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Faculty Search Guidelines
2004-2005 Diversity Application Percentages PDF The Case Faculty Search Guidelines help the search committee navigate the administrative forms and the process of advertising, recruitment, and candidate visits. The entire Guide is available to be viewed online below and in a PDF format to download at the link above. The forms to be filled out are available in Word writable format on the forms page at this link. Please note that the Forms are all updated as of May 2008 and old forms will no longer be accepted by the Office of Faculty Diversity. Faculty Search Committee GuidelinesTHE UNIVERSITY'S COMMITMENT TO EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 1. HOW TO CONDUCT A SUCCESSFUL SEARCH
3. INTERNAL CANDIDATES/CONDUCTING AN INTERNAL SEARCH
4. RECORD KEEPING DURING AND AFTER A SEARCH 5. FORMS AND PROCEDURES FOR Affirmative Action
6. SAMPLE LETTERS TO CANDIDATES
7. ONLINE RECRUITMENT RESOURCES
INTRODUCTIONThese guidelines are designed to assist departments, schools/colleges, and the search committees they appoint to recruit and select new faculty and administrators. Among other objectives, the procedures outlined herein reflect the University’s interest in locating and considering for employment a wide pool of applicants,. Our searches should communicate to the largest and most diverse group of candidates possible the merits of this institution as a place in which professional growth is promoted and in which performance and achievement are rewarded. From among this group we seek further to select individuals who will make significant contributions to our institutional goals and mission. The Human Resources policies are available in the Human Resources policy manual, found and on the Case Human Resources web page. http://www.case.edu/finadmin/humres/
The University's commitment to Equal Opportunity and Affirmative ActionExecutive Order 11246, as issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, established the Office of Federal Contracts Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and gave it the responsibility and authority to enforce nondiscrimination in government contracts and hiring practices. Additionally, this order has required employers to take affirmative action steps to overcome the effects of past discrimination. Case is a government contractor, and is also committed to the ideals of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, and thus has initiated specific procedures to comply with the spirit and the letter of this order. The University’s affirmative action plan (AAP) examines the availability of women and minorities in the population from which candidates are sought with the objective of ensuring that Case’s workforce reflects the demography of the pool of available candidates. Toward that end, attainment goals are established if Case is underutilizing women and/or minorities in particular job categories. Affirmative action is not a step in the hiring process. Rather, it is the philosophy and the underlying human resources recruitment practices that drive the search process. Affirmative action measures and effective recruiting techniques are inseparable in the employment process. Our Case vision includes “Diversity of faculty, staff, students, scholarship, community partnership and outreach” in its mission; Affirmative Action procedures promote the spirit of this mission.
1. HOW TO CONDUCT A SUCCESSFUL SEARCHThe goal of these search procedures is to ensure that the best applicants are attracted to vacancies and that the University’s workforce is representative of the available labor pool. An affirmative action search goes beyond advertising an opening in The Chronicle of Higher Education or Science. Advertising may be one strategy for the committee to pursue, but we already know that this does not necessarily result in interviews and/or selection of diverse candidates. More active strategies and person-to-person contact will be required to meet our objective of diversifying the candidate pool. 1.1. Develop a recruitment plan relevant to the discipline Personal and professional contacts, including professional associations and colleagues at other institutions and polling minority and women faculty, should be used to identify potential candidates. Departments must record on the Search Strategy Checklist (Form 2), the utilization of resources to obtain women and minority candidates. Colleges and departments should target their efforts to be effective. Effective recruitment strategies will vary based on the necessary background and level of the position, as well as the specific groups to be reached. Targeting efforts help best maximize the use of time and resources. 1.2. Search committee membership should include women and minorities. The Faculty Diversity Office should be involved from the outset in the search process and will be helpful in advising the committee on available sources of information and contacts. Female and minority administrators, faculty, and support groups on campus can also be helpful in identifying candidates or meeting with candidates during the interview process in order to help the candidate assess the climate. Recruitment should be viewed as a continuous process. Faculty should be made aware that actions they take in relation to undergraduates, graduate students, and junior and senior colleagues all affect the pipeline and make it more–or–less–likely that minorities and women will pursue and succeed in academic careers. Every search for a position vacancy should begin with appropriate planning. The recruitment process is designed to provide an adequate number of qualified candidates from which to make a selection. Following are steps necessary to conduct an effective recruitment. 1.3. Notification of Position Vacancy The department chair or dean should notify the Faculty Diversity Officer that an opening has occurred and that a search will begin. A copy of the position description as it will be advertised, including a version of the Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action phrase required by the university, must be submitted to the Faculty Diversity Officer with the Notification of Faculty Opening (Form 1) and the Search Strategy Checklist (Form 2). Timely submission of forms increases the availability of Search Resources. Ideally, the department conducting the search would have a Facilitated Review of the Search Committee Guidelines, led by the Faculty Diversity Specialist or the Faculty Diversity Officer, prior to beginning a search. The university believes that a search committee is an integral part of an effective search for defined positions. A search committee should be established according to the type of position to be filled. Search committees are required for all faculty, chair, dean, executive and senior staff positions reporting to the president, the provost, a vice president, or a dean. In some instances, a search committee may also be appropriate for highly specialized positions or those with a high level of public exposure.
