TO:           President Wyatt, Vice-Chancellors, Campus Unit Heads, Deans, Department Chairs, Program Chairs/Directors, and Center Directors

FROM:       Glen Jones

DATE:                September 24, 2003

RE:           Faculty Strategic Hiring Initiative, 2003-2004
            
I am pleased to announce the establishment of a Strategic Hiring Fund of $40,000 that the Office of Diversity will use to help fund the initial year of certain high-priority faculty and staff hires. The funding will be available to provide assistance for recruitment and retention in the following categories:

Tenured or Tenure-Track Minority Faculty and Non-classified Staff Positions:

Funding is available for recruitment or retention of targeted minorities defined as Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, Alaskan Native, African American, Asian and Pacific Islander (in areas where they are underrepresented). The amount of funding will be determined on a case-by case basis, but generally will not exceed $4,000.

 Tenured or Tenure-Track Women Faculty and Women Administrators:

Funding is available for the recruitment and retention of women in areas where they are under-represented. Priority will be given to recruitment or retention of women faculty in the sciences and engineering.   The amount of funding will be determined on a case-by-case basis and generally will not exceed $4,000.

Dual-Career Couples:

Funding is available to recruit or retain a tenure track faculty member or staff member by hiring the spouse into a faculty or staff position. Priority will be given to dual-career hires that will contribute to faculty diversity; i.e., where hiring the partner will help in hiring or retaining a targeted minority or woman faculty member.  Again, the amount of funding will be determined on a case-by-case basis and generally will not exceed $4,000.

Funding Plan:

*      Allocations will be made on a rolling basis throughout the year.

*      Allocations will be made to increase hiring flexibility, to help provide competitive salary, or to enhance startup packages.

*      The amount of Strategic Hiring assistance will be determined on a case-by-case basis. The Office of Diversity’s funding will be available for no more than one year.   Thereafter, the amounts allocated from the Strategic Hiring Fund shall be considered permanent additions to the salary structure except in those instances where the contributions represent single year/one-time cash outlays.

*      Associated benefits will be included when salary funding is provided.

Method of Application:

The head of the unit responsible for the hire (Deans, Unit Heads, etc.) should send a funding request to me and a copy to the appropriate Vice-Chancellor.

The requesting memo should:

1.     Include the curriculum vitae of the candidate (or both candidates in the case of a dual-career couple hire);

2.     Identify the Strategic Hire category or categories (Minority, Dual-Career Couple, Women in Science and Engineering);

3.     State the reasons (related to both position and candidate) that the hire is especially strategic;

4.     State the terms requested (one-time allocation or permanent addition to the salary structure);

5.     Justify the terms requested (budgetary situation; plan for long-term funding);

6.     State the salary, title, and start date for the hire;

7.     List the names of the last three hires in this category and note whether campus or college funds were provided for those hires;  and

8.     Discuss any flexibility for funding the position internally.