Ladder Faculty Searches

Academic unit prepares search request(s) with guidance from relevant divisional dean in accordance with the search request memo sent by the FAS Dean's Office.

Submit search request(s) using the FAS Ladder Faculty Search Request Form.

All search requests are reviewed by the divisional/area advisory committee, the Faculty Resource Committee, and the FAS Dean.

Formal review outcome is sent via email from the FAS Dean's Office to academic unit chairs and staff by the end of June.

Search plan: Written description of the plan to ensure the broadest possible pool of applicants, excellent and diverse across multiple dimensions. Refer to the Provost's Office's Comprehensive Faculty Searches: Best Practices page.

Space plan: Written plan for the office and laboratory space (if necessary) that the candidate(s) will occupy along with a detailed enumeration of any additional estimated associated costs for renovations, acquisitions, equipment, and other startup costs.

Search committee: List of proposed search committee members, including a committee chair, outreach representative, and other committee members.

A divisional dean or associate/senior associate dean meets with all members of each search committee. All other members of the academic unit are also invited to this discussion. The meeting includes discussion of how to yield a pool that is excellent and diverse across many dimensions, and how to proceed in a way that provides full and fair consideration to all candidates, consistent with all Yale and FAS policies and state and federal laws. This meeting must take place for every approved search as early as possible in the search process, prior to the submission of proposed campus interview candidates in the Faculty Search Reporting Process (FSRP). A member of the FAS Dean’s Office will contact each academic unit early in the search process to arrange this meeting.

It is the responsibility of the outreach representative and all members of the search committee to ensure that the pool is as broad as possible across multiple dimensions and that the search provides full and fair consideration to all candidates.

All search committee members should familiarize themselves with the best practices for searches resources from the Provost's Office.

Job advertisement: The Department of Labor requires that all ladder faculty searches must be advertised, online or in print, in a national professional journal (see recruitment advertising involving international applicants from the Office of International Students and Scholars) for at least 30 consecutive days. 

Per guidelines from the Provost's Office, as of April 11, 2025, no Yale school, department, or unit may require diversity statements. When advertised beyond Interfolio, position postings must include the university's Equal Opportunity and Nondiscrimination statement.

See faculty job advertisement requirements and position advertisement template for further details.

Academic unit staff create position in Search module of Interfolio. Refer to the Office of Faculty Administrative Services (OFAS) website for general Interfolio instructions. 

The FAS Dean's Office and the relevant divisional dean review search materials and request any necessary edits.

Once all reviewers approve, academic unit staff are alerted via email from Interfolio that the position is approved and the academic unit is authorized to open the position and post the job advertisement.

Refer to the Office of Faculty Administrative Services resources on final edits and opening the position.

The members of the academic unit eligible to vote (see Yale Faculty Handbook IV.F.1) on the appointment must have a formal vote to select the final candidate(s). An affirmative vote in the academic unit is required to move forward in the appointment process.

Only candidates on the approved FSRP record can be considered for the position.

For Assistant Professor searches, the academic unit votes to select the final candidate(s) and completes the department faculty vote form to be submitted to the Office of Faculty Administrative Services (OFAS) in accordance with the FAS chart of required documents at the end of the hiring process.

For tenured position searches, the academic unit votes to select the final candidate(s) and emails Sarah Logan, Assistant Director of Faculty Affairs, with the final candidate(s) name and CV to launch the tenure case under FASTAP 2016.

*Note: if the academic unit is approved for multiple offers or is considering extending an offer to a candidate if the primary candidate declines, the unit should complete a separate vote form for each candidate.

The academic unit chair, supported by staff, emails fas.dean@yale.edu with a copy to the relevant deans to inform the FAS Dean's Office who unit has identified for an offer (assistant professor candidates) or tenure case (associate professor with tenure or full professor candidates).

The academic unit notifies the candidate by email or phone that a formal offer will be coming. No details of the offer should be communicated at this point.

The academic unit chair works iteratively with the relevant deans in the FAS Dean's Office to write the offer letter.

For science units and select social science units, the FAS Dean's Office will work with the Provost's Office and the academic unit chair to determine the candidate's laboratory setup package.

For tenured appointments, the offer letter will specify that an appointment is contingent upon subsequent Joint Boards of Permanent Officers (JBPO) and Yale Corporation approval.

The offer letter is signed by the academic unit chair and divisional dean.

The FAS Dean's Office sends the candidate an electronic offer letter, with a copy to the academic unit chair and divisional dean. Academic units are not authorized to extend offer letters; they must be created and issued by the FAS Dean's Office.

The candidate must send a signed copy of the letter to the FAS Dean's Office at fas.dean@yale.edu. An electronic scan of the offer letter is sufficient.