The search committee normally should be composed of several members drawn from the constituencies served by the position, and women and minorities should be represented on the committee wherever possible. If your department or unit does not have women or underrepresented faculty members, or if they are overburdened with service, the Faculty Diversity Office can provide names of women and minority faculty who are willing to serve on search committees. The Committee should receive a formal written charge setting forth the expectations for the position and the search committee’s role in helping to fill it. Typically, a search committee charge covers the following essentials:
1.6. Organizational Meeting of the Search Committee Each search begins with an organizational meeting of the search committee and the hiring authority. The hiring authority officially charges the committee, reviewing affirmative action procedures, emphasizing the need for confidentiality, and informing the committee what is expected in terms of recommendations, etc. Ideally, the entire committee should review these Search Committee Guidelines. This is most efficiently done with a facilitated review by the Faculty Diversity Specialist, or the Faculty Diversity Officer. The first meeting of the search committee is a time to:
The chairperson of the committee, in conjunction with the hiring authority, should prepare an agenda outlining each of these items and distribute it to the members in advance of the meeting. At its initial meeting the committee establishes:
In a faculty search, the chair of the search committee should submit the Search Strategy Checklist (Form 2) and the wording of the advertisement (Form 1 – Notification of Faculty Opening) to the Faculty Diversity Officer for approval after this meeting. A nationally advertised search is the first step in the hiring process for faculty anywhere in the University. The recommended method for national advertising is in a professional publication known to carry academic position advertisements in that discipline. Advertisements should state as clearly and specifically as possible the nature of the position and the qualifications required, including the anticipated rank in a faculty announcement. Advertisements should indicate that applications are to be sent to either the chair of the department or the chair of the search committee. All advertisements must include the equal employment opportunity statement: “In employment, as in education, Case Western Reserve University is committed to Equal Opportunity and Diversity.” Electronic advertisements can be used with the approval of the Faculty Diversity Officer. Care must be taken to document the posting date for the Affirmative Action file. It is permissible to submit invoices with web posting dates as documentation. Search Committees must keep copies of all recruitment letters and advertising with the date and duration of the advertisement (included or attached), for submission with Form 3A the Advertisement Tracking Record. 1.8. Advertisement Wording Examples Committees should note that an advertisement’s wording could highlight an inviting atmosphere for women and people of color. The use of the Equal Opportunity statement alone does not necessarily make the University appear welcoming to women and minorities. Job criteria references such as “interest in developing and implementing curricula that address multicultural issues”, “academic experiences and interests in culturally diverse groups”, “previous experience interacting with communities of color”, or “experience with a variety of teaching methods and/or curricular perspectives”, can let a prospective minority applicant know that their expertise is valued by the University. Conducting the broadest possible search and allowing the area to be dictated by the pool is a successful recruiting strategy. Sample statements that request diversity qualifications are excerpted below, and can be modified and used to increase the diversity of the candidate pool. These are outlined in the article “Identifying and Articulating Diversity Qualifications” found at www.chr.wsu.edu/Diversity_Statements.xls)
1.9. Developing a Diverse Applicant Pool The search committee should advertise with organizations and publications that are most likely to yield a diverse applicant pool. These should include selected media directed to potential underrepresented minority, female, and disabled applicants. The Faculty Diversity Office has lists of web sites for minority professional organizations in various disciplines, many of which allow free advertising for positions. However, ads may not be the most effective means to build a good pool in many cases. The committee should write to colleagues and make recruitment calls. Historically Black and Hispanic Colleges and Universities can be contacted for alumni information and potential candidates. All efforts to recruit minority and women applicants should be documented and included on the Search Strategy Checklist. To diversify your pool it is important to discuss and evaluate the criteria used in the advertising and the expectations of the committee. For example, expectations of a certain pedigree may eliminate more candidates than it includes. Requiring certain kinds of training may also eliminate women and minorities, who often have less access to high-level opportunities. Criteria should be discussed, evaluated according to value and weight, and agreed upon by all members of the committee. This is the first means of broadening your pool and helps clarify “Why” a given criteria is important to the goals of this particular search. Requests for nominations may also be sent to appropriate organizations and solicited from faculty and staff. Please refer to the Diversify the Pool section of the Faculty Diversity website for more strategies An executive search firm can be useful in helping the committee focus on the position description and a profile of the candidate; identifying women and minority candidates; expanding the candidate pool (especially in areas where the candidate pool is small); assisting in the evaluation of candidates; checking references; and bringing an objective point of view to the process. Search firms are sometimes used in searches at the level of president, provost, vice president, dean, and chair. A search firm will only provide you with what you have requested. If you specify qualities of candidates that you could easily identify yourself, there is little for a search firm to do. Carefully consider what additional, “unusual” qualities are needed or wanted for the position (e.g. dynamic and externally focused, coalition building and communication skills), and utilize the search firm to broaden your pool from those additional criteria. 2. SELECTIONThe selection process includes the review of all curriculum vitae submitted, the decision as to who will be interviewed, and the interviewing and selection of final candidates. Appropriate written records of the review process should be maintained for two years, including retention of all applications whether solicited or unsolicited. At this time, search committees should decide upon an evaluation process to be used with each candidate to be interviewed. (See the Search and Recruitment Checklist for Full Time Faculty Hires for timing.) An acknowledgement of materials letter/email should be sent to applicants and include the link to the voluntary online affirmative action survey. A copy of the letter or email should be retained with the applicants CV. A sample letter is included in the Appendix. The survey and sample email text is found at this link http://www.case.edu/president/aaction/aaform.html.
