Renewal of the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellows Hiring Incentive Program

October 04, 2016

By Alison Galloway, Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor 

DIVISIONAL DEANS

Dear Colleagues:

RE: Renewal of the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellows Hiring Incentive Program

I am happy to report that the Office of the President has announced that the President’s Postdoctoral Fellows Hiring Incentive Program will continue for another three years (2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20) beginning with appointments effective July 1, 2017. The program provides a five-year advance on faculty FTE to campuses that hire current or former participants from the UC President’s or Chancellors’ Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs for Academic Diversity into ladder-rank faculty positions. .

You may recall that in 2014 the President also committed an additional $5M to allow for additional hires to support start-up hiring incentives for fellows in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. Due to the success of this program, the funds for this initiative are now exhausted; thus, additional funds for STEM start-up packages are no longer available. 

Below are the incentive program guidelines and campus procedures for making a hire under this program. The Office of the President previously established a cap on the number of hiring incentives to 12 hires each academic year with incentives awarded in chronological order by the date the fellow accepts the offer of appointment. 

If you are interested in taking advantage of the hiring incentive, I encourage you to look at the list of eligible fellows at your earliest convenience. Please keep Nancy Furber (furber@ucsc.edu) in the Academic Personnel Office informed of your progress, particularly once a potential hire has been identified, as we are required to report campus progress to the Office of the President. 

Guidelines for hiring President’s or Chancellors’ Postdoctoral Fellows

Information about the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, as well as a complete list of eligible President’s and Chancellors’ postdoctoral fellows is available at http://ppfp.ucop.edu/info/fellowship-recipients/hiring-incentive.html.

General guidelines for the program:

  • Eligible candidates are current or former President’s Postdoctoral Fellows since 1996 or Chancellors’ Postdoctoral Fellows since 2005.
  • Fellows are to be considered for ladder-rank faculty positions effective beginning July 1, 2017 and continuing through 2019-20.
  • Fellows are not eligible if they currently hold a ladder-rank appointment at a UC campus.
  • Eligible fellows may be hired either through an open search or from targeted outreach efforts; for the latter, a waiver of open recruitment is preauthorized for eligible candidates.
  • Salary dollars will be allocated at the Assistant Professor III level for appointments paid on the Regular professorial salary scale and at the Assistant Professor II level for appointments paid on the Business, Economics, and Engineering professorial salary scale. The affiliated division will assume the costs of any upgrades.
  • Hires may be made at all ranks, assistant through full; however, divisional allocation of salary dollars remains at the same assistant level. 

Campus procedures

If an eligible fellow is hired as the top candidate from an open search, no additional request for recruitment authorization is required. If an eligible fellow is proposed as an additional hire from an open search or is identified as the result of targeted outreach efforts, the hiring dean must submit an off-cycle recruitment authorization request to the CP/EVC. Start-up will be covered per normal campus policy. Although a waiver of recruitment has been preauthorized, budgetary approval, including consultation with the Senate Committee on Planning and Budget, is required. The request should detail how the proposed hire will be consistent with departmental plans and divisional priorities, including current recruitment plans, and it must also identify how the FTE will be funded at the end of the five-year period.

All hires under the President’s Postdoctoral Fellows Hiring Incentive Program will follow normal departmental and CAP review. The criteria for appointment are the same as other appointments and are found in APM 210 at https://ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/apm/apm-210.pdf

Effects on campus planning

Hiring a new faculty member through the President’s Postdoctoral Fellows Hiring Incentive Program should support department plans and divisional goals. It is possible, however, that a potential hire may present new opportunities to reevaluate priorities within established plans. Below is information on how such a hire affects campus FTE counts.

  • FTE is provided to the campus from UCOP, which in turn goes to the department.
  • FTE is returned to UCOP if former fellow leaves the campus within five years.
  • After five years, UCOP will retrieve an FTE off the top of campus allocations; there is no net gain to the campus.
  • On campus, the hiring division must identify a division-held, vacant FTE at the end of the five-year period.

While you may decide not to take advantage of the President’s Postdoctoral Fellows Hiring Incentive Program at this time, you may want to suggest to departments that they look at the lists of fellows and begin efforts to introduce these individuals to our campus. The current fellows have access to travel funds to visit UC campuses and can be invited to present research or give job talks.

Since its implementation, the hiring incentive program has been very successful with over 159 fellows joining the UC faculty since 2003. UCSC has hired 19 faculty members under this program, including three in 2015-16, and we hope to see additional hires in the future.

UCSC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowships

https://academicaffairs.ucsc.edu/chancellors_postdoctoral_fellowships/index.html

While UCSC does not directly fund President’s Postdoctoral Fellowships, beginning in 2017-18, the campus will sponsor up to two awards for meritorious President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program applicants who obtain funding from other sources. The UCSC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship awards include research/travel funds, participation in systemwide professional development activities, and eligibility for the hiring incentive program. Awards may be for up to two years in residence at UCSC.

Scholars from all academic fields who show promise for a tenure-track appointment and who will contribute to diversity through their research, teaching, and/or service at UCSC are urged to apply. Applicants must follow the same application procedures as candidates for the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and must hold a Ph.D. by the start of the fellowship on July 1. If you are aware of promising graduate students or postdoctoral scholars who have funding and meet the eligibility criteria, please encourage them to apply. This is an excellent opportunity to qualify these outstanding scholars for the hiring initiative.

If you have any questions or need additional information about the program, please contact Nancy Furber in the Academic Personnel Office at furber@ucsc.edu or x9-4779.

 

Sincerely,

Alison Galloway
Campus Provost and
Executive Vice Chancellor

cc:

Vice Chancellor Delaney, Planning and Budget
Chair Einarsdóttir, Academic Senate
Vice Provost Lee, Academic Affairs
Assistant Director Lehr, Planning and Budget
Associate Vice Chancellor Peterson, Academic Personnel
Associate Chancellor Sahni, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Divisional Academic Personnel Coordinators
Administrative Records