Policy for filling faculty positions at the College of Agricultural Sciences

Updated July 18, 2025

1. Developing and requesting a position

Faculty positions are normally discussed during the monthly meetings between the Department Head with the Dean. This applies to faculty positions funded through external grants as well. In these cases, the PI should discuss this first with the Department Head, who will take it to the Dean. If the position is moved forward, a written proposal should be sent by the Head to the Senior Associate Dean. The following information must be provided as a request to fill the position:

• Position description, including TT or NTT track, academic rank, appointment function percentages, required qualifications, and weeks of service.
• Justification for position (normally 1-2 pages) as aligned with departmental strategic themes and
• Source of salary funds if other than college funds are used, with a discussion of co-funding situations if applicable.
• An estimate of startup costs and sources for funding utilizing the Startup Template

List available office or laboratory space and provide details if renovations will be required.

• For positions with teaching appointments only: Description of specific undergraduate and/or graduate courses to be assigned to the These courses must align with the % teaching appointment of the proposed position. Please consult the instructional workload guidelines as you develop this section.

The proposal is then discussed by the Deans. Upon approval, this part of the process will be further managed by the Senior Associate Dean. At this point, the Department Head is responsible for the following actions:

• Establishing a search Committee members' expertise and appointment structure is expected to reasonably align with the position in the proposal. Please review AC13 about the university guidelines on search committees.
• Developing an advertising plan, including the list of advertising Include the name of the contact person who will be working with Talent Acquisition to place the ad. Advertisements cannot be placed without prior approval from Talent Acquisition.
• Once the position request is approved by the Provost, you will be notified to complete the

College Request to Fill Position (RTF) form. The Hiring Manager will submit the above completed form to Lesley Maalouf lzm6@psu.edu (or Whitney Fisher wdd107@psu.edu in Lesley's absence) in Finance and Business Operations (FBO). Once the signed RTF is returned from the FBO, the Hiring Manager will then follow the directions outlined in Manager - How to Create a Job Requisition for a Full-Time Academic Hire. The Hiring Manager will be notified once the job requisition has been approved through all levels and the position has been announced.

2. Activities of the search committee and the selection mechanism for interviews

Our college requires that search committee members complete the CAS search committee training presentation. Members should also review the hiring and recruiting resources on the VPFA's website prior to beginning the process. After reviewing the training, individuals should notify the appropriate HR Consultant to update their records accordingly.

The search committee will review applications through Workday Recruiting. Applicants that do not apply online will not be considered. If you do receive applications through email, applicants should be directed to the Penn State Careers site. The search committee is responsible for developing a rubric for selecting the candidates for interviews. The selection mechanism should yield a shortlist of the top candidates for the position, recommended for in-person interviews.

The search committee is permitted to use remote screening interviews without a separate approval from the Dean to develop the final shortlist. These screening interviews (1) must be conducted for all candidates in this group, (2) must use the same instrument for all candidates, and (3) must be limited to one meeting between the search committee and the candidate. These interviews cannot be recorded.

A shortlist must have the top three candidates and if possible, based on the depth of the pool, two alternates. If there are less than three eligible candidates, the Department Head must seek approval from the Senior Associate Dean for conducting a limited number of interviews. The alternates are to be used in case any of the top three candidate withdraws from the search before the completion of the interview phase. Seeking original approval for five candidates expedites the process if that happens.

Keep the quality of candidates in the focus: if there are no eligible/acceptable alternates, departments should not propose them.

The shortlist must be approved by the Dean before the search moves to the interview phase. The Department Head must submit the shortlist to the Dean in the following form:

• The final position description
• A dossier (in a single pdf file) for each shortlisted candidate, including all application material
• A written report about the shortlist selection from the search committee
• An assessment and recommendation by the Department Head

After receiving the recommendation, the Dean will make the decision on who will be invited to campus for interview.