2.1. Initial Review of Resumes The search committee or a subgroup should review resumes and rate applicants based on the established selection criteria for the position. A rating form or spread sheet is useful and provides a consistent checklist for committee members to use in evaluating candidates. Search committees should be mindful of the tendency to “approve of applications that look like their own credentials.” Committees should be open to viewing the experience and education of candidates whose background is different than the majority experience. Applicants that do not meet the minimum established criteria should be screened out immediately, and all reasons for rejection must be documented on the All Applicant Log (Form 3B). Notification to candidates no longer under consideration should be sent as promptly as possible. (A sample rejection letter is found in the Appendix.) The Faculty Diversity Officer will confirm that all of the information on each applicant and the reason for their inclusion or non-inclusion from the final candidate roster is complete. Search chairs are asked to be as specific as possible when filing this information. If it is necessary to contact these candidates, verbal approval can be given through the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity. The Faculty Diversity Officer will respond as quickly as possible, however, incomplete files will be held by the Officer until departments complete them. The final candidate who will be invited to interview should be listed in the All Applicant Log and in the rejection column simply note “Under Consideration.” The reasons for rejection for those candidates not being invited to interview should reflect the selection criteria. If teaching experience is one of the criteria for the position then “no teaching experience” is a reason for rejection. Examples of possible reasons for non-inclusion are given below:
The final candidates are recorded in the Final Candidate Log and submitted to the dean for approval. The dean will evaluate their acceptable candidate pool for diversity in under-represented minorities and women. If the candidate pool is not reflective of the diversity of the field, the dean can reject the final pool and the committee will commit to continued recruitment of diverse candidates for the position before inviting individuals to campus for an interview. After the initial review of resumes, the search committee may decide to solicit additional material, including written references or publications. This process can be conducted via telephone interviews. After arrangements are made to bring candidates to campus, the hiring supervisor and the chair of the search committee should draw up an appropriate interview schedule. The search committee or its designee shall ensure a consistent structure for all candidates’ evaluations by interviewers and take the responsibility for soliciting those evaluations. The schedule should include interviews with individuals in as many areas as possible that relate to the position and the individual’s area of expertise. Asking the candidate if there is anyone that they would particularly like to meet with is an accommodating and welcoming gesture. A copy of the candidate’s schedule and curriculum vitae should be provided in confidence to all individuals who will meet with the candidate. Where appropriate, candidates should have the opportunity to meet with minority faculty and women faculty on campus. The Faculty Diversity Office can provide introductions to underrepresented minority and women faculty who volunteer to meet with candidates. Additionally, the Faculty Diversity Specialist is a confidential resource for information that candidates may hesitate to ask members of the search committee. A meeting with the Faculty Diversity Specialist can be offered to any candidate who wishes to know more about work/life balance policies here at Case. Information about the department and the University should be provided to candidates before the interview. Information packets provided during the campus visit might include: the most recent issue of Case Magazine and/or your school magazine; the student newspaper The Observer; University Circle brochures or information (Natural History Museum, Museum of Art, Botanical Gardens, etc.); the free weekly papers the Free Times and Scene Magazine; special interest papers that highlight the diversity of Cleveland such as The Jewish News, the Call & Post, La Prensa. This supplemental information gives the candidate, (and their partner/spouse/children who participate in the decision making process), a perspective of Cleveland and the surrounding areas that might not be apparent from twenty-four hours of whirlwind interviews and a faculty dinner. The Committee should also let the candidates know when a decision is expected to be reached and how they will be notified. When a minority or a woman candidate is brought to campus, search committees may wish to choose venues that highlight the diversity of Cleveland and opportunities for minorities and women to thrive here. The Faculty Diversity Office can provide suggestions for ways to customize campus visits for all of your candidates. 2.3. Interviewing and Evaluating Fairly Interviewing candidates is one of the most important stages in the search and selection process. Two very important things are taking place at this stage: the search Committee is assessing candidates, and the candidates are assessing the position and the University. The Committee should devise a list of core questions based on the job-related criteria that will be asked of all candidates. A consistent interview structure for every candidate allows the Committee to make the best comparisons, ensures that each candidate is treated fairly, and minimizes unconscious biases. Structures for interviewing might include having one committee member responsible for asking each candidate the same question or doing a group interview prior to individual interviews in order to minimize the candidate answering the same question 15 times. The subsequent individual interviews can be more in-depth and probing about the responses given in the group setting. The questions should be aimed at discovering what the candidate can bring to the position and the University, and must be limited to issues that directly relate to the job to be performed. There are inquiries that are not permitted because they request or allow use of information that may lead to an unfair or biased decision. (See chart that follows on permissible inquiries.) If you have additional questions, please contact the Faculty Diversity Office. 