Approved by Executive Council on 3/15/06
Edited October 26, 2007
J. Swartz

The procedures for faculty searches are formally stated in Part Three, Sections II and III of the Faculty Handbook. This document elaborates on the Faculty Handbook procedures. Our search procedures must also follow our 1998 Diversity Guidelines, which can be found at http://web.grinnell.edu/HumanResources/Handbook/Affirmative.html .
The sections of the Faculty Handbook relevant for faculty searches can be found at: http://web.grinnell.edu/Dean/Handbook/Part_Three_I_IV.pdf AND http://web.grinnell.edu/Dean/Handbook/Appendix_I.pdf.

The long-term strength of Grinnell College depends on recruiting strong faculty. Other than fulfilling teaching responsibilities, there is no activity more important than effective faculty recruitment. For this reason the College has procedures, carefully developed over time, to aid us in searching for new members of the faculty. Those procedures, reviewed in this document, will help you organize searches and allow you to make the most effective use of your time in these searches.

As you develop a search, beginning with creating a position description and ending with the acceptance of a job offer, you should consider the process as a team effort involving members of your department as well as other faculty and administrative offices. For example, faculty secretarial offices can assist you in managing applicant files, arranging travel plans, and setting up interview schedules. Remember that you have control of the search and should monitor the contributions of these offices to make sure they do exactly what you request.

Whenever you see either potential or actual problems develop or have questions, you should contact the Dean immediately. Doing so will save you time in receiving additional help for the search and addressing possible problems before they occur.

Tenure-track or regular faculty appointments

When you anticipate a faculty opening, you should make an appointment with the Dean to discuss your suggestions for a faculty appointment. This discussion might occur as the result of an upcoming faculty retirement, a new curricular need, or a resignation, and should occur as early as possible before the search. For tenure-track positions, please refer to the statement from the Executive Council found on the web (http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/chairinfo/fac_alloc) and note that proposals are due by April 1 of the academic year preceding the search. Prior to submitting a proposal for implementing a search for a new faculty member, a departmental representative must meet with the Diversity Officer to discuss strategies for achieving broader diversity in the applicant pool. This meeting will include review of the content and placement of the position advertisement, identification of strategies for identifying and contacting potential diversity* candidates, and discussion of available resources at Grinnell for assisting departments in their search. This meeting should take place well in advance of the April 1st deadline for submitting position requests to the Executive Council.

Term Appointments

Since faculty members must make leave commitments before we place position advertisements, searches for leave replacements often begin later in the year. Chairs will receive reminders early in the fall semester to submit staffing proposals for term or part-time appointments or expansions of shared contracts so that these may be considered as the budget for the following year is prepared. Other than this, searches for term positions parallel those for tenure-track appointments, although the time and special recruiting efforts may be abbreviated.

Developing the pool

Traditionally, publication of the position description and letters to graduate departments generate the applicant pool. There is substantial evidence that the academic job market is improving for candidates and that we will need to work harder to recruit high quality individuals to apply and consider a position at Grinnell College. However, meeting the College's commitment to a diverse faculty requires extraordinary efforts to attract applicants from under-represented groups. You should meet with the Associate Dean responsible for assisting with recruiting and plan a recruiting strategy (Steps to Help Diversify an Applicant Pool). You should make efforts such as:

• Sending the position description to minority organizations in your discipline.
• Attending professional meetings of any special organizations focusing on minority scholars in the discipline.
• Using College contacts with faculty of color at other institutions or faculty at institutions with substantial enrollment of graduate students of color. These faculty members may wish to apply for the position or to encourage recent Ph.Ds or graduate students to apply. You can determine such contacts from discussions with other Grinnell faculty and from lists of previous Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD; formerly CSMP) Fellows or minority-scholars-in- residence at Grinnell.
• Making telephone calls to department contacts at other institutions.
• The department may want to send a faculty member to a professional meeting with the explicit purpose of identifying and talking to potential diversity candidates .
• Reviewing the CFD (formerly CSMP) dossiers from previous years and contacting those persons whose credentials fit the position description. These are on file in the Dean's office.
• The Dean's Office will offer help in developing the applicant pool. For example, they have directories of graduate students and recent Ph.D.s of color for your review.
• When you anticipate an upcoming search, you should review the CFD (formerly CSMP) applications and determine the feasibility of developing a proposal to host a Fellow in a year prior to an anticipated search. Similarly, you should consider proposals to host a minority-scholar-in residence during the year prior to a search or early in the search year.

