The Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs has released the 2017-18 Institutional Hiring Plan, which will guide faculty hiring in the coming academic year. Provost Scott Coltrane has authorized 65 tenure-track faculty searches across the schools and colleges, as part of the university’s goal to grow the number of tenure-related faculty.

The hiring plan was developed based on proposals from faculty and academic leadership. Deans worked with their faculty to generate the proposals, considering the needs of their units and the goals of the UO.

Coltrane asked the deans to consider several criteria, including enhancing academic quality; promoting interdisciplinary excellence; supporting diversity, equity and inclusion; increasing external support; and growing graduate education. He also consulted with the Deans’ Council and Provost’s Faculty Hiring Advisory Committee.

Coltrane said the plan reflects not only the priorities of the president and the provost but also each dean’s academic vision and various prospects for collaboration and synergy among schools and colleges.

“This is a major shift in process and culture for the University of Oregon, creating a new, holistic focus on the university’s most strategic and important goals within a comprehensive vision of UO’s broad research and teaching mission,” Coltrane said.

The plan is posted on the Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs website. Once the searches are posted, the Institutional Hiring Plan will be updated with links to individual job ads.

Coltrane said the hiring plan builds on the momentum of faculty hiring from the current year. The university initiated 64 planned tenure-track searches and 26 partner or supplemental offers in 2016-17.

As of mid-June, approximately 55 candidates had accepted offers and three more are considering offers. Nearly half of those recruitments will increase the diversity of faculty in their particular disciplines. The provost’s office will present a more detailed update on faculty hiring and recruitment of underrepresented faculty in the fall.

The institutional hiring plan is designed to work in tandem with the university’s efforts to realign academic budgets and balance tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty in support of teaching and research.