2.4. Conducting a Video Interview Some searches use video interviews as a preliminary screening tool. One of the benefits of using video interviews in a first round is that it allows a committee to start with a larger “under consideration pool” than might otherwise be possible. A longer “under consideration pool” often allows more minority and women candidates to be considered. Most departments make arrangements to pay for any associated video interview costs incurred by the candidate, much as they would for a campus visit. Search committees can arrange video conferencing by contacting Media Vision, at this link http://www.case.edu/its/itac/mediavision/big_ip_video/index.htm The goal of any candidate interview is to draw out more information about the qualifications that appear on the CV. When conducting first round video interviews the committee should remember to ask consistent types of questions so that their assessment is based on the same criteria for all the candidates interviewed. Working within a pre-arranged format ensures the committee will be able to compare “apples to apples” when ranking the candidates. The following sample questions should be used as a template for designing a consistent set of questions that suits your committee, position requirements and department. Both junior and senior level candidate questions are represented. Working within a pre-arranged format ensures the committee will be able to compare “apples to apples” when ranking the candidates. 2.5. Sample Video Interview Questions Junior Candidate 1) Before we get started are there any questions we can answer for you? This question allows a warm up & provides some insight as to the focus of the candidates interest in the position/department/university 2) What classes would you want to teach? a. What classes do you have experience teaching? 3) What would graduate students learn in your lab? a. What kind of experiments? 4) Overview of where you see your research in 5 years? 5) Explain ways in which you might collaborate with other departments or schools. 6) Direct question to clarify any questionable item on CV or research plan a. Status of publications 7) Establish if the candidate did homework on Case a. If we brought you in to interview is there anyone outside of our department that you would like to meet with while you are here? Senior Candidate 1) Before we get started are there any questions we can answer for you? Lets the candidate warm up a bit before launching into research plans. Be prepared to answer questions about SAGES; graduate student tuition & stipend; cost of living etc. 2) Overview of where you see your research in 5 years? a. Research question follow up 3) Direct question to clarify item on CV or research plan a. How many students have you graduated from your lab? 4) Collaboration plans at Case - establish if candidate did home work on Case a. Tell us about some of your past collaborations across disciplines. 5) Is the candidate moveable/serious? a. Can you give us an idea of why you are looking to leave your current position? 6) Would the candidate be interested in teaching a SAGES class? a. What kind of classes do you want to teach? 2.6. Acceptable/Unacceptable Interview Questions
2.7. Reference Checking/Letters of Recommendation References must be checked before an offer is made, including verification of degrees obtained by the applicant in faculty searches. For academic searches it is expected that letters of reference will be part of the application. Letters of recommendation are often weighed heavily in the search process but can be systematically different depending upon the gender of the candidate and the author. Letters often show more about the skill of the letter writer than the skill of the candidate, which may prevent a diverse candidate pool from becoming a diverse faculty. The skill (or lack of skill) of the letter writer can be put into perspective when multiple letters are requested. One possible option is to suggest a structure that candidates to provide to their recommenders that helps ensure a more uniform comparison of qualifications. According to a study of recommendation letters by Triz and Psenka (Discourse and Society, Vol.14 (2): 191-220) letters lacking any of the first three items suggested below should be called “letters of minimal assurance” rather than “letters of recommendation.” If the search committee does not want to provide suggestions to recommenders, the information below is a useful to review before discussing the strength of the letters of recommendation. 2.8. Suggested structure to provide to letter writers: Dear Applicant, 1) Clearly state your relationship to applicant Even without uniform items in letters of recommendation, it is helpful to review the following kinds of phrases that can unintentionally influence a reader. These phrases can sometimes be the result of poor attention to letter writing rather than deliberate red flags. Doubt raisers or negative language - “although his/her publications are not numerous” or “while not the best student I have had, he/she” After the search committee has fully discussed the evaluations of all of the candidates interviewed, the committee will make a recommendation to the department chair, dean, or provost as appropriate. This recommendation is usually done in memo form and should include the names of candidates, ranked or unranked. The memo reviews the search process, including criteria for evaluation, and discusses the strengths of, and concerns about, each candidate. Any candidate included on the list must be acceptable to the committee. Forms 3A, 3B, 3B-1, 3C and the candidate’s CV, must be submitted to the Faculty Diversity Officer in order for Affirmative Action approval to be generated. If any of these forms are missing or incomplete, the paperwork cannot be processed and the offer will be delayed. Form 3C provides the Affirmative Action information for government tracking, the candidate’s name, sex, race, and proposed faculty rank. It is important to note that no offer of employment may be made without the Affirmative Action Approval of the Faculty Diversity Officer. 