Criteria for Annual Faculty Hiring Plans

Faculty are critical to the success of the University of New Mexico (UNM) in creating new knowledge and cultural works that enrich our state and crafting the learning environments that ensure learning for our students. Identifying the new high-quality faculty who will enrich our university and ensure a diverse, inclusive, and vibrant community that is aligned with UNM’s strategic needs is critical to our immediate and long-term impact. 

The UNM Board of Regents recently approved the FY24 budget, which includes no increase in tuition rates and relatively little flexible new funding for academic affairs. We anticipate being able to strategically replace some faculty departures in key areas, but new hires will be severely limited in number and directed largely towards previously identified key areas and contractual obligations.  We will be able to re-evaluate our financial situation in the fall, so it is still important to consider what new strategic and exceptionally well justified faculty lines your unit might need, in case we can identify additional funding for new hires. Any proposed hires, either proposed replacements or new, should be aligned with the multiyear plans your unit has been submitting every fall.

All faculty searches must be part of a strategic school, college, or branch hiring plan approved by Academic Affairs. This memo outlines the information needed to request such approvals. 

Deans seeking approval to conduct faculty searches for appointments starting AY 2024-25 will submit a strategic hiring plan, via email, to the Senior Vice Provost (brodrig@unm.edu) no later than June 9, 2023.  

[Note hiring plan submissions will no longer be submitted via Smartsheet. Thank you to the School of Engineering, College of Education and Human Sciences, and UNM-Taos who have graciously accepted our invitation to pilot a new app for submitting FY24 faculty hiring requests. The new app will be available system-wide for FY25 hiring requests.]

In most cases, absent any concerns, approval to launch searches will be issued by July 14, 2023. Amendments to the school/college/branch faculty hiring plan also require approval from Academic Affairs and quarterly revisions to the hiring plan are welcome, if needed. 

Faculty searches approved in this strategic process must be competitive. Approvals for all faculty searches in continuing appointments (e.g., tenure-track, lecturer) will be prioritized using the following factors, which must be addressed in the hiring plan: 

Justification for each proposed position based on the following elements:

• enhancement of critical UNM research, creative works, and scholarly directions, in alignment with UNM 2040 goals;
• articulation of need based on academic mission and in response to a unit’s academic program review;
• advancement of the unit’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals;
• description of how faculty input informed the prioritization of faculty hiring needs;
• alignment with the multi-year plans submitted fall 2022;
• improved undergraduate and graduate student outcomes;
• description of the unit’s student enrollment (SCH) and teaching efforts (SCH per teaching efforts (TTF or lecturer FTE);
• growth and/or maintenance of areas of demonstrated prospective/future undergraduate and graduate student interest and state needs.

Description of the sources of recurring funds that will support the faculty hires requested.

• For each position, specify the proposed appointment and rank; salary requested; anticipated start-up funds; and the corresponding CIP code.
  • Identify whether a request has been submitted to the VPR for assistance with the anticipated start-up funds.
  • Indicate whether the faculty position is:
  • a new request (including replacement) for FY24, or
  • an FY23 approved search not successfully completed during the AY 2022-23. Note: while unsuccessful searches are often reauthorized, approval is required for continuing searches.

• If new funding is required from Academic Affairs, indicate this as a proposed source. Our ability to honor such requests will be limited, and prior contractual commitments will be prioritized over other new requests.

Before launching an approved faculty search, faculty search committee chairs and department chairs will be required, within the last 3 years, to have completed online diversity training, sponsored by the Division for Equity and Inclusion, and the faculty search workshops presented by ADVANCE@UNM and Academic Affairs. 

 

June Offering:
Part I - TBD
Part II - TBD

Or

August Offering:
Part I - TBD
Part II - TBD