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Chapter 7: Faculty Hiring Procedures for Chairs
Hiring Requests for New Full-Time, Term Positions or Tenure-Track Replacements Positions
Requests for all tenure track and full-time term hires must be submitted electronically to the Office of Academic Affairs on or before June 1 for searches to take place during the following academic year. See Faculty Chair Recruitment Checklist or recruitment information prior to June 1. Chairs must make the case for a tenure track position based on analysis of pertinent data, such as the department's number of major/minor affiliates, number of graduates, curricular pressures on enrollment, changes in the workload of existing faculty, and curricular directions suggested by the strategic priorities of the colleges or the department's most recent program review.
Authorization to Hire
The vice provost, academic dean and the associate dean will review the staffing requests and make a recommendation to the provost in light of the information submitted by the chairs. New positions, especially new tenure-track positions, are rare. The provost will authorize a position only when adequate funds are available for the position and when the position is consistent with larger institutional needs and priorities. Departments will be informed of the provost's decision by August 15th.
Elements of the Recruitment Process
Tenure track positions require a national search, and thus all of the procedures below are to be followed. National searches are encouraged for one-year term or sabbatical replacement searches, but not required. However, the other procedures noted below are to be followed.
Chair Checklist
The Human Resources website includes a Faculty Chair Recruitment Checklist which should be used for every search. In addition, a recruitment and hiring workshop is conducted at the start of fall semester by the vice provost and the Human Resources Office. It is expected that representatives (e.g., chair, department coordinator, chair of the search committee) from departments who have received permission to hire will attend this workshop.
CSB vs SJU Contract
The decision of whether a contract will be a CSB contract or an SJU contract is made by Academic Affairs in consultation with Human Resources. The decision will be based on maintaining a CSB/SJU faculty balance within each department and other institutional priorities.
Position Description
Position ads will be created by the chair, in consultation with other members of that department or others as appropriate, and reviewed and approved by the vice provost and the Human Resources Office before being submitted for publication. The description will be reviewed for accuracy, consistency with CSB/SJU Goals, appropriateness of language, and related issues. The provost gives final approval for all position descriptions. Every effort will be made to place the ad in media the department deems appropriate, but budget considerations may limit the number of journals used or the number of times an ad appears. All ads will request a letter of application, a statement of teaching philosophy, three letters of recommendation, CV and official transcripts and other materials as applicable.
A Note on Salary
Please note that new positions are budgeted as entry-level (rank of Instructor or Assistant professor, with no more than a few years prior teaching experience). Chairs should have a conversationwith the vice provost before pursuing a candidate who might expect to e hired at a higher rank or salary range.
A Note on Diversity
The College of St. Benedict and St. John's University are equal opportunity, affirmative action employers. It is imperative that departments make a good faith effort to diversify the candidate pool, and it will be the vice provost's responsibility to certify that effort. Please note that if a pool of candidates does not display adequate diversity, the appropriate action by the vice provost may be to continue the search until adequate diversity is achieved or to declare a failed search.
Applications
Applications are accepted online through the Human Resources website at http://employment.csbsju.edu. Applicants will complete a short faculty application and be able to attach the required documents. Search committees will be given online viewing access by Human Resources. (Questions about the online process should be directed to Human Resources.)
Telephone Interviews
After a review of applicant files the department conducts phone interviews of the top five candidates. Telephone interviews can be replaced with an interview at a national conference. Guidelines for telephone (or conference) interviewing include the following:
• write down questions in advance;
• ask questions that will reveal the professional expertise of the candidate;
• use the same questions for each candidate;
• ask "leading" questions that will draw out a candidate rather than "yes and no" questions;
• remind committee members to introduce themselves to the candidate to personalize the search process;
• avoid asking questions that are not job relevant (e.g., family status). (See Legal Interviewing Guide section on questions not to ask.).
At the phone interview stage, chairs are free to answer general questions about the CSB/SJU faculty salary grid and national benchmarking used to establish salary with candidates. Chairs and faculty members should avoid speculating about the specifics of salary, leaving specific salaryy discussion to the vice provost.
The top five candidates are ranked in order of candidate preference after the telephone interviews.
Reference Calls
Reference calls must be conducted before any candidate is invited to campus. Ordinarily, this would mean conducting reference calls for the top two candidates. It is a good idea to verify the existence/position of the reference, for example by checking the web site of the college/university of the reference and calling a general phone number of the institution to request to speak to the reference, rather than using the phone number provided in the reference letter.