2.10. Offers of Employment and Elements of an Effective Offer Letter After receiving the Affirmative Action approval letter from the Faculty Diversity Officer, and sign off from the Provost, the hiring authority will customarily extend the offer. Appointments of deans, vice presidents, and all faculty (except for special faculty appointments) require approval of the Board of Trustees. Offers are typically made verbally, with written confirmation to follow upon acceptance. When the offer if accepted or rejected, the Affirmative Approval letter received from the Faculty Diversity Officer should be completed, signed and returned either by mail or fax. The formal letter offering a position to a prospective new faculty member ideally represents both the culmination of the recruitment process and the launch of the new faculty member’s career. It is thus an extremely important document and great care should be exercised to ensure that it is both effective in closing the search, and clear in terms of future employment. Adoption of these guidelines, as excerpted from Suggested Elements of an Effective Offer Letter. By Dr. Patricia Higgins, Dr. Eleanor Stoller, and Dr. Cyrus Taylor of the Case Resource Equity Committee, will help make the close of the search process more effective and provide clear expectations for both the new faculty member and her/his departmental administrator, thus promoting a welcoming culture while potentially reducing future problems. Successful recruitment is a complex process that reflects expectations of faculty activity and commensurate needs for resources, both of which vary enormously across disciplines, and indeed, even within disciplines (experimental versus theoretical physics, for example). Details of start-up packages reflect an individual’s negotiating skills as well as differences in research specialty, department, and/or management center. While some variation may be due to legitimate disciplinary differences, there also is the potential for disparities due to inadvertent omissions or lack of clarity in specifying essential details. A start-up package should contain the critical elements necessary for the candidate to be a successful faculty member. Suggestions of specific language and additional detail about the study is available in the report found on the Faculty Diversity Office Reading and Resources web page http://www.case.edu/president/aaction/read.html Elements of an effective offer letter: 1. Full name of person to be hired
3. INTERNAL CANDIDATES/CONDUCTING AN INTERNAL SEARCHInternal candidates included in a search should receive the same consideration as all other candidates. Internal searches for department chair, dean, provost, or any other faculty position should adhere to the diversity strategies created by each school. There are many circumstances where it would be appropriate to consider internal candidates exclusively or in addition to an external search. When internal candidates are included they are processed in the same manner as external candidates with respect to their being included on the candidate logs, reviewing of their CV and interviewing. A search resulting in an internal candidate being proposed for the position uses Form #7 (Internal Candidate Appointment) instead of the Form 3C because the candidate has already been hired with Affirmative Action approval. When an internal search is under consideration it is an important opportunity for currently employed faculty to advance and expand their responsibilities within our institution. To establish the viability of an internal search for chair, dean, provost, division chief etc., start the deliberations with these three questions: 1. Can we identify highly qualified candidates internally who might fill the position? Once it has been established, by charge or by inclination, that the search committee will conduct an internal search, it is important to establish clear protocols to avoid any appearance, real or imagined, of impropriety. It is strongly suggested that the committee make decisions about the protocols for each of these steps prior to the start of the search. The steps involved include:
3.1. Job description and criteria for selection The job description is provided to the search committee by the hiring authority. The committee then uses this document, and the needs of the department, school etc., to develop selection criteria. The selection criteria should be discussed within the search committee and articulated to the stakeholders. This can be done in person, through email, or by establishing a temporary web page for the posting of information and relevant public documents. Transparency in the communication of the search timeline, criteria and process do not compromise confidentiality. The nominating process can function in several ways in an internal search. All nominations may be solicited from stakeholders by way of a formal letter of nomination, by anonymous nomination, and by self-nomination. Each of these choices can be appropriate to a given search and adequate discussion will tease out the correct method for your search. Soliciting initial nominations can be done by email or in information sessions where the search chair and committee members explain the timeline and process for nomination. Information can be distributed by constituency (students, staff, faculty), by large group (all constituents and multiple days/times), or by area (each department), as decided by the search committee. Nominations should be sent to the chair of the search committee or his/her designee for tracking. A deadline for nominations should be made clear and reminder emails should be sent. Each nominated individual should receive an email notifying them of their nomination and requesting that they submit a current CV should they wish to remain in the candidate pool. This email should specify a deadline for receipt of their CV. By the deadline for nominations, nominees should have indicated their willingness/unwillingness to remain in the candidate pool. At that time, all of the candidate CV’s and recommendations should be distributed to the committee members for evaluation. If the nominees’ names will remain confidential, the committee should at this time select a location for the interviews that will maintain that confidentiality. The committee should discuss early in the process weather or not there will be any public forum for interviewing the candidates, e.g. questions from various constituents either individually or in a public setting. If a public discussion/interview will be used, it is important to make it clear to nominees as it may cause some to be reluctant to continue the process. An alternate solution is to solicit questions from all constituents about their concerns and priorities for the candidates and incorporate these into the interview process. