12.99.99.R0.01 Limiting Staffing From Within
Effective September 1, 1996

1. The excellence of faculty is the single most important factor determining the quality of a university. A characteristic of a high-quality university faculty is diversity in the geographic and educational backgrounds of its members. To insure diversity in the university faculty, the following procedure is to be used in filling faculty vacancies.

2. The university observes principles recommended by accrediting agencies in employing staff and faculty members. These principles require restraint by departments and offices in the employment of Texas A&M University-Commerce (A&M-Commerce) graduates which leads to overstaffing from within. Similar restraint shall be observed in employing graduates from other individual universities, especially institutions which represent the same geographic region as A&M-Commerce.

2. Certain guidelines are necessary to implement this procedure:

a. Vacancies on departmental faculties should be filled with personnel who received their terminal degrees from the best graduate schools representing different geographic regions of the United States. Special efforts should be made to accomplish this objective with the filling of each vacancy.
b. Recruiting practices by department heads must include contact with a broad cross-section of American universities in locating qualified candidates.
c. Since the employment of A&M-Commerce graduates on this faculty and staff constitutes a special area of concern in staffing, the following procedure shall be observed:

In the event the department head thinks it justifiable to nominate an A&M-Commerce graduate for appointment to the faculty, he/she may submit the nomination to the dean of the appropriate school, accompanied by a statement of justification and evidence of truly superior qualifications of the candidate. The dean of the school may confer with the Deans Council in deciding on marginal cases. The existence of A&M-Commerce graduates on the present staff of a department may be sufficient justification for denying a proposed appointment.

References: Prior Policy III G 8 and D-2 approved January 22, 1976; revised January 19, 1990; Procedure A33.03

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CONTACT FOR INTERPRETATION: Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs