with a faculty candidate who will be teaching advanced level language courses in which English will not be spoken.

 

Tenure Vote BC/EC

For all tenured and research faculty hires the Budget or Executive committee within each unit must vote on the hire. Where applicable the hire must be voted on at the college level as well. The results of those votes must be recorded here in the PAR.

Section Eight – Prior Approval Comments

PAR Comments

Enter any special comments that will communicate special circumstances involved with the PAR and help facilitate processing of the electronic document. Superseding documents require specific explanations in Section eight detailing the reasons for the supersede.

Research Faculty

FPR documents are used to hire research faculty. See Hiring Research Faculty for complete procedural information regarding this process.

About Research Faculty

  • Research Professor (0017)
    • Research accomplishments and scholarly credentials equivalent to that of a full professor, including supervision of research programs/projects as a principal investigator.
  • Research Associate Professor  (0027)
    • Research accomplishments and scholarly credentials equivalent to that of an established assistant professor or a new associate professor. The individual must have an established record as a mature, independent researcher.
  • Research Assistant Professor (0037)
    • Expected to show the potential to develop an independent research program that represents a significant portion of their activity, and also be involved in activities traditionally thought of as professorial.

*Research Faculty vs. Research Staff.  Key distinction is evidence of engagement with the academic enterprise through teaching, mentorship, or supervision of students at some level.*

In summary, here are the steps to follow:

  1. CSU creates electronic PAR and submits complete PAR packet to EVPP for initial review; request additional information from hiring unit, if applicable.
  2. Review by Vice President for Research; request additional information from hiring unit, if applicable.
  3. Approval by Vice President for Research.
  4. Offer letter goes out to candidate. Offer may be extended only after receiving approval from VPR.
  5. Signed offer letter from the candidate is forwarded to EVPP.
  6. EVPP will ACCept the PAR and the faculty position should push overnight to Workday.

International Hiring

The hiring of faculty who are non-U.S. citizens requires special handling and close coordination with the International Office. You will also need to discuss with the faculty candidate their visa options. Texas Global has posted a helpful resource page for administrators working with internationals, which includes a page on determining the right visa. Contact Texas Global early in the hiring process.

PAR Checklists

To facilitate review, include materials in the packet in the order shown below.

Professional-Track Positions

  • PDF copy of electronic PAR signed by department chair (for departmentalized colleges) and dean
  • Candidate’s current curriculum vitae
  • A minimum of 3 reference letters (copies are acceptable). Letters should emphasize previous teaching performance or potential and, if applicable, contributions in other service areas to which the department expects the candidate to contribute in their faculty role at UT.
  • Primary Language Determination form, Attachment A; and, if primary language is not English, Attachments C & D.
  • EEO report from Interfolio (if recruitment was managed in Interfolio) and a copy of the faculty job posting on Faculty Careers; or an approved Posting Exemption request.
  • DRAFT of offer letter

Job postings, waivers, and the EEO report from Interfolio are not necessary for adjunct, visiting, and modified service faculty hires since these titles do not require recruitment.

Tenure-Track Positions (including Associate and full Professor)

  • PDF copy of electronic PAR signed by department chair (for departmentalized colleges) and dean
  • Candidate’s Curriculum Vitae
  • Teaching Assessment should address the following:
    • List of courses the candidate is likely to teach over the next three years and how teaching these courses enhance the programmatic priorities of your department and the college/school
    • Evidence of the candidate’s teaching effectiveness as indicated by student response to the candidate
    • The candidate’s commitment to teaching
    • Awards
    • Course evaluations from previously taught classes
    • Former student accomplishments
    • Any other evidence the department wishes to offer, such as the candidate’s statement of teaching goals if asked to provide this (focus on how the feedback was attained on teaching effectiveness)
  • At least three reference letters (originals or copies) from individuals with an understanding of the academic setting and standards of a research institution.
  • Primary Language Determination form, Attachment A; if English is not the Primary Language, include Attachments C & D as well.
  • Copy of any funding commitment for salaries, start-up, research support, renovation, etc. approved by the provost’s office and any related documentation (e.g., equipment lists, Facilities and Planning renovation estimates for which the provost’s office is to be responsible), if applicable.
  • Appointment Process Summary (if only one applicant brought in for interview, an explanation should be included as to why).
  • EEO report from Interfolio (if recruitment was managed in Interfolio) and a copy of the faculty job posting on Faculty Careers; or an approved Posting Exemption request.
  • DRAFT of offer letter

Tenured Positions

Visit this page for information about hiring tenured faculty or faculty at the equivalent rank of professor in a professional-track series (e.g., Professor of Practice or Distinguished Senior Lecturer). The page includes links for provisional offer letter templates.

Evaluating a PAR

Check for the following:

  • Check for required materials
  • Check for all required signatures throughout PAR packet
  • Check for correct academic dates (9-mo v 12-mo faculty)
  • Verify that proper job posting is being used
  • Read and evaluate letters of recommendation
  • Check for Degree Status
  • Check that education in PAR matches CV
  • Verify Funding Commitments against draft offer letter (this section is optional in the PAR)
  • Verify draft offer letter contains proper language for position and hiring status
  • Verify language form is consistent with birth and education information
  • Check for previous title inconsistencies (ex. Assistant Professor to Lecturer)
  • Check that rate corresponds to rank for other like hires in unit
  • If supersede, evaluate that necessary changes were made and approved
  • Check that Appointment Process Summary is filled out correctly
  • Check that draft offer letter rate, rank, period, percent-time correspond to PAR
  • If joint appointment, verify that rate and rank match primary unit
  • Check that degree contingencies are valid against CV