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni can all have differing priorities. Another method is to invite private comment to the search committee chair via email, regarding the acceptability of the slate of candidates. If this method is used, any comments received should not be distributed to the committee members until after all the interviews have been conducted so as to not influence or bias the interview process. All copies of the comments should be returned to the search chair to ensure confidentiality. Interview questions for internal candidates can feel awkward if the candidate is a colleague that you supposedly “know” already. A good first step is to think of what questions you would ask a perfect stranger, and allow the internal candidate to answer these as well. Vision and motivation are not necessarily topics that are regularly discussed in the average faculty meeting, so it is important to allow internal candidates to articulate their ideas as you would any other candidate. To obtain “new” information, the committee might ask questions such as:
3.4. Selecting one or more candidates for recommendation to the hiring authority The selection process should rigorously conform to the criteria initially decided upon by the search committee. A simple method of ensuring this is to create a grid of the questions asked and the candidates and have each committee member use a grid to track their impressions of the interview process. A scale of 1 – 5 (with 5 being the most positive) will clearly demonstrate those candidates that should be eliminated from the first round. Each committee member’s scoring grid should be turned in to the search chair for record keeping and as a method for ensuring confidentiality. The remaining candidates can be ranked or not, but all should be acceptable to the committee. If further deliberation is needed to reduce the final candidate list, voting on the candidates and their ranking can be done in discussion or by secret ballot. A secret ballot often reassures members of the committee that, should confidentiality be broken, they will not be subject to potential retaliation from rejected colleagues/candidates. It can also reduce vote gathering and lobbying prior to the meeting at which the vote will be taken. Committee members participating by conference call can submit their vote by email to the search chair during the meeting. After the final candidate(s) are selected a memo should be drafted to the hiring authority apprising them of the result of the search along with a short discussion of the process. This memo should include information on the tally of candidates as recorded on Form #7.
4. RECORD KEEPING DURING AND AFTER A SEARCHThe University is required to maintain summary information about the search process, applicants and hires. The Chair of the search committee is responsible for ensuring that complete records are kept during the search. Search files must be kept for two years from the dates of appointment of the candidate selected. The committee files should include the following:
5. FORMS AND PROCEDURES FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Six important things to remember about faculty search procedures:
5.1. Forms Used in the Affirmative Action Process To view a list of the forms used in the affirmative action process, please download the PDF at this link. 5.2. Step by Step Procedure for Processing Forms for Faculty Search To view the step by step procedure for processing forms for faculty searches, please download the PDF at this link. 5.3. Affirmative Action and Search Requirements by Faculty Rank For additional information about faculty Ranks, please refer to the Faculty Handbook at this link www.case.edu/president/facsen/frames/handbook.htm 5.3.1. Ranks Requiring A Full Search and Affirmative Action Approval Professor Trustee-appointed university faculty positions are full-time faculty at the rank of instructor, senior instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, or professor. Except for instructor and senior instructor, these positions are designated as with tenure, in the tenure track, or in the non-tenure track, a category of appointment used only by those faculties having a non-tenure track that has been approved by the Faculty Senate. The track status of instructors and senior instructors is undesignated; faculty titles are not differentiated by track. The Handbook states that all academic titles shall be discipline-based, which in faculties that are organized into departments, will be along departmental lines. Lecturer is a category of special faculty (i.e., not trustee-appointed faculty) appointment intended to fill teaching needs for which there is a temporary shortage of university faculty due to unfilled faculty slots, faculty leaves, increases in class enrollment, etc. Lecturers are appointed for a defined period of time that might be one semester, two semesters, or an academic year, and may be reappointed a maximum of two times (i.e., the total appointment period may not exceed three years). No lecturer will be enrolled in university payroll without prior affirmative action approval. However, due to the unique nature of lecturer appointments, appropriate local postings will be sufficient to fulfill open search requirements. 5.3.2. Ranks Requiring Affirmative Action Approval Visiting Professor Visiting faculty hold academic appointments in other academic institutions who are appointed to provide full time teaching or research for a short term. Visiting appointments for one year or longer require affirmative action approval and are time limited. Short-Term Visiting Appointments of less than one academic year, require the submission of Form #4 with the candidate’s CV attached. No formal search procedures are necessary for short-term visiting appointments. Form #4 may be signed by a designated representative of the Department Chair or Dean. Research Faculty are a defined category of special faculty who may be appointed in faculties (currently arts and sciences and engineering) who have defined a set of policies and procedures for this category of faculty. Submit Form #6 with the Research Faculty’s CV attached, to the Faculty Diversity Officer. 5.3.3. Ranks NOT Requiring Affirmative Action Approval Part-time Lecturer These titles are used for special faculty who are appointed to teach part time at this university. The individual holds a primary position elsewhere, e.g., at another educational institution or in professional practice, business, or industry. “Clinical” denotes teachers of clinical subjects.
