Making an Offer

i. Before Making an Offer

Please consult with the Dean of the Faculty’s office before making any verbal or written offers for faculty employment.  All tenure-track offers have to be approved by the CAP, and all other offers should be approved by the dean or an associate dean.

Any need for additional office space or laboratory space for the position you are hiring into should be considered before making an offer. Please contact the Provost’s Office as early as possible to discuss possible arrangements.

In addition, all chairs whose candidates are likely to need start-up expenses should send an estimate of start-up costs to John Gerry, Associate Dean, and Chris Winters, Associate Provost, as soon as the position has been advertised. When a specific finalist is chosen, the chair should send a detailed list of start-up needs to John and Chris for final approval.

ii. Extending the Offer

It is generally good practice to call finalists by phone and extend a verbal offer prior to sending an official letter.  In this way the finalist can ask questions and seek clarity on the job description or matters of compensation. A script for these calls is available by using an offer letter as an outline. Templates for offer letters are available from the Dean of the Faculty’s office.  Final salary numbers are also determined by the Dean’s office.

In addition to making the salary offer and expressing enthusiasm, it is advisable to remind finalists that the offer is contingent on the completion of a background check.  The college uses a third-party vendor (HireRight) to verify educational records, employment history, and social security numbers, and also to conduct a criminal records search. Finalists will be sent an email asking them to complete and sign a release authorizing HireRight to conduct the background check. If they have questions about the process, details are available online (here).

Following the verbal offer, a written offer letter has to be sent.  This is an official document — a contract for employment. So is important that these letters contain all the right information.  Templates are provided by the Dean’s office, to be modified by the department or program chair to include whatever needs to be said about such matters as the courses to be taught, the teaching schedule, book orders, or other academic business.

In all cases, a final draft of the offer letter should be sent to John Gerry, Associate Dean of the Faculty for review and approval before it is sent to the candidate. Once approved, it can be sent by PDF or hard copy to the finalist.

A copy of the offer letter and the finalist’s written response should be sent to the Dean of the Faculty office immediately. Only upon our receipt of both the offer letter and the acceptance can we move forward with onboarding the new faculty member as an employee of the college.

Please do not give the name of the faculty member to the Registrar until copies of the offer and acceptance letters have been submitted to the Dean of the Faculty.