The academic support staff, working with librarians have received training and can assist the search chair in identifying organizations and departments where recruiting might prove fruitful.

Ranking the pool

Immediately after the close of the search, and prior to the selection of a short list of candidates to be interviewed, a member of the department (preferably the chair of the search committee) will meet with the Diversity Officer to review the applicant pool and identify potential diversity candidates. At this time the Diversity Officer may request that the department give careful consideration to qualified applicants in the pool who might contribute to diversity.

Prior to ranking the applicant pool, the search committee chair should carefully review all applications from diversity candidates. Group telephone calls to the top-ranked candidates should help to rank the pool. You may arrange the use of speaker telephones through Information Technology Services. You may charge all telephone calls using the faculty recruitment telephone access code. The Dean's office will provide this code to each search committee chair. Using this code will reduce department chair work in identifying calls to be moved from the department budget to the faculty recruitment budget.

After ranking the applicant pool, the search committee should prepare a report of the search, including a statement that clearly outlines what steps the department took to build the applicant pool with respect to the goal of diversity. The department should also note and identify any diversity candidates in the pool and note briefly the strengths and weaknesses of those candidates. That statement should be sent to Tammy Prusha at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting with the Dean and Diversity Officer. The chair should then schedule a meeting with the Dean and Diversity Officer. This meeting should occur well in advance of the time candidates will be invited to campus. The report should include a list of the candidates that the department suggests be brought to campus, a list of the top-ranked ten or fifteen candidates, and a list of all the known or probable women and minority candidates. In accordance with our Diversity Guidelines, the Dean and Diversity Officer will review these list s before acting on the recommendation from the search committee. Prior to inviting any foreign nationals to campus, you should ascertain (by asking them explicitly) whether they have visa status which will allow them to work in the United States. Before inviting any candidate for an interview, you should ask the candidate if they are available to interview on your preferred schedule and, if offered the position, whether they can make a decision within the expected time frame.

You may interview top-ranked applicants at a professional meeting. The College will send to a professional meeting an interview team of two faculty members (preferably gender-balanced) for tenure-track searches and one faculty member for term positions. Please apply for the travel through the standard faculty travel reqeust form and indicate that it is for recruiting.

• The purpose of the on-campus interview is two-fold: to allow the College to select the candidate that best fits the position, and to allow the candidate the opportunity to consider a teaching career at Grinnell College. Usually, our look at the candidate is accomplished through activities such as appointments with department faculty, class presentations, a formal lecture, and a meeting with the Dean.
• 
  
  
• Additional planning is required to help the candidate have the best look at Grinnell. I suggest you place yourself in the position of the candidate. If you were considering a teaching career at a liberal arts college in a rural setting, what would be your concerns and how would you expect the College to help you answer these concerns? Each candidate will have different questions, and we need to provide an atmosphere that enables the candidate to have open, frank discussions with members of the Grinnell community. Your role in providing this atmosphere is critical and can start with asking the candidate about the interview schedule. Does the candidate have particular intellectual interests that suggest appointments with specific non-department faculty? Does the attraction of low housing costs suggest an appointment with a realtor? Does the concern about a rural location suggest meetings with recently appointed faculty? You may wish to have diversity candidates meet with other faculty or members of
• 
  
• the
• community of color. Does the concern about spouse or partner employment suggest preparing specific information or appointments with faculty groups outside the department?
• 
  
  
• Note that you may not discuss any gender, spousal, or racial matters unless the candidate raises such concerns; you are then free to discuss these issues directly.
• 
  
  
• You will probably wish to discuss the interview schedule and concerns of the candidate with the candidate after the initial invitation call and perhaps after you have discussed a tentative on-campus schedule with the candidate. Probably the best rule of thumb is to make sure that you and the candidate have discussed the on-campus schedule in detail before the candidate arrives in Grinnell.
• 
  
  
• The Dean is the only College official authorized to discuss salary issues with candidates. In addition, discussions about fringe benefits should be left to either the Dean or the Benefits Office. In this way you do not have to worry about making inappropriate salary or fringe benefit commitments. If you wish, you may quote the published salary ranges given in the faculty chair's annual report.
• 
  
  
• Each interview should include at least one full day at Grinnell. Tenure-track interviews are typically spread over two days. Before issuing an interview invitation, the search committee chair should consider faculty schedules, the Dean's schedule, and schedules of major campus events to avoid possible conflicts. The chair should issue invitations as far in advance of the interview date as possible to minimize travel costs and to provide the candidate with sufficient preparation time for the required public presentation. Academic support offices are very helpful in setting up these schedules and in assisting the candidates in making travel arrangements.
• 
  
