Committee on Academic Priorities Guidelines for Position Requests

Below you will find the Committee on Academic Priorities (CAP) guidelines for requests for tenure track (TT) and continuing non-tenure track (CNTT) positions. These guidelines are also posted on CAP’s website.

CAP is available during the Fall 2026 semester to meet with any department or program Chair, Director, or faculty group to discuss the submission of a specific position request or any long-range planning issues. Please contact the CAP Chair Adrienne Prettyman with a copy to Tina Bockius, if you have questions that you would like answered either by email, or if you would like to schedule a meeting with the committee. 

Please note that CAP has implemented changes regarding the format of the proposal, which consists of a 12-page questionnaire (with space for a narrative) and a preformatted Excel spreadsheet that petitioning departments/programs need to fill out with their enrollment and staffing information. The 2026-2027 questionnaire can be found on CAP’s website. Please be aware that late submissions cannot be accepted. 

Committee on Academic Priorities Guidelines for Position Requests for 2026-2027

Departments or programs wishing to request a tenure-track or continuing non-tenure track position in 2026/27 are required to submit a letter of intent form that briefly outlines the position to be proposed. As a revision to our process in light of the transition to 2/2 for tenure stream faculty, CAP also requests that departments or programs that anticipate submitting a request within the next 3 years (for any reason, including but not limited to the impact of 2/2) submit an LOI and indicate the planned timeline of their request. The letter of intent should be emailed, as an attachment, to CAP via Tina Bockius, by September 4, 2026. 

For departments or programs that wish to proceed with a request in 2026/27, full proposals should be emailed to CAP via Tina Bockius, by  October 20, 2026, using the proposal questionnaire (Word document) and staffing information (Excel spreadsheet) located on the CAP website. Please note that this deadline is firm and cannot be extended. Once the proposal documentation is submitted, it goes directly to CAP and no further changes are possible. Should you have any questions regarding the required documentation, please contact the CAP chair, Adrienne Prettyman, and copy Tina Bockius, before the end of the submission window. Proposals that are incomplete, submitted late (without prior CAP approval), or do not adhere to the submission guidelines, will be returned without consideration. When completing the staffing worksheet, please ensure that all faculty are entered for a full-time load of CEs (whether 4 or 5) and if there is a discrepancy, please use the comment box to explain. In addition to the Excel Staffing Information spreadsheet that departments/programs will complete, the Office of Institutional Research will produce more detailed enrollment reports. Departments and programs that submit a letter of intent should expect to receive the report by the end of September. If you need help accessing this information through Bionic, please contact the Registrar, Kirsten O’Beirne.

The schedule for submitting a position proposal is as follows:

By September 4, 2026:

• Department/program submits a one-page letter of intent form for anticipated requests in the next 3 academic years. The LOI should indicate clearly whether the Department/program intends to submit a full proposal in 2026/27.
• After September 4, letters of intent will be shared with faculty. CAP highly recommends that departments/programs who have submitted LOIs hold listening meetings for departments, programs, and faculty who may have a shared interest in the proposed line(s) and would like to collaborate.
• CAP Chair sends a message to all faculty inviting them to look at these letters of intent, and reaches out to department/program chairs/directors with curricular interests in the positions identified in the letters of intent.

By October 20, 2026:

• Full proposals due to CAP for 2026/27 (using both the Word Questionnaire and Excel Staffing Information documents and submitted electronically)

Late fall through early spring 2027:

• CAP conducts a formal meeting with each department/program

March-April 2027:

• CAP provides its recommendations to the President and the Board of Trustees
• CAP submits its Annual Report to the faculty

April-May 2026:

• The President and the Board of Trustees make their final decisions

CAP examines each position request in terms of:

• the College’s core mission to deliver an excellent education across the liberal arts at the undergraduate level, and across existing graduate programs in the humanities, sciences, and social work;
• sustainably balancing curricular breadth and depth with student trends and enrollment pressures;
• contributions to disciplinary and interdisciplinary directions;
• relation to existing faculty resources relative to enrollment pressures, including re-envisioning curricular choices and/or leveraging interdisciplinary and Bi-Co collaborations to alleviate pressures efficiently.
• impact across the College, including contributions to College-wide and interdisciplinary initiatives or other programs, keeping in mind these must be balanced against the needs of the home department;
• impact on the department/program's need for interim staffing;
• opportunities to enhance the diversity of our faculty, conceived broadly;.
• In the case of CNTT requests, see the established guidelines on the nature of CNTT appointments.
• Bi-Co departments and program requests will be considered in consultation with Haverford’s Strategic Curriculum and Personnel Committee (SCPC).

2026-2027 CAP Proposal Questionnaire Word Document

2026-2027 CAP Proposal Staffing Information Excel Document 

*Please use both documents for your proposal - one Word document and one Excel document.