Recruitment Process

Each summer, the schools and colleges must seek approval from the provost for all tenured and tenure-track faculty searches to take place in their school or college during the following academic year. For more information on this process, please contact the dean’s office at the respective school/college/institute.

After the provost has approved the search, a Faculty Position Recruiting Authorization Form, approved by the academic unit chair and dean, will be submitted by the school/college/institute dean's faculty liaison to the Office of Faculty Affairs for final approval. Any revision to the information (e.g., change in title or salary) requires that a new form be submitted. 

If the faculty position is a joint appointment with another academic unit, only one Faculty Position Recruiting Authorization Form should be completed, but each dean or chair must sign the form. The form needs to include the percentages of the budget that each academic unit will contribute to fund the position. 

Next, the dean’s faculty liaison will work with Human Resources to advertise the position widely to ensure a strong and diverse pool. For more information on this process, please visit the Human Resources webpage on Faculty Hiring. Please be aware of the additional reference check process when hiring tenured faculty.

Once a candidate has been selected for a position, the dean's faculty liaison, in consultation with the academic unit, will prepare the appropriate offer letter in draft form. The liaison will email the draft letter of offer to the Office of Faculty Affairs at CUOffer@colorado.edu for review, corrections, changes, and approval. The draft letter should be resubmitted if additional language or terms are inserted or materially altered after the review is underway. As part of the review process, the Office of Faculty Affairs may contact the dean's faculty liaison with questions or comments about the letter of offer. 
 
Once the draft offer letter has been approved by the Office of Faculty Affairs, the dean's faculty liaison will submit the signed letter of offer and State of Colorado Pledge to the candidate for review and signature.  

Once the candidate has indicated acceptance of the offer by signing the offer letter, the dean's faculty liaison will prepare and submit the final offer letter package to the Office of Faculty Affairs at the following email address: OFADocuCheck@colorado.edu. The package should include the following: 

Once the Office of Faculty Affairs receives the above package, a personnel file for the new faculty member will be established in the Office of Faculty Affairs. In instances where a candidate may be offered tenure with the appointment, a review for tenure must be completed prior to the candidate’s start date at the university. Please click here for an explanation of the Appointments (Hires) with Tenure process

All tenured and tenure-track faculty appointments are reported on the provost’s delegation report for approval. Completed offer letters received in the Office of Faculty Affairs by the 21st of the month will be included on that month’s delegation report. Appointments (hires) with tenure require additional processing, including review and approval by the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Committee (VCAC) as well as final approval by the Board of Regents. Campus liaisons are notified by the Office of Faculty Affairs following approval by the provost and/or the Board of Regents.