A&S Administrative Gateway: New appointments

New faculty appointments fall into three categories: (A) short-term temporary appointments, (B) non-short-term temporary appointments, and (C) permanent appointments.

(A) New short-term temporary appointment

A "short-term" appointment is defined as any of the following titles:

Research Associate

Research Associate Trainee

Senior Fellow

Senior Fellow Trainee

Visiting Scientist

Lecturer Part-Time for two quarters or less

Artist in Residence for two quarters or less

Teaching Associate for two quarters or less

Acting Instructor for two quarters or less

Visiting Lecturer for two quarters or less

A faculty vote is not required for actions involving short-term appointments, provided that the department has voted to delegate to the chair the authority to make short-term appointments without a full faculty vote.

A unit should follow this procedure for a new short-term appointment:

(1) The department submits a request for a short-term appointment by sending a form or chair's letter to the Dean's Office. You may use the form titled "Short-Term Faculty Appointment or Reappointment" or make your own form or send a chair's letter, as long as all of the required information and chair's signature are included.

(2) The Dean's Office returns the form (or letter) to the department with an approval signature.

(3) The department sends the appointment packet to Academic Human Resources. The packet should include the original approval form/letter and other required documents; see documentation for New temporary appointment--short-term.

(4) The department may enter the appointment on-line using OPUS. If the appointment packet does not arrive in Academic Human Resources by the payroll deadline, the appointment will be removed from the system.

(B) New non-short-term temporary appointment

To make a new temporary appointment that does not qualify as "short-term" (see above), the department should follow these procedures:

(1) A faculty vote is required. The department submits to the Dean's Office a complete appointment packet; see documentation for New temporary appointment--non-short-term.

(2) The Dean's Office reviews the recommendation, adds an approval signature, and forwards it to Academic Human Resources.

(3) The Dean's Office notifies the department by e-mail that the appointment has been approved and forwarded.

(4) After receiving the e-mail approval, the department may enter the appointment on-line. A copy of the e-mail approval should be pasted into the "notes" section of OPUS.

(C) New permanent appointment

For legal and fiscal management reasons, it is important to follow this sequence in the search for and appointment of new faculty for permanent positions.

[This information can be found in expanded form in a document titled "How to Conduct a Search and Hire a New Permanent Faculty Member." Note—this document is not on the Web site at present.]

(1) Submit "Approve search request" form to the Dean's Office.

(2) After the search has been approved, submit the proposed advertisement via e-mail to your Divisional Dean's Assistant. The advertisement must have prior approval from Academic Human Resources. Specific statements must be contained in the advertisement and in the internal posting to permit subsequent employment of a non-U.S. citizen. (See Generic advertisement for a faculty position.)

(3) Follow affirmative action procedures through advertising, mailing the affirmative action request forms, etc. The University has a program to help recruit minority faculty members. The College will support travel costs for minority or women candidates where there is under-representation on the faculty (see Travel).

(4) If the position will or may have unsupervised access to children under sixteen, developmentally disabled adults, or vulnerable adults, follow provisions of the Washington State Child and Adult Abuse Information Law by ensuring that applicants fill out the appropriate forms.

(5) Post the new position recruitment announcement, with the appropriate Department of Labor language, in the vicinity of the hiring department. This requirement permits the hiring of a non-U.S. citizen and must be done for all searches.

(6) Discuss with the Divisional Dean before interview visits are arranged. The department is encouraged to arrange for the Divisional Dean to meet with candidates who visit the campus. Limited travel support may be available from the Dean's Office for faculty candidate visits (see Travel); otherwise all costs associated with a search are the responsibility of the unit.

(7) Send to the Divisional Dean a report of the search/selection procedures, the faculty vote, and the files of the proposed candidate and the second choice.

(8) Obtain approval from the Divisional Dean to extend an offer and submit a draft of the offer letter. See the Administrative Index for six different samples of an offer letter, depending upon the appointment title (look under "Offer letter-[title]” and “Offer letter enclosure"). If an offer letter is revised, it must be submitted again for approval. In order to gain approval, the file must demonstrate that all appropriate procedures have been followed, that the candidate's record meets the College's high expectations for faculty members, and that the candidate's teaching and research interests reflect the agreed-upon strategic priorities of the department and the qualifications listed in the advertisements.

(9) If the new appointment is at or above the level of Associate Professor (including research, affiliate, and clinical appointments), submit the candidate's documentation for review and approval by the College Council. This should be done before an offer is made, if possible. See College Council review of a new appointment for a list of required documentation, which should be sent to Margie Ramsdell in the Dean's Office.

(10) Send the approved offer letter to the candidate. Federal law requires all employers to verify and document the citizenship and employment eligibility of each new employee (using form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification), and the employing unit is responsible for advising applicants of this requirement. See Appointments of non-U.S. citizens for specific requirements in this area. When the offer letter is sent to the candidate, send a copy immediately to Carol Rush in the Dean's Office.

(11) When an offer is accepted, send the form "Final Terms of New Employment Offer" (with a copy of the final offer letter and a copy of the candidate's acceptance letter) to Carol Rush immediately.

(12) Send to the candidate the moving expense memo and the moving expense packet containing Form A33, Request for Moving Expenses.

