Provost & Academic Vice-President: Western Illinois University

Offering Letter Templates & Instructions

Offering Letter General Format/Alterations to Letters (PDF version available)

There are several offering letter templates available on the Provost Webpage. These are subdivided into two categories, for Faculty and Administrators. The templates provided have the minimum language required for specific categories of employment. Additional information may need to be inserted, but the core should not be altered. An offering letter serves as the legally binding contract between the future employee and the University, thus its contents must be correct and precise. Temporary appointments require a letter each appointment period.

Occasionally after an initial offer is made, it needs to be superceded by a letter with updated conditions of employment. In this case, the second superceding letter should have a sentence added, “This letter supercedes the previous offer dated mm/dd/yy.”

Mailing the Offering Letter & Notifcation of Acceptance

When the department has received notice that the Employment Offer Approval form has been approved, preparing the offering letter is the next step.
Questions regarding the appropriate templates or special alterations should be directed to the Academic Personnel office at 298-2216.
A draft letter should be prepared by the department and submitted electronically to Academic Personnel for approval. After the department has received notification of approval, the dated letter should be printed on university letterhead, signed by the appropriate authority, and submitted to the Provost's Office for mailing. The prospective employee is asked to sign and return the letter to the Provost's Office within two weeks.
The department will be notified when the letter is mailed to the prospective employee, as well as when it has been received.

Available Templates

The following types of appointments have corresponding offering letter templates on the Provost website. If you are unsure of which letter to use, please contact the Academic Personnel Office at 309/298-2216 to determine which letter suits the category of appointment you are offering to a prospective employee. (See also Notation/Terminology in the Offering Letter)

Faculty Offering Letters

Tenure Track Faculty: Use this letter for faculty meeting the criteria for a Tenure Track appointment. These employees are covered by the bargaining unit agreement as Unit A faculty.
ABD Offering Letter: Use this letter for first year faculty who are in an ABD situation, that is, they have all but their doctorate degree. The conditions in this letter state the employee has no guarantee of future employment beyond a specified date without satisfactory evidence of degree completion. In essence, this is a temporary appointment offering letter. A Tenure Track Faculty letter with appropriate specifications should be issued to the ABD employee when the degree is completed. The Tenure Track Faculty letter clarifies the new employment status and provides the employee an opportunity to accept the conditions of a Tenure Track appointment.
Associate Faculty – First five years in the Bargaining Unit: Use this letter for employees who meet the employment requirements for the first of five years in the Bargaining Unit, according to the criteria of Article 30.1.a., which states that faculty at Western Illinois University are represented by the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI) as their bargaining agent. Temporary Academic Support Professionals shall become part of the bargaining unit when they are employed full time for more than one consecutive academic year or; for appointments of fifty percent or more, they must be employed for more than two consecutive academic years.
Also use this offering letter to meet the requirement for the remaining four years of the First Five years in the Bargaining Unit as defined in Article 30.3.
New Temporary Faculty: Use this letter for faculty who are hired with temporary appointments, usually on a per course basis. These are non-bargaining unit positions. The percent of appointment varies, depending upon the need to fill a vacancy.
Rehired Temporary Faculty – Non-Bargaining Unit: Use this letter for employees who have had employment in the previous academic year/semester but are still not eligible to be included in the bargaining unit. These are temporary (or adjunct) faculty usually hired to teach on a per course basis.

Administrative Offering Letters

Continuing Administrative Appointment for Current Employee moving out of the Bargaining Unit: An employee covered by Unit A (Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty), or Unit B (Associate Faculty or Academic Support Professional), may step out of their bargaining unit status position to assume a continuous position that is not covered by the bargaining unit. For example, Unit A faculty who are appointed to a chair position. Another example would be a Unit B Academic Support Professional promoted to an administrative position not covered by the bargaining unit.
New Administrative Appointment – Non-Bargaining Unit: This appointment is not covered by the bargaining unit agreement. The candidate selected for this position should either be new to the university, or should be current non- bargaining unit employee.
New Administrative Appointment with Tenure: When hiring an employee who has not been previously working at WIU immediately prior to this appointment, the position may be one which may be given academic rank and/or tenure. The advertised requirements for the position may have specified that the candidates be eligible for rank and tenure.
New Academic Support Professional: Academic Support Professional (ASP) positions are positions whose titles are listed in Appendix B of the WIU/UPI Agreement and are included in Bargaining Unit B. This offering letter template is for those in continuous ASP appointments.
New or Rehired Academic Support Professional – Temporary Non-Unit Appointment: Although the position which is being filled is listed as an Academic Support Professional title in Unit B of the WIU/UPI Agreement's Appendix B, the appointment will be temporary (Article 30.4). The temporary appointment offered with this letter specifies that the position will not be covered by the bargaining unit agreement during the term of this temporary appointment.
Temporary Administrative Appointment for Current Employee moving out of the Bargaining Unit: An employee who has been represented by the bargaining unit agreement may be offered a position with this letter template for an acting/interim (temporary) basis. During the time served temporarily in the acting/interim capacity, the employee will not be represented by the bargaining unit agreement.

Provost & Vice Presidentfor Academic Affairs