The UCF Faculty Recruitment Program (FRP) is designed to make hiring academic partners and candidates from underrepresented groups easier by using a search exemption. All other standard hiring procedures at UCF apply. The FRP can be used in three types of hiring situations, making it a non-traditional search process. Academic Affairs can contribute to funding these hires, however, a department may still choose to hire through this program and not use Academic Affairs funding.
Important information:
- The FRP is managed by Faculty Excellence.
- If the candidate is in any current/open searches at UCF, they cannot be considered for hire through this program.
- If the selected candidate leaves UCF, then the line and funding return to Academic Affairs for redistribution.
- Funding is limited. Departments cannot confirm an offer of one of these lines until a written, final approval is received from Faculty Excellence.
For the Faculty Recruitment Program, two types lines have been allocated:
- Inclusive Excellence
- Partner-allocated Opportunities
- both tenured/tenure track
- non-tenure earning will be considered on a case-by-case basis (specifically all ranks of instructors and lecturers as well as multi-year non-tenure earning assistant/associate/professors)
What if I don’t need to use Academic Affairs Funding?
For example, a college may have an inclusive excellence candidate and have internal funds for which to support it, but a position appropriate for their candidate is not open in their college. The college can request the candidate to apply through the inclusive excellence position and fund the candidate internally. The process for the partner program can be applied similarly.
How to Hire: Inclusive Scholar
One of UCF’s goals is to be more inclusive and foster a diverse community of faculty,staff, and students. Currently there is a gap between the diversity of scholars with doctoral degrees and the diversity of our tenure‐track/tenured faculty. UCF will be better positioned to realize the varied academic benefits of a diverse tenure‐track/tenured faculty by making additional resources available for important hiring opportunities.
This initiative is focused on Inclusive Excellence, therefore these hires should strengthen UCF’s faculty through their scholarship.
Example: A UCF faculty member is impressed with a scholar at a conference. Upon returning to UCF, the faculty member informs their Chair and the Chair verifies with Faculty Excellence that their department is eligible for this initiative. Once the Chair receives confirmation of eligibility, the faculty member can then initiate the process to invite the scholar to UCF to give a talk. The faculty and student interactions with this guest speaker/scholar while they are on campus are outstanding. The chair/director discusses with the guest scholar the potential of joining UCF’s faculty (a search is not necessary because the department did not have a planned search in this area of focus). The chair/director discusses the potential hire of the tenure track/tenured guest scholar with their dean/VP. If the dean/VP supports the hire of this guest scholar, then the college initiates the application. Please note, as indicated on the form, that tenure with hire must be attached to the form should the candidate be coming in as tenured. Also as indicated on the form, candidates who are tenure track and who are bringing in years of service must have a tenure with credit form attached.
Note: This is just one example of how a candidate may come to be considered for the inclusive excellence program. At minimum, the following are expected prior to submission of an inclusive excellence application:
- Please contact Faculty Excellence prior to inviting anyone to campus in order to confirm department eligibility.
- The chair/school director has made contact with the candidate, has discussed the potential of joining UCF, and the candidate has reacted positively to that consideration
- The faculty in the department have been notified of the possibility, have had the chance to review the candidate’s CV, and have reacted positively to that consideration
- The chair/director has discussed the potential hire with their dean/VP, who support the hire
- The candidate is not in another active UCF search (please note that the only exception to this rule is the situation where a department interviews multiple underrepresented candidates, hires one underrepresented candidate, and the second candidate in the same search pool is also underrepresented; in that situation, the second underrepresented candidate may be considered in the Inclusive Excellence program)
- Once the Inclusive Excellence form is completed in its entirety, the completed form and required materials are submitted to Faculty Excellence.
- Applications for Inclusive Excellence hires are evaluated on a rolling basis by the Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence, at least one Pegasus Professor, and the Office of Institutional Equity.
Inclusive Excellence Allocation and Funding
In the 2023-24 academic year hiring cycle, there are Inclusive Excellence faculty lines allocated from Academic Affairs. These positions are expected to begin employment in fall 2023.
Academic Affairs will pay 100% of the faculty salary (up to $100,000) and benefits for the first three years and then 50% of the recurring salary (up to $50,000) and benefits in years four and beyond. Requests for a portion of any start‐up funding will be considered, but are not guaranteed.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 and beyond | |
| Academic Affairs | 100% (up to $100,000) | 100% (up to $100,000) | 100% (up to $100,000) | 50% (up to $50,000) |
| Department | 0% | 0% | 0% | 50% (or balance of FTE, whichever is more) |
How to Hire: Academic Partner Program
The partner program can only be considered an option when the primary candidate is being considered for a tenure track or tenured position.
Partner Program Allocation and Funding
In the 2023-24 academic year hiring cycle, there are limited Partner Program faculty lines available.
Step 1: Search committee chairs should send an email to Faculty Excellence with the names and email addresses of all interviewees who are invited for a campus visit. Please note that this step is very important.
Step 2: Faculty Excellence will send the following email to the on-campus interviewees:
“If you have a partner (meaning spouse, significant other, or domestic partner) interested in a faculty position at UCF, please have them apply to search X or search Y if they would like to be considered for a tenure‐track/tenured position, an instructor/lecturer, or a non-tenure earning multi-year assistant/associate/professor position. Neither the search committee nor the hiring official will be notified of your request unless you are the selected candidate.
