Dear Faculty and Staff,
Last week University of California President Michael Drake announced a systemwide hiring freeze and directed all UC locations to develop workforce management plans to address potential budget shortfalls.
Each campus has the discretion to implement this directive in a way that is most appropriate to their local context. As such we are providing an overview of the implementation at UC Riverside.
Approvals to Proceed
Effective March 31, 2025, searches that have already identified a list of candidates to be interviewed or are at a more advanced stage of the recruitment process (e.g. scheduling interviews, conducting interviews, undergoing reference checks, preparing offers, etc.) are authorized to proceed without further review.
Blanket Exceptions
There are blanket exceptions during the hiring freeze for appointments that are short-term, temporary, and directly supportive of education and research. These positions include:
- Non-academic student employees
- Academic student employees (Teaching Assistant, Tutor, Reader, Associate-in)
- Graduate student researchers
- Unit 18 lecturers
- Non-student tutors
- Summer Session teaching appointments
- Postdocs
- Extensions of existing contract positions
- Rehired Retirees
- Temp Agency Hires
- External Consultants
- Independent Contractor
Exception Approval Process
All other hiring requests that do not fall in the above categories or have not identified a list of candidates to be interviewed as of March 31, 2025, must receive an exception approval to proceed. Requests for exceptions should be submitted by organizational heads to the Provost via email (provost@ucr.edu) and will be reviewed within a week of submission.
This information has been shared with organizational heads, HR business partners, and chief financial and administrative officers. If you have clarifying questions regarding this process, please reach out to your CFAO or organizational head (dean, vice chancellor, associate vice chancellor).
Thank you for your flexibility and understanding as the university continues to adapt to both a rapidly changing budget and policy environment and new systemwide mandates.