(13) Submit the new appointment recommendation to Sue Barnhart in the Dean's Office as soon as possible after the offer is accepted. For the specific items to include in the recommendation, see documentation for New permanent appointment. The Dean's Office will review and approve the recommendation and forward it to Academic Human Resources. Requests for moving expenses and visa requests cannot be processed until the appointment documentation has been received by Academic Human Resources. Payroll documents may be sent later, when the faculty member has arrived.

(14) Enter the appointment on-line after receiving e-mail notification of approval from Academic Human Resources. Paste a copy of the e-mail approval into the "notes" section of the OPUS screen.

(15) Retain the files of all applicants for a faculty position for a minimum of three years. These may, if desired, be sent to the Records Center for storage.

Generic advertisement for a faculty position. After a search is approved by the Dean, the proposed advertisement should be sent for approval to Academic Human Resources. After their review, the approved advertisement should be sent via e-mail to your Divisional Dean's Assistant.

The following advertisement is intended only as a model. However, it contains important language which should be followed closely to ensure that the actual advertisement (1) is consistent with University equal opportunity and affirmative action policies, (2) specifies teaching and research duties to satisfy labor certification requirements should the successful candidate be a non-U.S. citizen, and (3) allows consideration of applications received after the deadline date. Federal law requires the specific "affirmative action, equal opportunity" reference; University guidelines require the diversity statement. Any experience requirement stated in the advertisement must be quantified in terms of years and months. An offer cannot be made at a rank higher or lower than that advertised.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, Department of ______, University of Washington. A tenure-track appointment is intended in the area of [specialization]. Applicants should have the Ph.D. degree by the start of appointment and will be expected to participate in undergraduate and graduate teaching and independent research. Applications, including a curriculum vitae, statement of research and teaching interests, and three letters of recommendation, should be sent to [name, address]. Priority will be given to applications received before [date]. The University of Washington is building a culturally diverse faculty and strongly encourages applications from women and minority candidates. The University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

Outside chair/director searches. The Dean's Office will assist a department when the search for a new chair or director is authorized to include candidates from outside the UW. With permission, costs for advertisements, telephone calls, postage, etc. may be prepared by or billed to the Dean's Office. Travel requests to bring prospective candidates here for interviews should be prepared by the Dean's Office. In order to be reimbursed for expenses incurred during an interview visit, the candidate must fill out a travel expense voucher in the Dean's Office sometime during the visit.

The Dean's Office will reimburse the chair of the search committee for the entertainment expenses of one dinner with the candidate and the committee members. Submit a receipt, candidate's name, date, etc. for this reimbursement. Costs of departmental entertaining, such as lunches or receptions with faculty, should be paid from the unit's discretionary funds or by the departmental faculty members themselves.

All materials relevant to the search, including all applicant files, should be retained and turned over to the Dean's Office at the conclusion of the search.

Affirmative action policies. Each unit should continually examine its hiring procedures to assure that, for every vacancy, sufficient proactive steps are taken to recruit women and under-represented minorities. For example, the search committee should specifically contact colleagues in areas where particular minority groups are concentrated in the population. When minority candidates visit, arrangements should be made for them to consult with present faculty members from their ethnic group. The Divisional Dean and Assistant Provost Helen Remick can provide advice and support for implementing these and other proactive recruiting measures.

The College also provides travel assistance for women and minority candidates where there is an identified under-representation on the faculty; see Interview expenses.

Appointments of non-U.S. citizens. When hiring an individual who is not a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, U.S. immigration laws require the employer to complete the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 before the individual is placed on the payroll. Failure to comply could subject the University to heavy civil and criminal penalties.

Form I-9 can only be completed after the individual has acquired the appropriate visa status and/or written authorization to begin employment. The most common visa categories used by the University for employment purposes are the H-1B (Temporary Worker) and the J-1 (Exchange Visitor).

Specific visa types are required for some appointments. The J-1 visa must be used for Visiting Lecturer one-year appointments and for visiting/temporary appointments of two quarters or less. The H-1 visa must be used for one-year appointments of Visiting Assistant Professors and higher ranks.

The University cannot pay any non-immigrant until the appropriate visa status or authorization is actually acquired. No person without an approved valid work visa is allowed to teach or do research at the University until all visa actions are completed, the Form I-9 filed, and the appointment approved by the Dean's Office and by Academic Human Resources. An appointment may not be extended past the end date specified on the original approved visa petition unless an extension has been requested and approved.

Departments should advise appointees to bring sufficient funds to cover expenses for several weeks, since it will take some time for the Payroll Office to issue the first salary payment. University regulations prohibit prepayment to individuals prior to their arrival for service.

Contact the UW International Office for more information on the H-1B visa and the J-1 visa.

Permanent residence. When a non-U.S. citizen is offered a full-time, professorial rank position, the employing department should contact the Permanent Residence Coordinator, who will direct the process of applying for employment certification and for permanent residence. Immigration laws allow an alien to apply for an H-1B temporary visa and for permanent residence simultaneously; it is not necessary to offer or appoint the candidate to an acting or visiting position (unless for other reasons). At the time of employment, the candidate must have either (1) an H-1B visa, obtained by the department through the International Office even though processing for permanent residence has started, or (2) approval of permanent residence status.