6. SAMPLE LETTERS TO CANDIDATES6.1. Letter: Receipt of Materials and Request for Confidential Affirmative Action Data (Date) Candidate’s Name Dear (insert candidate’s full name) As an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, Case Western Reserve University is required by federal regulations to collect and retain personal information about applicants. We are requesting that you complete the voluntary and confidential online survey at this link http://eodsurvey.case.edu/aa/affirmative_action.htm. Completion of this survey is optional and will not affect the status of your application. The information collected is confidential and goes directly to the Faculty Diversity Officer, who reports aggregate data annually. Sincerely
If you have questions about the online affirmative action survey please contact the Case Faculty Diversity Officer at (216) 368-8877.
6.2. Email: Receipt of Materials and Request for Confidential Affirmative Action Data (Date) Dear (insert full name of applicant), As an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, Case Western Reserve University is required by federal regulations to collect and retain personal information about applicants. We are requesting that you complete the voluntary and confidential online survey at this link http://eodsurvey.case.edu/aa/affirmative_action.htm. Completion of this survey is optional and will not affect the status of your application. The information collected is confidential and goes directly to the Faculty Diversity Officer, who reports aggregate data annually. Sincerely
If you have questions about the online affirmative action survey please contact the Case Faculty Diversity Officer at (216) 368-8877.
6.3. Letter: Rejection to Applicant (Date) Candidate’s Name Dear (insert candidate’s full name) On behalf of the Search Committee, I am writing to follow-up on an earlier correspondence and inform you of the status of the search for (insert position title) in the Department of (insert Department name) at Case Western Reserve University. The committee has reviewed the qualifications of a large number of applicants and has identified a short list of candidates whose experience we judge to be more suitable to the Department’s needs at this time. We wish you continued professional success, and thank you again for your interest in the position and in Case Western Reserve University. Sincerely,
7. ONLINE RECRUITMENT RESOURCESSpecific resources should be identified based on the position vacancy. Many web sites for minority and women professionals exist and allow free advertising of positions. A list of resources is found on the Faculty Diversity website at www.case.edu/president/aaction/diverse.html
In depth readings and resources can be found in the Faculty Diversity web site at www.case.edu/president/aaction/read.html Suggested Elements of an Effective Offer Letter National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Gender Differences in the Careers of Academic Scientists and Engineers: A Literature Review, NSF 03-322, Project Director, Alan I. Rapoport (Arlington, VA 2003). NSF: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering - 2002 This report, the 11th in a series of Congressionally-mandated biennial reports, provides data on the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering education and employment. The data and analyses presented here can be used to track progress, inform the development of policies to increase participation in science and engineering, and evaluate the effectiveness of such policies. The Division of Science Resources Statistics (SRS) the National Science Foundation central clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, and analysis of data on scientific and engineering resources, which provides a source of information for policy formulation by other agencies of the Federal Government. A National Analysis of Diversity in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities By Dr. Donna J. Nelson and Diana C. Rogers Diversity Articles and Research from Academe The online version of the bimonthly magazine of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Why So Slow?: The Advancement of Women, Virginia Valian. Tenure Denied: Cases of Sex Discrimination in Academia The Subtle Side of Discrimination White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh The Impact of Gender on the Review of the Curricula Vitae of Job Applicants and Tenure Candidates: A National Empirical Study, Rhea E. Steinpreis, Katie A. Anders, and Dawn Ritzke Published by the University of Wisconsin-Wilwaukee in Sex Roles, Vol. 41, Numbers 7 and 8, 1999, this study shows "...some of the factors that influence outside reviewers and search committee members when they are reviewing curricula vitae, particularly with respect to the gender of the name on the vitae." The Faculty Time Divide, Jerry A. Jacobs Faculty Senate Committee on Women Faculty Summary, Kathryn B. Adams Mysterious disappearance of female investigators, Davach Watson, Anja C. Andersen, and Jens Hjorth New Study: Revolving Door Undermines Efforts to Increase Faculty Racial/Ethnic Diversity Report Shows Only Slight Increases in Underrepresented Minority Faculty, Higher Turnover Rates, at California Independent