Requesting Faculty Positions
In mid-October there is one deadline for all faculty
position proposals. Proposals come in two categories:
- Adjunct and Term Requests for the Next Academic Year: This category is for Adjunct and Term positions that will be hired in the spring to work the following academic year. Typically, these positions are linked with needs for sabbatical leaves that were approved by CoF; however there are other circumstances, such as Family Leaves or resignations that may also cause departments to request adjunct or term positions for the following year. Departments that have faculty in term positions for which they wish to have an extension should make the request at this deadline.
- Tenure Track and Term Requests for the Year After Next: This category is for Tenure Track and Term positions for which the searches would take place the following fall with the successful candidate starting the position in the subsequent academic year (for example, a search for a tenure position in English would take place in the fall or early spring of 2024-2025 and start the fall of 2025).
For both types of requests, CoF reviews all submitted proposals while taking into account a comprehensive review of the college's needs for staffing. CoF makes a recommendation to the President and the Board of Trustees, who make the final decisions about faculty staffing.
Proposals must include the following items to assist CoF in their evaluation:
1. An Executive Summary
2. Rationale for the Position. This section should include at minimum the items from the following list as needed to provide evidence for the position:
- enrollment demands for courses;
- course loads and faculty schedules;
- number of majors and minors in the department;
- curricular needs that would be met by the position and why these curricular needs are critical to the college's liberal arts tradition;
- how the position would contribute to departmental courses and general education courses.
Departments need to keep in mind that there are no permanent lines in departments and that every request made, even if it results from a resignation or a retirement, needs to be carefully weighed with the overall needs of the college.
3. Position Description. This section explains the specifics of the position including (but not limited to):
- area of specialty and why is it critical to the department;
- courses the proposed faculty member would teach;
- how the position would fit with the rest of the department members' teaching and professional development areas of expertise.
4. Diversity Recruiting. This section should detail any special efforts the department can make to enhance the recruitment of diverse candidates for the applicant pool. You may find it useful to consult with the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion for suggestions.
Please click here for the Search Procedures Checklist
Detailed Search
Procedures for Full-Time Faculty Positions
- The
department chair obtains permission to begin a search.
a. Submit
position request information as requested by the Provost's call for position
requests.
b. Requests are reviewed by CoF and the President
before referral to the Board of Trustees for final decisions. Once notified of
approval by the Provost, department chairs can begin the process of forming
search committees.
- The Provost appoints the search committee.
a. After consultation with the
department, the department chair forwards a slate of committee members to the
Provost following the guidelines below.
For the members outside the department (if they are needed for the
search) and for the student members, at least three names in order of
preference should be provided to the Provost. After consolation with CoF, the
Provost sends the approved committee membership to the chair.
i) For tenure-track searches, the
committee usually consists of the Area Chair, the department chair (who usually
serves as chair), continuing full-time department faculty members, a faculty
member from a different department in the same area, a faculty member from
outside the area, and two students. Large departments may suggest a
subcommittee of the department to serve on the search committee as long as
appropriate representation is preserved.
ii) For term searches, the committee
composition is the same as for tenure-track searches except there are no
outside department faculty members required.
For search committees for Murphy Fellows, the department works with the Murphy Director to have one student from the department and one Murphy Scholar
on the committee. Search committees for
Murphy Fellows also includes the Murphy Director.
iii) Once the Provost has approved the
search committee members the Provost sends an appointment memo to each
committee member.
- The search committee chair submits
advertising details to Academic Affairs and Human Resources.
a. The
committee chair uses the job ad template provided by the Provost or HR, adds
the job specific criteria, and proposes any other changes. The final materials
are sent to the Provost and HR for approval.
b. HR
posts the ad on the jobs website and has the software (Paycor Recruiting)
set-up for the committee members’ approval for submission of applications.
c. HR
works with the search committee chair to determine sites for external placement
of ads. Normally, searches have two paid ads (one major site and one
professional association in the field). Costs for ads will be paid through
Academic Affairs (or through Murphy). It
is VERY IMPORTANT that no ads are placed prior to receiving approval from
HR. HR provides tracking links to help
determine which sites give the best return. Search chairs may also place the ad
on list serves and online bulletin boards. Finally, the search chair can also
contact appropriate graduate programs at other colleges and universities to
help recruit applicants. This can be especially helpful in increasing the
diversity of the applicant pool.
- The search committee meets with the Provost to review search procedures.
a. The entire search committee meets
with the Provost to review search procedures, including procedures for dealing
with internal candidates, discussion of appropriate and inappropriate
questions, and diversity and equity guidelines and procedures. This step
must be completed before the search committee begins its review of
applications.
b. Internal
Candidates
i) To
the extent possible, the interview schedule for an internal candidate must be
the same as the schedule for external candidates.
ii) The search committee should ask for course
evaluations from any internal candidates to aid assessment of their teaching at
Hendrix.
- The search committee reviews application materials.
a. Search
committee chairs should remind committee members (including students) that all
deliberations from the search committee meetings are confidential and should
not be discussed outside of committee meetings at any time.
b. At
a minimum, each application should include: a cover letter, graduate
transcripts (these can be unofficial), a curriculum vita, a statement of
teaching interests, a statement of scholarly or creative interests, and three
letters of reference.
c. Before
the committee begins its work reviewing individual applications, the search
committee should specify the criteria that will be used to review individual
applications. The search committee may assign applications to categories, such
as “yes,” “no,” and “maybe.” Committee members should not use numerical
scoring of applications as part of the process.