  
• In making travel arrangements and the on-campus schedule, you may request assistance from Academic Support Assistants. If you ask these offices to set up the interview schedule, you should be very specific about the order of appointments you want and continually monitor the schedule as the office develops it.
• 
  
  
• Be sure to allow sufficient time on campus for the necessary meetings with students and faculty and for the candidate to observe the atmosphere at the College. That is, don't forget we are attempting both to evaluate the candidate and to attract the candidate to Grinnell.
• 
  
  
• Travel
• 
  
  
• 1. Be sure to determine flight arrival and departure times before you develop the interview schedule.
• 
  
  
• 2. Preferably, Academic Support offices will use a college purchasing card to book an airline ticket directly with an airline or on-line travel agency. If necessary, arrangements may be made through Hamilton Travel (1-800-348-7285 or 641-236-3600), with the airline ticket charged directly to the faculty recruiting account. NOTE: Airfare in excess of $750 will need the Dean's approval before purchasing the airline ticket. Generally, candidates traveling from nearby cities drive and are reimbursed for mileage or car rental.
• 
  
  
• 3. Reserve a college car through Facilities Management to pick up and return the candidate to the airport. (Tell them that the car is being used for faculty recruitment.) If no faculty member is available to drive the candidate, Facilities Management will arrange a driver. (See attached document regarding car pool reservations.)
• 
  
  
• 4. Packets of materials about the college, including housing and benefits, and the community are available in the Human Resources office. You may want to mail those to the candidates before their visits.
• 
  
  
• Accommodations
• 
  
  
• 1. Whenever possible, the candidate should be housed at Grinnell House.
• 
  
  
• 2. If possible, use Grinnell House for faculty meals with the candidate and limit attendance to a maximum of four faculty members.
• 
  
  
• Interviews and Timing
• 
  
  
• The following events are required:
• Public presentation by the candidate and/or teach a course
• Interview with the SEPC
• Interview with Executive Council team (tenure-track searches) or Associate Dean (term searches)

• Candidates will be provided with information about assistance in locating housing and about benefits. If they have particular concerns you should arrange for them to have an appointment with the Director of Benefits or with Human Resources to discuss benefits or other issues. If the candidate is interested, you may wish to arrange a meeting with a realtor to discuss housing options or to visit a local school.
• 
  
  
• Considerations in scheduling the candidate's visit:
• 
  
  
• 1. As soon as the candidate has accepted the interview invitation and we have determined dates of the visit, phone the Dean's Office to schedule an hour-long (half-hour. for term positions) meeting with the Dean. This meeting should come as late in the visit process as possible. When possible, for regular positions schedule a 15 minute meeting with the President.
• 
  
  
• 2. If the individual gives a public presentation, set at least a one-hour period for the candidate's formal presentation to faculty and students. If possible, the presentation should be scheduled early in the interview process. Contact the office of Communication and Events to be sure the presentation is included on the campus calendar and to obtain a confirmation number. If time permits, put a notice of this presentation in the CAMPUS MEMO. This notice should be sent electronically to http://wm2.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/deti.dll
• 
  
  
• 3. For tenure-track searches, set a 50-minute meeting with the two-member Executive Council team. One person of this team is the Division Chair. The identity of the other person is available from the Dean's Office. If the Division Chair is also a member of the Department, the Dean will name both interviewers. This meeting should take place fairly late in the interview process, but it should precede the Dean's meeting. That is, make sure that the candidate sees members of the department prior to the Council interview. This meeting gives the Council members an opportunity to provide the candidate with a context of the position and an overall understanding of institutional goals. Council members also initiate discussion and ask questions with respect to general education, interactions with students and colleagues, and institutional matters that are relevant to new members of the
• faculty. The Executive Council team interview usually occurs at Faculty House; you need not make a reservation.
• 
  
  
• For term searches, set a 30-minute meeting with one of the Associate Deans. This meeting should take place fairly early in the interview process, and can occur before meetings with members of the department. The Associate Dean will provide the candidate with a context of the position and an overall understanding of institutional goals. The Associate Dean will also initiate discussion and ask questions with respect to general education, interactions with students and colleagues, and institutional matters that are relevant to new members of the faculty.
• 
  
  
• 4. The SEPC interview will usually occur during lunch or dinner because students will not have class conflicts at these times. If possible, you should plan for this interview to occur after the candidate's formal presentation.
  