Please note this program is not a guarantee of employment.
Step 3: When the search committee makes the recommendation for hire, the Department Chair/Director should contact Faculty Excellence to determine if their candidate-of-choice has a partner that has applied through the program, and this should be done prior to extending an offer to the candidate-of-choice.
Step 4: Should the candidate-of-choice have a partner who has applied to the partner program, the Department Chair/Director can begin the process of negotiating with the partner’s potential Department Chair/Director to determine moving forward with the application. The two departments will work together to complete the respective form. On this form, Department A will summarize the value and impact of the primary candidate. Department B will evaluate the partner credentials and summarize the strengths/weaknesses of the partner. The Deans of the colleges for the primary candidate and partner must also agree and sign the form. Should other units be involved in sharing the financial liability, appropriate signatures must be obtained. Please note, as indicated on the form, that tenure with hire must be attached to the form should the candidate be coming in as tenured. Also as indicated on the form, candidates who are tenure track and who are bringing in years of service must have a tenure with credit form attached.
Step 5: Once the Department Chairs/Directors for the primary and partner candidates have reached agreement and the form is completed in its entirety, the completed form and requisite materials are submitted to Faculty Excellence. Assuming that there is agreement between the departments in consideration, this can then be used as a negotiating tool with the candidate-of-choice (i.e., ‘You are our candidate-of-choice, we know you have a partner interested in a faculty position at UCF, and we are moving the application forward to seek a position for your partner.’).
Please note: Faculty Excellence will manage partner programs for both tenure-track/tenured and non-tenure earning faculty with the following parameters. Both options require that the home department for the partner (Department B) support the hire into their department. Although the recommended allocation of funding outside of Academic Affairs is 25% from the primary candidate’s department and 25% from the partner’s department, other allocations are acceptable as long as 50% of the partner’s salary is funded from outside Academic Affairs.
Applications for partner program hires will be evaluated by the Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence, and at least one Pegasus Professor. Decisions will be made on a rolling basis.
Tenure‐Track/Tenured Partner Faculty
Recurring tenure track/tenured (TT/T) opportunities are allocated for partner hires that are tenured or tenure track. If a TT/T partner is supported by Academic Affairs, Academic Affairs will pay, in perpetuity, 50% of the faculty recurring salary or up to $50,000, whichever is less, plus benefits, as long as the faculty member becomes tenured and stays with UCF. Requests for assistance with a portion of the start‐up will be considered but are not guaranteed. These positions are expected to begin employment in fall 2023
For example: Department A is recruiting for a TT/T faculty line and selects candidate X. Candidate X’s partner would like to be considered for a TT/T faculty position in Department B. Department B evaluates the candidate’s partner Y and supports the hire.
Department A and Department B are welcome to consider a different funding split as long as 50% is covered in all years. Should Department A and B be the same department, that Department will cover 50% in all years.
The UCF Faculty Recruitment Program Tenure-Track/Tenured Partner form should be completed for these lines, and partners must apply to the assistant/associate/professor faculty recruitment program search.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 and beyond | |
| Academic Affairs | 50% (up to $50,000) | 50% (up to $50,000) | 50% (up to $50,000) | 50% (up to $50,000) |
| Department A (primary candidate) | 25% | 25% | 25% | 0% |
| Department B (partner candidate) | 25% | 25% | 25% | 50% (or balance of FTE, whichever is more) |
Non-Tenure Earning Partner Faculty
Non-tenure earning lines (specifically all ranks of instructors and lecturers as well as multi-year non-tenure earning assistant/associate/professors) are allocated for partner hires that are non-tenure earning. Non-tenure earning partner positions considered for the program include:
- all ranks of instructors and lecturers; and
- non-tenure earning multi-year assistant/associate/professors.
Other non-tenure earning positions—such as clinical and researcher—are not eligible to be considered for program funding.
If a UCF Faculty Recruitment Program non-tenure earning partner is supported by Academic Affairs, Academic Affairs will pay 50% of the faculty salary or up to $50,000, whichever is less, plus benefits, in years 1-3. Departments A and B will each paying 25% of the salary in years 1-3. Provided the partner hire has at least Above Satisfactory annual evaluations in years 1‐3, Department B agrees to fully support the non-tenure earning faculty in years 4‐6. It is expected after six years that Department B will have the option to continue to fully support this position. These positions are expected to begin employment in fall 2023.
Department A and Department B are welcome to consider a different funding split as long as 50% is covered in years 1-3 and 100% in years 4 and beyond. Should Department A and B be the same department, that Department will cover 50% in years 1-3 and 100% in years 4 and beyond.
The Non-Tenure Earning Partner form should be completed for these lines. Partners must apply to the assistant/associate/professor search to be considered for multi-year non-tenure earning positions and must apply to the instructor/lecturer faculty recruitment program search to be considered for an instructor or lecturer position.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 -6 | Year 7+ | |
| Academic Affairs | 50% (up to $50,000) | 50% (up to $50,000) | 50% (up to $50,000) | 0% | 0% |
| Department A (primary candidate) | 25% | 25% | 25% | 0% | 0% |
| Department B (partner candidate) | 25% | 25% | 25% | 100% | 100% |