The committee may consider using the following methods:
i) preliminary
sorting of applications by department members;
ii) initial recruiting conversations
with selected candidates at professional meetings attended by members of the
search committee must be approved in advance by the Provost. Note that these
conversations are not part of the formaL interview process. If approval is granted, the Committee may
also request funds for a two-person team to attend a professional meeting
(pending the availability of funds). Recruiting meetings may not be held in
hotel bedrooms.
iii) telephone,
Teams, or e-mail contact by the search committee chair to answer specific
questions about candidates.
iv) Teams
interviews of semi-finalists by the entire search committee or a representative
subcommittee.
d. Briefly
document in writing the reasons for actions taken at each step. Limit all notes and comments on applications
to specified criteria. All phone or
Teams interviews and email communications should be documented to help with the
selection process.
e. It is recommended that committee
members provide confidential and independent assessments without influence from
early readers. For this reason, if search committee members wish to annotate
the materials in Paycor Recruiting (the application software), they should
"mark private" their comments.
f. If the search committee conducts
prescreening interviews of candidates, by Teams or some other online process,
it should prepare a strategy for questioning each candidate consistently.
- The search committee recommends
candidates for on-campus interviews to the Provost.
a.
The
search committee must obtain permission from the Provost before inviting
candidates to campus for an interview.
b. For
tenure-track searches, the search committee should:
i) Contact the references for the
recommended candidate on-campus visits. However, do not hold up the process if
some of those references are difficult to contact.
ii) Submit to the Provost information
about the two candidates for an interview (although in some cases three
candidates may be requested and approved) including:
1. strengths and weaknesses,
2. the information gained from contacting the
candidates’ references,
3. and an explanation of how these candidates
address the issue of diversity for this position.
It is not necessary to rank order
the candidates at this point.
c. For
term searches, candidates are interviewed one at a time. If the first candidate
is not viable, the committee may receive permission to proceed to the second
candidate. In order to begin this
process, the search committee should submit to the Provost a rank order of the
top two or three candidates for an interview including:
1. strengths and weaknesses,
2. the information gained from contacting the
candidates’ references,
3. an explanation of how these candidates address
the issue of diversity for this position.
- The search committee chair plans on- campus interviews.
a. After
receiving authorization to proceed with interviews, plans should be made for a
one-day interview that serves both the need to recruit the candidates to
Hendrix and to allow the search committee to assess the candidates.
Administrative assistants have a template interview itinerary with a uniform
set of activities including meetings with:
i) CoF,
ii) a representative of HR,
iii) the President. Make sure to check
with Donna Plemmons about availability when you are considering interview
dates. The President may ask to contact the candidate by Teams.
iv) For Murphy Fellows searches, the
Murphy Director should be included for an individual meeting, and
v) a group meeting with members of the
search committee.
b. Interviews should also include some
type of public presentation and/or teaching session as well as having some
direct contact with students. Please have your administrative assistant let the
Helpdesk know when and where the presentation will take place. The search
committee should make sure to get feedback from the students who attend the public
event. Generally, this information is gathered by the students on the search
committee.
c. In
most cases during on-campus interviews there is an opportunity for some members
of the search committee to have an evening meal with the candidate. To facilitate conversation while controlling
expenses, the college will cover the expenses for the candidate and no more
than four members of the search committee.
Please note that only one alcoholic drink per person will be covered for
such meals.
d. Approved search expenses are paid
through Academic Affairs. The search committee chair or the area administrative
assistant makes housing and meal reservations.
Flight arrangements are made by the candidate and the expenses for travel
(including parking and meals during travel) are reimbursed by the college from
receipts. Any expenses, including airfare, borne by the candidates are
reimbursed after the visit. Note that the Business Office requires that
candidates provide a completed IRS Form W-9 with reimbursement requests.
Refer all questions regarding salary, faculty
development, and instruction/research support to the Provost, and all questions
regarding Hendrix College benefits to HR.
- The search committee sends the committee's recommendation to CoF.
a. After each candidate’s visit to
campus, the search committee should:
i) Gather
opinions from persons who interviewed or observed the candidate. This should
include students who have lunch with candidates and students who attended
presentations. Please remember HR staff are not included in this part of the
process.
ii) Determine
the strengths and weaknesses of the finalists, including how they address the
issue of diversity, identify if each is acceptable or not, and consider
relative rankings.
iii) Present
the information from item 8.a.ii. in writing via e-mail to the
Provost for review by CoF.
b. The
Provost will take the recommendations from CoF and the search committee to the
President. The Provost will make the
offer of appointment to approved candidate.
The amount of time given for the candidate to make a decision may vary
but typically is 7 to 10 days.
c. After
verbal acceptance of the position, the Provost sends an appointment
letter. Once the signed letter is
received by the Provost, the search committee chair notifies individually the
other candidate(s) who visited campus who were not given an offer. All other candidates will be notified of the
search conclusion by HR.
- The chair of the search committee makes arrangements to close the search.
a. All electronic materials submitted
by all candidates will be archived by HR.
b. Any notes from meetings or
individual committee members should be destroyed once the search is completed.