Appendix A. Faculty Recruitment Process.

The Faculty Resources Office facilitates the recruitment, appointment, and promotion of SPH faculty. The following steps are intended to clarify the steps of the process.

  1. Position Approval Process
    • For approval of a new faculty position and search, the department chair prepares a written proposal outlining the rationale for the hire, justifying the need for the position and how the position will strengthen the department and school. This should be submitted for initial review to the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement and the Associate Dean for Administration.
    • For potential off-cycle recruitments, the department chair discusses the case with the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement. The department chair should be prepared to describe the potential candidate’s talents, expected role, potential suitability for proposed track and rank, fit for department and school, as well as recommend rolling appointment versus term contract.
    • After initial review by the associate deans, a recommendation will be made to the Dean for final review. Department chairs will be notified in writing of the decision to move forward or not.
  2. Search and Offer Process

For all faculty recruitments, whether being considered for primary, secondary, or adjunct appointments, the expectation is that candidates will visit SPH to present to, and be vetted by, the faculty body.

For an external search for a new department chair, the Dean forms a search committee comprised of six faculty members, including two faculty members from within the department who are selected as department representatives via a vote of the department faculty. The Dean selects a search committee chair and three additional committee members from outside the department (i.e. other departments at SPH, other schools at the University, or from outside the University as appropriate). In these cases, the search committee is engaged to serve in an advisory capacity to the Dean.

Other external searches are conducted by the Faculty Recruitment and Retention Committee. The committee is co-chaired by the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice and the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement. The members of the committee include one representative from each department in the school as well as three ad hoc members from the department conducting the search. A member of the Faculty Resources Office serves as an ex-officio member to provide guidance on process and ensure adherence to best practices. The co-chairs and ex-officio member are non voting members of the committee.

Prior to initiating a search, the department chair engages their department in the process of identifying priorities for the upcoming search, an important step that informs the development of the job description as well as the chair’s charge to the search committee. The job description must be approved by the Dean to ensure that the priorities articulated by the department also align with the needs and mission of the School, in particular around educational needs and strategy. Each search committee receives their charge from the department chair and carries out the search on their behalf, engaging in the multi-stage review process and providing the final evaluation to the department chair. The final evaluation of each candidate takes the form of an overall assessment of: Recommend, Recommend with reservations, or Do not recommend. As described above, the committee strives to reach such decisions by consensus but conducts a vote of eligible members in cases where a consensus cannot be reached.

Search committees follow a defined process, guided by the ex officio member of the Faculty Resources Office and briefly outlined here.

    1. Search committee is formed. All committee members must participate in formal unconscious bias training at the beginning of the search process.
    2. The search committee reviews applications and selects candidates for zoom interviews.
    3. Selected candidates are invited to SPH for a day-long visit to give a presentation, interview with the search committee, and meet with other members of the community as appropriate (e.g. faculty, staff, students, leadership).
    4. The search committee provides a final report to the department chair providing an assessment of each finalist as well as the feedback obtained from members of the SPH community..
    5. The department chair decides which finalists they would like to receive offers and discusses with the Dean. The Dean has final approval for all faculty hires.
    6. The ex officio member files Affirmative Action data with the university’s Equal Opportunitiy Office.

Once final candidates have been selected, the department chair (or Dean in the case of a department chair hire) works with the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement to agree on initial offer package for the final candidates which may include salary, a startup package, relocation costs, an outlining of expectations, proposed rank/title, and a rolling or term contract.

The official offer letter is first drafted by the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement, which is then reviewed and revised by the department chair and the Dean. The final offer letter is signed by the Dean and department chair and sent to the candidate by the department chair. If revisions are required during offer negotiations, the department chair works with the associate dean to agree on the revised offer package. The final offer letter is signed by the Dean and the department chair, and sent to the candidate by the department chair.

Once the candidate accepts the offer, the Department Chair sends the signed letter to the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement.

To initiate the faculty onboarding process, the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement sends the signed offer letter and a copy of the Faculty Onboarding Guide to the Faculty Resources Associate, Assistant Dean of Budget and Planning, the Department Chair, and the Department Administrator. Each has a role to play in the onboarding process that is described in the Faculty Onboarding Guide.