Generally, references should be asked questions like the following: What is your position? In what capacity and how long have you known the candidate? At CSB/SJU, faculty are evaluated in several areas (teaching effectiveness, scholarship and creative work, service to the institution, community, etc.), please provide your assessment of the candidate's strengths or professional development needs in each of these areas. Can you give me some examples of how you form your assessment of this person's potential as a teacher/scholar?
If the outcome of a reference call is unsatisfactory, the ranking of the top five should be adjusted, and reference calls will be completed for the top two candidates.
After phone interviews and reference checks, departments should forward their recommendation of the two candidates to invite for on-campus interviews, along with the complete files of the top five candidates to the vice provost. The vice provost reviews the files and gives approval to extend an invitation for on-campus interviews for two candidates. Advance notice to the Academic Affairs Office before submitting these files will help ensure a prompt response from the vice provost.
The chair should inform the Human Resources Office of candidates who are no longer under consideration. Human Resources will send a thank you message via email to inform the candidates.
Departments should follow the same procedures as described above for internal candidates, and it is recommended that the chair inform internal candidate(s) personally. All department members should be especially sensitive to matters of confidentiality when internal candidates are involved.
Campus Interviews
Ordinarily, two candidates are brought to campus to interview for a position. All candidates must be interviewed by the vice provost.
The chair or department coordinator should schedule interviews and help make appropriate transportation arrangements and work with the Academic Affairs Office to coordinate the interview schedule with the vice provost. The chair attends the interview with the vice provost.
Procedures for interviews, meals, lodging, and airfare are as follows:
Airfare
Advanced planning can save a great deal of money on air fares. When making airline reservations, check dates for a savings in the air fare and check an assortment of flight times and options. Airfares of over $500 must be approved by Academic Affairs.
Housing
Unless unavailable, on-campus housing should be reserved for candidates. Housing options are as follows:
• The SJU Abbey Guesthouse (extension 2573),
• The CSB monastery guesthouse (363-7088),
• The CSB guest apartment (contact Residential Life through extension 5580),
• Or, a loft at CSB can be reserved (extension 5791)
If on-campus housing is not available, candidates should stay at a moderately priced local motel.
Meals
When possible, meals should be eaten on campus. Meal tickets can be obtained from the Academic Affairs Office. Lunch is a good time for candidates to meet with students. Meals are part of the interview process and should be conducted as such. When off campus meals are necessary, only moderately priced meals should be considered; in order to facilitate the conversation needed for an effective interview, should ordinarily include only 1-2 departmental faculty. Requests for reimbursement should include a completed Travel Expense Reimbursement Form, itemized receipts and the names of people attending the meal. Reimbursements in excess of these guidelines will not be honored. Travel Expense Reimbursement Forms should be submitted to the Academic Affairs Office.
Last Steps
In preparation for the on campus interviews, the chair may secure Candidate Evaluation Forms from the Human Resources Website or use one prepared by the committee for its written review. These forms must be completed and submitted to the Human Resources Office after the search to remain with the recruitment file.
After the on-campus interview process, the department makes its recommendation for hire to the vice provost. The recommendation should include an explanation of the reasons for the decision. In the case that the two top candidates are essentially equivalent, the more diverse candidate for the department is expected to be recommended.
Ordinarily, an on-campus interview should include both a scholarly and teaching presentation. Students should participate in one or both presentations and their feedback should be obtained after the presentation. Students' evaluations should also be submitted with other search materials. In addition, the department faculty, and faculty from other departments as applicable, should be invited to the presentation.
Job Offer
The vice provost will review the departmental recommendation with the provost, who approves the hire. The vice provost will contact the candidate and make the job offer. All negotiation with a candidate is done by the vice provost. Once the department has recommended a candidate, the department must separate themselves from the process until the negotiations are completed. When a candidate accepts a position, the vice provost will inform the chair. The Vice Provost's Office will prepare the necessary Contract Data Form which is sent to the Human Resources Office for issuance of the contract. No contract will be issued until an official transcript is received. Candidates should be asked to provide official transcripts at the time of the on-campus interview to speed up this process.
Post-hire
The Chair returns all application materials and evaluation forms (including those for the individual hired) to the Human Resources Office so that files may be closed and all materials placed in storage. Once the Human Resources Office has received the candidate's complete file including official transcripts (not copies) a contract will be prepared and mailed to the candidate. The Chair should notify the remaining finalists by telephone that the position has been filled. The Chair should notify Human Resources when that is complete and Human Resources will close the search online. The chair should remain in contact with the new hire to provide assistance during the transition and work internally with Academic Affairs and the Human Resources Office regarding such things as office space, teaching schedule, identification cards, etc. New Hire Faculty will begin meeting with Human Resources after July 1 by appointment.
Last updated: April 2012