PAR: PTF and NTT Prior Approval Requests

Purpose:

To provide an overview and details regarding policies, procedures, and guidelines for attaining approval to extend a formal offer of employment to a professional track or temporary, non-tenured faculty member.

Submission Deadlines:

Fall (8/16) Start Dates: June 30

Spring (1/1) Start Dates: October 30

Overview:

PARs for professional track and temporary faculty follow much the same process as tenured and tenure-track hires, however they have fewer requirements. Key items that are not required in most typical PTF/Temporary PARs:

• Assessment of teaching competence
• Any type of financial commitments/other commitments (and therefore approval and documentation of these commitments), beyond the 9-month academic rate (and therefore, also, no requirement/need to enter anything in the COLA Offers database)
• Appointment process summary

Relevant Definitions:

PAR: Prior Approval Request; includes a *DEFINE (UT Mainframe) doc and a PDF packet; final approval required before formally extending an employment offer to a faculty candidate

PTF: Professional Track Faculty; a non-tenured faculty member expected to have a continuous, ongoing appointment of at least 50% FTE annually, though contract lengths may vary.

            Examples of PTF titles: Assistant Professor of Practice, Associate Professor of Instruction, Research Professor

NTT: Temporary, Non-Tenured Faculty; for purposes of this article, a non-tenured or tenure-track faculty member not necessarily expected to have a continuous, ongoing appointment with the university, or to consistently be appointed at least 50% FTE annually.

            Examples of NTT titles: Visiting Professor, ROTC-Assistant Professor, Lecturer

Caveat about titles: there is not currently a perfect alignment of faculty title series (a.k.a. job profile, or faculty rank) to non-tenured/tenure-track faculty category, but the college has been moving in that direction. Please see the 2021 COLA Professional-Track Faculty Titles Policy for more information.

Pool Posting: a generic posting in Interfolio that collects applications from individuals wanting to teach at UT for a given academic unit; enables units to hire temporary faculty (from the pool of applicants) when needed.

• Each academic unit in COLA creates a pool posting in Interfolio each academic year (AY).
• The posting title should be named: "<Unit Name> – 20YY-YY Non-Tenure Track Faculty Pool"
  • ex. Rhetoric and Writing - 2023-24 Non-Tenure Track Faculty Pool
• This posting serves as the default job posting for temporary non-tenure-track applicants (and hires) for that year.
• Academic units planning to recruit for a specialized, unique, and/or longer-term position would create and post an ad on Interfolio separate from the unit's pool posting.
  • In rare and unusual circumstances, with Dean approval, a posting waiver can be submitted to hire PTF.

Process:

(for general details, such as how to complete a *DEFINE PAR, please see also PAR Handbook,  TTT PAR page)

1. Determine whether approval for an Instructional Overload (IOF) will be required. If so, follow the IOF wiki instructions.
2. Create a faculty job requisition in Workday (see WIG for details)
3. Assemble the items listed in the Provost’s PAR Checklist for non-tenured positions.
   1. Consult COLA guidance on percent time appointments to determine the correct FTE percentage for the hire
   2. Letters should be from faculty with terminal degrees who are capable of speaking to the applicant’s teaching abilities; at least one letter should be from outside the university;
      1. NOTE: Department Chairs/Center Directors may not provide a letter, as they constitute the hiring manager
   3. Appointments that did not require application to a job posting, require a completed Applicant Screening Questionnaire. Please consult the Provost's PAR handbook for examples of PTF/NTT hires that do not require postings.
   4. Consult our PTF/NTT PAR checklist for detailed instructions and additional assistance.
4. Create and complete a PAR in DEFINE.
5. Upon completion of data entry and document compilation, APP the *DEFINE PAR (routing it forward for review and approval), and upload PAR PDF packet and Word version of draft offer letter to the COLA PAR Submissions Portal.

Related policies:

COLA Faculty Policies 

Other Related Links:

Provost PAR Handbook

Provost Faculty Resources page (includes links to PAR Handbook, posting waiver form, and additional resources)

COLA PTF/NTT PAR checklist

VIRTEL (UT Mainframe; location of *DEFINE)