Colleges and Universities The Revolving Door for Underrepresented Minority Faculty in Higher Education PDF by Jose F. Moreno, Daryl G. Smith, Alma R. Clayton-Pedersen, Sharon Parker, and Daniel Hiroyuki Teraguchi 8.1. It's All in What You Ask - Questions for Search CommitteesBy Bernice R. Sandler, Jean O’Gorman Hughes, and Mary DeMouy Here are a variety of questions that will help elicit useful information about candidates’ concern about issues that affect women and people of color. The questions, which focus mainly on women’s issues, can easily be adapted to apply to minority and disabled persons. The questions have been amended, with permission, to better suit searches at Case Western Reserve University. The original information can be found at http://bernicesandler.com/id15.htm Categories of Questioning I. Equity 1. How have you demonstrated your commitment to women’s issues in your current position? II. Informal Support 1. In what ways have you mentored, supported, or encouraged women or minorities on your campus?
3. Describe any activities—including articles, interviews, and speeches—in which you have demonstrates a public commitment to women’s equity. 4. What are your views about women’s studies and new scholarship on women? 5. To whom do you go for advice about women’s issues? 6. In your current position, have you ever seen a woman treated unfairly, or witnessed a racial or ethnic slur? How would you/did you handle it? 7. Many female graduate students face an increasingly chilly climate at a time when they are in transition between being a student and a professional. Can you describe some of the ways in which you think men and women graduate students are treated differently by faculty? By administrators, by other students? III. Climate 1. In what ways do you think minority or women faculty and administrators are treated differently from their male counterparts? In what ways might differential treatment place the women at a relative disadvantage? What would you do to help change this situation? IV. Questions for Prospective Administrators Some of these will be more appropriate to ask candidates for specific positions, such as presidents, deans, associate deans, or department chairs. i. Formal Support 1. In your current position, what is your relationship to the affirmative action and/or diversity officer? ii. Staff-Related 1. How many of the top people at your previous institution were women and underrepresented minorities? What did you do to encourage hiring more women and underrepresented minorities? iii. Direct Encouragement 1. Which committee at your current institution would you consider the most powerful? How many women and underrepresented minorities are on it? How many have you appointed? iv. Other 1. How serious a problem do you consider sexual harassment on your present campus? What have you done about it? Is there a grievance procedure for harassment problems? How does it work? V. Questions for Prospective Faculty i. Women's Studies 1. Do you regularly read or subscribe to any journals that deal with scholarship about women? ii. Campus Environment 1. In most classes women students don't participate as much as men. What have you done to encourage women to participate in your classes and how has it worked? Used with permission and adapted from It's All in What You Ask Questions for Search Committees by Bernice R. Sandler, Jean O’Gorman Hughes, and Mary DeMouy. Adapted from a question prepared by the Sociologists for Women in Society's Committee on Endorsements as reproduced in Sociologists for Women in Society, Network News 4 (April 1, 1987), 2. The idea for this paper originated with professional associations, particularly the American Historical Society and the American Sociological Association, that have developed their own lists of questions to ask prospective candidates for office. We wish to acknowledge the interest and support of TIAA CREF for this undertaking. In addition, the authors would like to thank Arlene K. Daniels, former Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University; Jon Fuller, National Association 7 Independent Colleges; Jean O'Barr, Director, Women's Studies, Duke University; and Donna Shavlik, former Director, Office of Women in Higher Education, American Council on Education, for their helpful comments and suggestions in reviewing the draft of this paper. FEBRUARY 1988 Bernice R. Sandler, Senior Scholar in Residence at the Women's Research and Education Institute, consults extensively with institutions and others about women's equity, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and the chilly climate. She has given over 2000 presentations, written many articles, and serves as an expert witness in discrimination cases. Sandler can be contacted at: Website: http://bernicesandler.com/
8.2 Narrowing the Candidate Pool TemplateOnce non-qualified candidates have been equitable eliminated from further consideration, the search committee can use a screening device to compare the remaining candidates’ relative merits in order to narrow the pool of candidates to interview. This template can and should be customized to your fit your department. Please download the template at this link.
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