Faculty Hiring
The Provost’s Academic Personnel team administers tenure-track faculty hiring; below, please find a number of resources to help you in this process. For all other hiring needs, please contact the University’s Department of Human Resources.
The Faculty Search Activities Guide serves as a single, comprehensive resource for search committees, academic administrators, and college staff involved in tenure-track searches. This guide outlines how the search process proceeds, provides a description of the respective responsibilities of those involved, and serves as a resource for conducting a successful search.
Partner Employment Program (PEP)
We recognize the increasing importance of accommodating dual career families and the considerable benefit of such a program in attracting and retaining faculty. When possible, the university is committed to an effort to facilitate such arrangements and has therefore adopted the Partner Employment Program.
To learn more about PEP, please consult Appendix K in the Faculty Search Activities Guide.
Pathways Program
UMass Amherst offers two ways to increase the ranks of tenure-system faculty who will contribute to the campus goals of greater equity and inclusion. Faculty members can now be hired as part of the Tenure-Track Pathway based on their life experiences and scholarship, as well as their mentoring, teaching and outreach activities.
To learn more about pathways, please consult Appendix J in the Faculty Search Activities Guide.
Transition and Moving Costs Available for New Faculty and Librarians
At the discretion of the hiring department in consultation with the Dean’s office, departments may offer a new employee a reasonable transition allowance to cover their personal moving, relocation and employment transition costs if the employing department considers the payment necessary to employ a highly qualified and/or highly recruited individual. Schools and Colleges should deploy transition allowances uniformly to ensure equity in access.
If a transition allowance is paid, it should be enumerated in the faculty/librarian’s offer letter and the allowance will be taxable to the employee and paid via payroll. Transition allowances must be funded out of the budgeted start-up for the appointment. The University is unable to reimburse employees for moving expenses or paying commercial movers directly. Please see the President Office guidelines for more information.
Tenure Pre-Hire Appointments
Departments, in consultation with their respective Dean’s office, may provide an early start for new tenure-system faculty on academic year appointments so that they can set up their lab, studio and/or office spaces, consult with colleagues, prepare their courses, and engage in other work-related activities prior to the start of the academic year.
These “pre-hire” appointments may be for one or two months prior to the new employee’s tenure-track appointment start date, but must be at the individual’s academic year title, rank and salary rate. The percentage of employment may, however, be reduced to reflect the amount of effort expected. The individual then transitions to their full-time academic year appointment on September 1st (or January start date for spring hires) with the associated tenure-system title, starting salary, and rank. The pre-hire appointment does not count toward the faculty member’s tenure clock.
UMass Amherst faculty have access to an outstanding array of resources to support professional development. We are a community of highly-motivated, cutting-edge scholars who value diversity and equity and strive for inclusive excellence in our classrooms, research labs, and beyond.
STRIDE (Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Improve Diversity and Excellence) workshops are intended for faculty members with an important role in faculty recruitment efforts.
