New Review Process for Staff Job Openings in Academic Affairs

May 1, 2020 

To:     Deans, Assistant Deans 

From: David Marshall 

Re:     New Review Process for Staff Job Openings in Academic Affairs 

In anticipation of the financial difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy, we must make critical decisions in the best interests of our campus community.  To ensure the best possible stewardship of our workforce, the campus has implemented a review process for current and new staff job openings.  Below is a description of the process to be followed in Academic Affairs and the questions that are to be answered if a vacant position is to be filled.   
 
Review of Current Staff Job Openings: 
 
Although it was announced that control points will review all open staff positions, I ask that each department/unit scrutinize the need for each staff position listed on the Job Bulletin/OACIS to determine if it is mission critical and/or essential to business operations.  If the threshold is met, submit a Job Opening Request form and forward it to the Department Chair/Director for approval.  The Department/ Chair is to forward the request form to the next level of authority, most often the College, School, or Divisional Dean or Associate Vice Chancellor. It will then be routed to my office via Christian Villaseñor, Director of Administration (christian.villasenor@ucsb.edu).  After a careful review of the request, it will be sent to the Working Group for review.  If the request does not meet the threshold, the request form will be returned to the requestor and the position will be removed from the Job Bulletin/ OACIS.  Please include the Job Number of any currently advertised position on the Job Bulletin/OACIS and submit it by Friday, May 15, 2020. New requests can be submitted as needed.  
 
When completing the “Rationale for Filling the Job Opening” section of the Job Opening Request form, please address the following questions:   

• Is the role mission critical and/or essential to operations? 
• Will a deferral in filling the position result in significant operation disruption or place compliance at risk? 
• Are there any qualified interim existing staff that could take on the additional duties? 
• Is this a permanent need or would temporary staffing address the need? 
• Will this position be funded by an extramural research grant?  If so, what are the projected dates of the award?  
• Have administrative processes been reviewed to ensure non-essential tasks are no longer being completed in order to reassign essential tasks to others in the office?   

 (Note: please submit any supporting documents such as an organization chart to help support the rationale.) 
 
Review of Future Staff Job Openings: 
 
As described above, if the open staff job is mission critical and/or essential to business operations, complete a Job Opening Request form answering the questions above and forward to the Department Chair/Director for approval.  The Department/Chair is to forward the request form to the next level of authority, most often the College, School, or Divisional Dean or Associate Vice Chancellor.  It will then be routed to my office via Christian Villaseñor, Director of Administration (christian.villasenor@ucsb.edu).  After a careful review of the request, it will be sent to the Working Group for review.  If the request does not meet the threshold, the request form will be returned to the requestor.   
 
Review of New Academic Employee Openings: 
 
Although academic employees will not be reviewed by the working group, there will be an Academic Affairs review process for new hires as follows.

• There will be no change to the current process of hiring Senate faculty.   
• Hiring of other instructional employees (Unit 18 lecturers, Associates, and Teaching Assistants) are to be reviewed by the applicable Dean in the context of Temporary Sub -0 allocations.  
• There are no changes to the current processes for hiring of non-instructional academic employees (e.g., professional researcher, project scientist, specialist, postdoc, Graduate Student Researcher, academic coordinators, etc.) paid on extramural funding. 
• Prior approval will be required for the hiring of non-instructional academic employees paid on state funds.  The department will need to complete the Academic Employee Job Opening Request form (see attached draft).  Once the final request form is posted on Academic Personnel’s website early next week (https://ap.ucsb.edu/forms), submit a form immediately for any searches currently in progress and prior to the submission of the search plan for new positions.  The request form, including the departmental endorsements, should be submitted to June Betancourt in Academic Personnel (june.betancourt@ucsb.edu) for further routing and review.  If the request is approved, a copy of the finalized Academic Job Opening Request form must be submitted with the appointment case. 

 
Employing strong financial planning strategies will help ensure that we have the resources to continue to serve the community and fulfil our academic mission of teaching, research, and service.  I appreciate your partnership in the responsible management of our budget and I am grateful for your continuing efforts on behalf of our campus. 
 
Thank you.