The Office of the Provost supports faculty recruitment, hiring, onboarding, engagement, and retention through a coordinated set of programs, funding opportunities, workshops, fellowships, and career-continuity resources. These resources are intended to help schools, colleges, divisions, departments, and faculty leaders conduct effective searches, recruit outstanding faculty, support early-career transitions, build community, and retain faculty across the faculty lifecycle.
This page serves as a starting point for faculty hiring and retention resources. Some programs are managed directly by the Office of the Provost or Faculty and Staff Affairs, while others are broader campus initiatives or resources offered in partnership with schools, colleges, divisions, or other central campus offices.
Faculty recruitment and retention are shared responsibilities across departments, schools, colleges, divisions, and central administrative offices. These resources are intended to support consistent, effective, fair, and policy-aligned practices while preserving disciplinary expertise, departmental judgment, and local decision-making authority.
Resources by Stage of the Faculty Lifecycle
Use the sections below to find resources that align with where you are in the faculty recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and retention process.
Search Readiness
Prepare faculty search committees and support fair, effective, and policy-aligned hiring practices.
Includes:
- Faculty Search Excellence Program
- Search planning and committee support
- Criteria, rubrics, outreach, interviews, campus visits, and candidate evaluation
Recruitment
Support strategic faculty hiring, recruitment fellowships, and related resources that help attract outstanding faculty to UW–Madison.
Includes:
- Dual Career resources
- Excellence in Mentoring Initiative
- Wisconsin RISE Initiative
- Anna Julia Cooper Fellowship
- Nellie McKay Fellowship
Retention
Support faculty engagement, community-building, research continuity, recognition, and long-term success after hire.
Includes:
- Faculty Networking Series
- Dual Career resources
- Vilas Life Cycle Professorships
- Vilas Awards
Which Resource Should I Use?
This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.
I need to prepare a faculty search committee
Start with: Faculty Search Excellence Program
I need to draft or review a Position Vacancy Listing
Start with: OHR resources, Faculty Search Excellence Program guidance, and local school, college, or division resources
I need to recruit a faculty member with demonstrated excellence in mentoring
Start with: Excellence in Mentoring Initiative
I need to recruit a faculty member through a structured, protected pre-tenure-track fellowship year
Start with: Anna Julia Cooper Fellowship
I need to connect faculty to campus networks and community-building opportunities
Start with: Faculty Networking Series
I need to identify available Vilas-funded opportunities
Start with: Vilas Awards
This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.
I need to launch a faculty search with consistent, fair, and policy-aligned practices
Start with: Faculty Search Excellence Program
I need to support a dual career situation connected to recruitment or retention
Start with: Dual Career resources
I need to recruit faculty in strategic areas connected to campus priorities
Start with: Wisconsin RISE Initiative or other applicable campus recruitment initiatives
I need to use a fellowship as a faculty recruitment resource
Start with: Nellie McKay Fellowship
I need to support faculty affected by significant personal life events
Start with: Vilas Life Cycle Professorships
I need to identify available recruitment or retention support
Start with: Contact Faculty and Staff Affairs for current guidance
Search Readiness
Search readiness resources help departments and search committees prepare for successful faculty recruitments. These resources support search committee preparation, development of job-related criteria, alignment with UW–Madison policy and OHR guidance, and fair, effective, and legally compliant search practices.
Faculty Search Excellence: Best Practices for Search Committees
The Faculty Search Excellence workshop supports faculty search committee members and chairs in conducting effective searches through shared expectations, practical tools, and evidence-informed practices.
Related resources: The workshop complements faculty recruitment guidance, search committee tools, candidate review and interview practices, committee deliberations, documentation, and candidate engagement.
Best for:
- Faculty serving on faculty search committees
- Faculty chairing faculty search committees
- Departments preparing to conduct a faculty search
Recruitment
Recruitment resources support schools, colleges, divisions, and departments in attracting and hiring faculty whose scholarship, teaching, mentorship, and institutional contributions advance UW-Madison’s priorities.
Dual Career Resources
Dual career support can be an important recruitment resource for faculty candidates whose ability to join UW-Madison may be affected by partner or family employment considerations.
Related resources: Dual career support may intersect with faculty recruitment initiatives, fellowship-based recruitment, onboarding, mentoring, networking, and retention planning.
Best for:
- Faculty recruitment situations involving partner employment considerations
- Schools, colleges, and divisions seeking to support successful faculty transitions
- Departments working to recruit top faculty talent
Wisconsin RISE Initiative
The Wisconsin RISE Initiative is a major campus faculty recruitment initiative connected to areas of institutional priority. Faculty and Staff Affairs is not the sole owner of Wisconsin RISE. This page includes RISE because of its close relationship to faculty recruitment, search preparation, hiring, onboarding, and long-term faculty success.
Related resources: Faculty searches connected to Wisconsin RISE should also use the Faculty Search Excellence Program, OHR resources, and relevant local school, college, or division guidance to support effective, fair, and legally compliant search practices.