3. The interview process

The Department Head is responsible for inviting candidates to campus and arranging interview schedules appropriate for the specific position. The logistics of the visit should start with working with the Executive Assistant to the Dean (EAD) to make sure that the candidate can meet with the group of Associate/Assistant Deans relevant to the specific appointment of the position. The necessary participants at this 30-minute meeting are:

• The Senior Associate Dean
• If the position has a teaching component, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education
• If the position has a research component, the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education
• If the position has an extension component, the Director of Extension

These deans above can delegate their participation as appropriate. The departmental staff assistant should work closely with the EAD to make sure that these meetings are scheduled. A week before the visit of each candidate, the departmental staff assistant should send the EAD the final itinerary.

It is the department's responsibility to make sure that the candidate can progress through the interview, including any transportation from one place to another. Any last-minute changes affecting the deans' schedule in the itinerary must be immediately communicated to the EAD to avoid incorrect calendar entries.

Per university policy, the interviews cannot be recorded, but the seminar / job talk can. It is the department's responsibility to work with the candidate in advance to secure the waiver for recording the seminar.

4. The decision-making process

After the interviews are completed, departmental faculty and other appropriate stakeholders participating in the interviews should have an anonymous opportunity to provide an assessment of each candidate. The search committee is responsible for arranging this as well as summarizing the input, identify acceptable candidates, and outline both strengths and weaknesses of each candidate interviewed. This information, along with the recommendation of the Department Head about extending an offer, will be presented by the Department Head to the Senior Associate Dean for approval.

New non-citizen or non-green card hires will be required to either obtain or update an H1B, TN (for Canada and Mexico), or E3 (for Australia) visa prior to starting work. Hiring managers should consult with International Faculty Advising (Facultyadvising@psu.edu) to confirm the appropriate visa requirements and start this process in I-start. International faculty have additional expectations required of them when starting work, traveling overseas, changing work addresses, or switching positions. 

After the Dean makes a decision about which candidate should be extended an offer, the Senior Associate Dean works with the Department Head to develop an offer. The Department Head serves as the intermediary during any negotiations and must provide the information for the offer by completing the table in Appendix 1. Please do not put these in a letter template - templates change, and we have several incorrect letters based on old templates. Please note that for teaching appointments of 25% or less, it is expected that the candidate will start teaching existing courses and does not receive a course release as part of the offer. Course releases carry the risk of not having enough data points to assess teaching during later reviews.

When negotiating startup packages, the Department Head collects the necessary information from the candidate and works with the Senior Associate Dean in finalizing those. If the position involves funding from outside the college (other colleges or institutes or the provost), the official university startup spreadsheet must be used. If the position is funded entirely on college resources, the simplified college startup spreadsheet must be used. The final approval of the terms of the offer will come from the Dean.

If the department wishes to bring the top candidate back for a second visit, it is expected that the main parameters of the offer are developed and approved by the time the candidate visits again. This visit must be scheduled as soon after the approval of the top candidate as possible to avoid the unnecessary extension of the process and losing other candidates in the meantime.

NTT faculty at academic departments must be supervised by the department head with the funding PI (if the position is funded by external grants) serving as a secondary manager. This ensures consistency in career progress, promotion, and work expectations.

5. Responsibility for expenses associated with the search

The college provides a lump sum of $1,200 per visiting candidate up to three candidates. This amount can be used to cover regular search expenses and will be available upon the approval of the shortlist. Second visits by the same candidate must be covered by the department.

Please note that once a candidate has been offered the position and signed the offer letter, departments can no longer cover their travel expenses to State College to visit the area prior to their starting date as these costs fall under house hunting (which is covered by the moving expense allowance and are taxable to the candidate/employee).

Change log

• 9/25/2023 - First version
• 8/5/2024 - Appendix added, NTT positions are startup eligible
• 7/18/2025 - Small changes to clarify practices based on prior experiences, standard alignment with changing university policies

Appendix 1.

Offer letter information to be provided by the department head

Please enter N/A in the form for items that are not applicable (to make sure we do not miss anything).