  
• You have the following options (1st two are preferred):
  
• You can order sack lunches at the Spencer Grill and have students and the candidate pick them up and take them to a meeting room in the Rosenfield Center (you need to reserve a room).
• You can order box lunches from Catering to be delivered (you need to reserve a seminar room or other meeting place); or
• You can also request a catered lunch or dinner to eat in any of the other rooms in the Rosenfield Center.

Be sure the interview time is long enough that the students can develop rapport with the candidate and have some significant interactions. (If students have classes just before and after lunch, this could be a problem.) You could have students, in addition, assist with a campus tour and/or drive the candidate to and from the airport.

Dossiers

1. At least two days before the interview, you should send a complete dossier, including the position description, vita and letters of recommendations, and the candidate's interview schedule to the Dean and the President, Executive Council team and appropriate faculty.

2. The SEPC should receive copies of the candidate's interview schedule and vita only. Letters of reference must not be sent to the SEPC.

3. Other staff members, such as Human Resources staff, should receive prior to their meetings, the candidate's interview schedule and the first page of the vita.

Bills

1. All bills and receipts should be sent to the Dean's Office for payment.

2. When reserving a college car and ordering meals from dining services, use the appropriate college account number (Transportation: 10-2030301-52501; On-Campus Meals: 10-2030301-52602) or simply say that these expenses should be charged to faculty recruitment.

In assessing the interviews, you should collect information from everyone who met with the candidate: department faculty, non-department faculty, the Executive Council team, the SEPC, the Dean, and the President. The Executive Council team members will write a brief report to the chair of the department doing the search following their meeting with the candidates, and will send a copy of their report to the other Executive Council members for their information. The report comments upon the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates with regard to the issues addressed by the Executive Council team in its interview.

Following on-campus interviews of candidates for faculty positions, departments make their recommendations concerning appointments to the Executive Council and Diversity Officer, who then make a recommendation to the Dean and the President. The Office of the Dean of the College will distribute this recommendation and manage the approval process.

In order to clarify information and to keep those who are involved in this important decision fully informed, the Executive Council and the President have requested that each department completing a search submit a written statement that recommends making an offer to their selected candidate or candidates. In preparing the justification to the Executive Council, the department should take the comments provided by the Executive Council interview team into account in its decision and in preparing the written recommendation to the Executive Council. The statement should include a brief biography of the candidate being recommended followed by the rationale for an affirmative recommendation, including both the perceived strengths and any reservations concerning the proposed appointment. The statement may additionally make the case for extending an offer to a specific second-choice (and perhaps third-choice) candidate in the event that the first choice does not accept the offer. Also include a brief evaluation of any other candidate interviewed on campus. In the case of a term appointment, this document can be relatively short. In the case of a tenure-track faculty candidate, the statement should include an assessment of how the individual will contribute to the departmental and general education curriculum of the College. All requests to appoint tenure-track faculty must include a diversity statement that details how the selected candidate(s) might contribute to diversity and the efforts the department made in identifying and contacting diversity candidates. For tenure-track searches, the department should append the statement on diversity that it submitted to the Dean and Diversity Officer, so that the Executive Council can confirm the department's diversity efforts.

We request that this statement be sent as an e-mail message to the Dean, so that it may expeditiously be circulated to the Executive Council and Diversity Officer. The statement should reflect the views of departmental colleagues, the Executive Council interview team, other non-departmental faculty members as appropriate, and the SEPC. Once the department makes a recommendation, Executive Council members consider the recommendation in light of all evidence provided by the department (including evaluation by department faculty members, students, colleagues outside the department, Executive Council interview team members, and other relevant sources).

We believe that this process will assure good, efficient communication with all involved. The President may use this information when reporting to the Board of Trustees on the outcome of the search.

In cases where the candidate has not completed the terminal degree, if the candidate's dissertation or other final project has not been accepted, then a copy of any partial dissertation or final project must be submitted to the Dean and the President. With this, the chair of the department will submit a letter summarizing any conversations with the candidate's advisor about the expected timetable for completion of the degree.

The Dean will make the offer of the position and will ask for a reply by a specific date (typically one week). A call from you to encourage the candidate and to answer any final questions is appropriate after the offer is made. Once a phone acceptance is received, we will send a contract to the candidate. When we receive a signed contract, the search committee chair will be notified, and letters should be sent to all applicants informing them of the outcome of the search.

All candidate dossiers must be taken to the Human Resource Office for retention by the College for a period of four years.