$50 Million Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiative
September 8, 2022 1:02 PM

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I am excited to announce we are launching a multi-year $50 million strategic faculty hiring initiative to drive excellence in teaching, innovation and discovery.

The Next 150 Strategic Plan identified growing the number of excellent faculty on our campus as a top priority and set aside significant resources to help address that objective. Those plans were put on hold to deal with the effects of the pandemic. It is now time to reinvigorate our commitment to increasing the number of tenure-stream faculty on our campus.  

Under this initiative, colleges will have opportunities to request non-recurring support for additional hires in strategic areas that advance the university’s mission. 

We expect these resources will be used to pursue faculty who enhance research and innovation, accelerate the discovery of solutions to complex global challenges, drive excellence in teaching, contribute to a diverse, equitable and inclusive community and foster collaborations between the university and the Discovery Partners Institute, the Illinois Innovation Network and other external partners.

Our faculty members represent some of our most important assets as a university. When we invest in our faculty, we are investing in our students and in the state of Illinois. The research and scholarship of these new faculty will contribute significantly to communities across our entire state and advance our reputation for innovation and impact.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor