Procedure for Faculty Recruitment and Hiring of Tenure-Track Faculty

The following steps reflect the standard procedure suggested by the Provost’s Office for faculty searches. There is flexibility in the process, but the Provost asks that you consult before deviating from the process in any major way.

  1. Searches should begin as early as possible. To facilitate effective searches, departments will track the projected retirement dates for department faculty and when possible secure a decision from retiring faculty by September 1 of their final year. When notice of resignation or retirement comes late in the academic year, departments will generally be asked to delay the national tenure-track search and hire a full time visiting professor for one year while the national search is conducted.
  2. Authorization for new faculty positions must come from the Provost’s Office. When a department wishes to add a tenure-track faculty position, the department chair must contact the Provost as soon as possible (no later than September 1 of the academic year before the new position will begin). Please note that this is well in advance of the normal budget request deadline for the succeeding academic year. Once the department chair makes the case for the need for an additional faculty position, the Provost will seek permission from the Executive Cabinet to advertise the position. For all new positions, the final hiring decision will be contingent upon budget approval, and that contingency will be noted in the position advertisement.
  3. As soon as a search has been authorized, the Department Chair should form a search committee. Depending on the size of the department, the entire department may serve on the search committee, but in larger departments a search subcommittee may be more appropriate. In all cases, the search committee should include
    The department chair
    At least two members of the department faculty (when department size permits)
    At least one member of the faculty from outside the department, preferably from a discipline allied to the department doing the search.
    Before the search begins, the department should agree on exactly what voting process should be used to determine semifinalists, finalists, and the final offer order. Generally, the search committee selects semifinalists and finalists, based on the evaluation rubric described below, and the full department votes on the final offer order.
  4. The search committee should meet as soon as possible (generally no later than September) to determine the job description, set the expected credentials, and make recommendations on search strategies. Search strategies can include such things as interviewing at regional or national meetings, selecting appropriate venues for advertising, making direct contact with graduate schools with prominent graduate programs, etc. The search for tenure-track faculty must be national in scope, and specific efforts should be made to recruit minority faculty.

  1. The text of the advertisement, along with a list of suggested venues for placing the advertisement, should be sent to the Provost’s Office, which will review the ad text, make appropriate modifications (in consultation with the department chair), and place (and pay for) the ad. At a minimum, departments should request all applicants to send a vita, letter of application, unofficial transcripts, and letters of recommendation; often departments also request a statement of teaching philosophy and copies of course evaluations. The search committee should also develop a standard evaluation rubric that reflects the qualifications that the search committee desires to find in the applicants. If the search committee is a subcommittee of the department, the rubric should then be discussed and approved by the department as a whole. A copy of that evaluation rubric should be submitted to the Provost before the evaluation of applications begins; the Provost reserves the right to request modifications in that rubric. Since each department has different needs and expectations, there is no standard format for the evaluation rubric, but the Provost may ask for modifications of the department’s rubric that will give some weight to larger institutional priorities.
  2. All applications will be kept on file in the Provost’s Office; the originals shall not be removed from that office. Members of the search committee should come to the Provost’s Office to review applications. The member of the search committee from outside the department is strongly encouraged to participate in the credentials review but is not required to do so.
  3. The search committee should come up with a list of semi-finalists that can be interviewed by telephone conference call or at an appropriate conference/convention. The Provost’s Office will fund the travel of up to two members of the search committee to an appropriate conference for interviews. During this preliminary screening, it is vital that the search committee address the issue of the campus requirement that all tenured faculty must be Christian.
  4. The search committee will narrow the list to three finalists for on-campus interviews. If there are internal candidates who will be interviewed, the internal candidates can be in addition to those three finalists. When additional candidates are local and will not require budget commitment, departments may request that the Provost grant authorization for more than three on-campus interviews.
  5. When the Search Committee has determined the list of finalists, the department chair should contact the finalists to ensure that the candidates are still interested in the position. Once that confirmation is received, the chair will pass the names of the finalists to the Provost’s Office with suggested dates for the interviews. The chair should try to schedule the interviews as close together as possible. The Provost’s Office will make all the arrangements for air fare and lodging; department chairs will be responsible for setting an itinerary for the candidate. Candidates are usually brought to campus on the afternoon of one day and leave late afternoon or evening of the next day. Send a copy of each candidate’s complete itinerary (described below) to the Provost.
  1. Generally, the candidate is picked up at the airport by the search committee chair or a member of the department; often, the chair will use that opportunity to take the candidate to dinner (sometimes with members of the department as well; consult with the Provost’s Office on budget limitations) and give a brief tour of the area. On the day of the interview, the itinerary generally includes:
    interview by the department (as a group and/or individually)
    interview by the Provost (required of all candidates) and the President (when his schedule permits); call the Provost’s Office to set up both interviews
    Tour of campus and community
    Informal meeting with students
    Presentation and/or sample class (please invite all members of the search committee and the Provost)
    lunch with faculty, including faculty outside of the department
    Please remember that we’re not just evaluating potential faculty members—we’re recruiting them. Please do everything possible to make the candidate’s visit as pleasant as possible.
  2. The department should convey its decision on the ranking finalists to the Provost as soon as possible after the final interview. If there is division in the department on making a final recommendation, the department can request mediation from the Provost or report the divided decision to the Provost, who will then confer with the department chair and make a determination of the offer order. If the President was unable to interview a candidate during that candidate’s visit to campus, the President will call the finalist before an offer is made. Upon receiving clearance from the President, the Provost will call the candidate and make the offer. Once an offer is accepted, the Provost’s Office will contact the unsuccessful candidates with news of the selection.