Best for:
- Strategic faculty hiring connected to Wisconsin RISE priorities
- Schools, colleges, divisions, and departments participating in RISE-related recruitment
- Search planning, onboarding, and retention conversations connected to RISE hires
Nellie McKay Fellowship
The Nellie McKay Fellowship is a faculty recruitment resource that supports the recruitment of scholars whose work contributes to UW-Madison’s academic excellence and institutional priorities.
Application status: The program is not accepting new applications at this time.
Best for:
- Supporting faculty recruitment
- Advancing school, college, division, or departmental hiring priorities
- Strengthening recruitment in areas aligned with campus or unit priorities
- Supporting the successful transition of recruited faculty into the UW-Madison community
Excellence in Mentoring Initiative
The Excellence in Mentoring Initiative supports the recruitment of outstanding faculty who, in addition to demonstrated excellence or strong potential in research and teaching, have demonstrated the ability and commitment to mentor at-risk, first-generation, or underrepresented undergraduate or graduate students to achieve academic success. The focus of the initiative is excellence in mentorship, not the identity characteristics of the candidate.
Application overview: The initiative includes a request for search approval before posting the position and final documentation after a candidate has been hired.
Best for:
- Faculty searches where mentoring excellence is a key component
- Recruitment of scholars with strong records or demonstrated potential in research, teaching, and mentoring
- Departments seeking to strengthen mentoring capacity for students
Anna Julia Cooper Fellowship
The Anna Julia Cooper Fellowship is a recruitment-linked opportunity for incoming assistant professors selected through the faculty search process. It provides a protected pre-tenure-track year for scholarly and research advancement, supported by structured mentorship and department-based integration.
Fellowship model: The AJC Fellowship is a 12-month fellowship appointment, not a 9-month faculty appointment. During the fellowship year, fellows are compensated at 90 percent of the agreed-upon Assistant Professor starting salary stated in the faculty offer. Fellows do not have formal instructional or service responsibilities, have a primary faculty mentor, and receive defined departmental support during the fellowship year.
Best for:
- Selected incoming assistant professors
- Protected time for scholarly advancement
- Structured mentorship and faculty transition
Retention
Retention resources support faculty engagement, research continuity, community-building, and long-term success after hire. These resources may include networking, mentoring, dual career support, career-continuity resources, recognition, and other supports that help faculty and their families successfully join, remain, and thrive at UW-Madison.
Faculty Networking Series
The Faculty Networking Series supports faculty connection, onboarding, and community-building across UW-Madison. Programming may include opportunities for faculty connected to Provost-supported recruitment initiatives, fellowships, mentoring programs, new faculty programming, dual career support, and other campuswide engagement resources. The series complements recruitment and hiring initiatives by supporting faculty after arrival, strengthening connection to campus resources, and contributing to faculty engagement and retention.
Best for:
- New faculty onboarding
- Faculty participating in Provost-supported recruitment or fellowship programs
- Anna Julia Cooper Fellows
- Nellie McKay Fellows
- Excellence in Mentoring Initiative participants
- Dual career couples
- Faculty seeking broader campus connection and community
- Departments and schools seeking to strengthen retention through engagement
Vilas Life Cycle Professorships
The Vilas Life Cycle Professorships provide one year of research support for eligible UW-Madison faculty and permanent PIs whose research productivity has been directly affected by significant personal life events at critical career junctures. Applicants should consult the Vilas Life Cycle Professorships page for current eligibility criteria, deadlines, application instructions, and confidentiality information.
Best for:
- Faculty experiencing a critical career juncture
- Faculty whose research productivity has been affected by significant personal life events
- Faculty who need short-term research support to sustain or regain scholarly momentum
- Departments seeking to support retention and long-term faculty success
Dual Career Resources
Dual career support can be an important retention resource for newly hired faculty and current faculty whose ability to remain at UW-Madison may be affected by partner or family employment considerations.
Related resources: Dual career support may intersect with onboarding, mentoring, networking, retention planning, and other faculty support resources.
Best for:
- Retention situations where dual career needs may affect a faculty member’s ability to remain at UW-Madison
- Faculty and family transition support
- Schools, colleges, and divisions seeking to retain top faculty talent
- Departments working to support faculty stability and long-term success
Vilas Awards
The William F. Vilas Trust Estate provides funding each year for a range of Vilas award programs that support faculty research, scholarship, recognition, and professional advancement. Vilas opportunities include research professorships, distinguished achievement professorships, early and mid-career investigator awards, life cycle awards, fellowships, scholarships, and other award programs. The Research and Sponsored Programs Vilas Awards page provides award details, terms that must be followed under the trust agreement, contacts, and links to additional Vilas information. The Office of the Provost also maintains information about Vilas opportunities and related awards, grants, and professorships.
Best for:
- Faculty seeking information about Vilas-funded awards and professorships
- Departments, schools, colleges, or divisions identifying faculty recognition or research support opportunities
- Faculty research, scholarly advancement, and career-stage support
- Locating Vilas award terms, contacts, and program-specific information
Contact
For questions about faculty hiring and retention resources, contact:
Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs
Email: vpfsa@provost.wisc.edu