Faculty Search Process
Key Contacts
If you have any questions, please contact your Departments Human Resources Representative.
Applicability
All faculty and staff involved in the faculty search process.
Policy Purpose
The faculty recruitment process outlined below is in reference to running a national or regional search. The process of requesting a waiver of a search will be documented separately.
In the event that there are changes in funding at the college and/or institutional level, the college reserves the right to pull back faculty search lines and end the search at any point in the process.
Policy Description
Definitions
N/A
Procedure
Once you receive your line allocation letter from the Dean you may start the search process.
Create a search committee following the guidelines above. Your HR Representative or a member of the CLAS HR team should be a non-voting member of the search committee. They will participate in every step of the process and can advise on process related situations.
All members of the search committee must attend a search kick-off meeting hosted by a member of the CLAS HR team.
Creating the Requisition/Recruitment Plan
Required attachments:
External advertisement (must reference how to apply and must include the OCRC tagline)
Required language on the requisition:
Select if it’s a Tenure-track or Other position
All ranks that will be considered and the required/desired qualifications that go along with those ranks
A description of the position
Education requirement (…in hand by the start date)
Include your HR representative as an administrator on the search
Examples of Requisitions
Post your position to the specified recruitment resources, reach out to prospective applicants as well as colleagues from other institutions that may know talented and qualified individuals to apply for the position(s).
Pre-Interview Report (PIR)
Convene the search committee, review applications, fill out the PIR worksheet, and write a justification.
Required attachments:
PIR worksheet
justification
Justification: Compare the candidates to the advertisement, refrain from comparing the candidates to each other or using criteria outside the scope of what was advertised for. The justification should be factual. Please do not speak to a candidate's gender, race, or nationality within the justification.
Once the Dean’s Office approves the PIR you may schedule interviews.
If your first rounds of interviews are conducted virtually, and you wish to have an on-campus round of interviews, please submit a 2nd PIR with a narrowed justification, no worksheet necessary. At this step you do not need to wait for approval before setting up your campus interviews.
Interview candidates
Interviews should be as similar and consistent as possible.
Tenure-track candidates must meet with an Associate Dean or Dean during the interview process.
It is considered best practice to include at least one hour on the interview schedule for the candidate to schedule as they wish. The HR representative on the search committee will handle the scheduling of that portion of the interview process.
Search and Selection Summary
Required attachments:
Letters of recommendation (three)
draft offer letter
justification for hire (includes a paragraph about each person interviewed)
start-up estimate (if applicable).
Please contact your HR Representative for an offer letter template.
Once OCRC approves the search and selection summary, you may release the offer letter to the candidate.
Joint Appointments
If two units agree to search for a jointly appointed faculty member, the allocation letter signed by the Dean is addressed to both DEOs. The respective DEOs should meet to discuss:
The makeup of the search committee.
The new faculty member’s rights and duties in the secondary department, such as voting, student committee membership, service load, and teaching load/assignments.
Whether the new faculty member will have office space in the secondary unit (specify the room, if possible).
Contributions to moving expenses and/or start-up costs.
A model itinerary for the interview process; specifically, how candidates will meet effectively with faculty and students from the secondary unit.
The DEOs of both units must approve all of the necessary workflow forms at all stages of the search. The names of both DEOs must appear on the draft offer letter, and both DEOs must sign the actual offer letter.
If a search committee recommends a candidate for an interview for whom a secondary appointment seems a reasonable possibility, the likely secondary unit or units must participate in the on-campus interviews. The procedures for submitting the Search and Selection Summary and for extending the offer are the same.
Forms
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the process for a COI if a member of the search committee served as the dissertation/MFA advisor for a faculty applicant?
If an individual who applies for a tenure-track or clinical-track faculty position wrote their dissertation or MFA thesis under the supervision of a faculty member serving on the search committee, that faculty member must recuse themself from the search committee’s discussion of and vote on that application. If the applicant becomes a finalist in the search, the faculty member must withdraw from membership on the search committee. In such a case, the faculty member retains the right to participate in departmental discussions of the candidates for the position and the right to participate in departmental votes concerning the candidates.
Related Information
Kick Off Meeting – Search committee members will attend a session prior to beginning each new search process. The meeting will be hosted by a member of the CLAS HR team. In attendance at the meeting should be: the search committee, DEO, departmental administrator, and area associate dean (optional).
Kick-off meetings are required only for regular faculty searches (tenure-track, clinical-track, instructional-track). If you would like to attend a session for temporary faculty searches (visitors), please contact your HR representative.
Revision History