Recruiting Faculty

Recruitment of new faculty is a matter of interest to the whole Department and should be carried out with as wide consultation as is practicable.

The Department Chair, after consulting with FAC, initiates the search by securing administrative approval from the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Provost.

The Chair, in consultation with FAC, shall appoint a Search Committee and its Chair, the Committee to be comprised of full-time TT faculty.  Under rare circumstances, it may be considered appropriate by a majority of the FAC to appoint one full-time NTT or part-time faculty member.  Search committees can decide whether or not to invite a graduate student to be involved with the process, but a graduate student may not have a vote.

The Chair shall advertise the position in jobs.kent.edu and appropriate professional publications.  Other avenues of advertisement, such as posting on the Internet or letters to other universities, may also be used but only after the position has been approved by the appropriate University Officers, and no earlier than when the job advertisement is scheduled to be published in jobs.kent.edu and other professional publications.

The Chair of the Search Committee will convene Committee members to review the search timetable and to establish criteria, including due regard for the University’s commitment to affirmative action, and procedures for screening the applicants.

After the deadline has passed, the Search Committee will review the applicants’ files, rank the top candidates, and subsequently prepare a list of candidates for initial interviews, usually at the MLA or CCCC conventions.

After initial interviews, the Search Committee normally will develop a list of three finalists for campus interviews and present the list to the Chair for review.

The Search Committee shall schedule campus interviews with the candidates, including opportunities, if possible, for the candidate to demonstrate teaching proficiency and to make a scholarly presentation.  It shall inform the Department of the itineraries; provide opportunities for the faculty to meet the candidates informally; and arrange interviews with the Chair, the College Dean, and, in some cases, the Provost.

Following the interview process, the Search Committee shall solicit opinions from the Department, including members of FAC.  They will then convene to discuss the written comments and to discuss each of the finalists.  Before submitting a ranked list to the Chair, the Chair of the Search Committee will summarize the Committee’s final meeting in writing for the Chair and will submit the summary with a ranked list of finalists to the Chair.  The summary will be made available to all English faculty.

The Chair is responsible for making the final decision and for generating and securing approval of the letter of offer.  When an offer has been accepted, the Chair shall announce the results of the search to the Department and publish them in the weekly newsletter.

The Campus Dean and the Vice Provost for Regional Campuses are responsible for identifying the faculty position to be filled.  The Dean, in consultation with the Department Chair and the local Department faculty, determines the specific qualifications and requirements for the position and incorporates them in a Position Request Authorization (PRA), for the approval of the Vice Provost for Regional Campuses.

The Vice Provost for Regional Campuses shall authorize appropriate notices, to appear in Job Opp and appropriate professional journals, stating minimum qualifications, position requirements and responsibilities, application deadlines and materials to be submitted.

The Campus Dean shall appoint a Search Committee and its Chair, typically composed of four faculty from that campus and one representative of the Kent Campus selected by the Department Chair.

The Campus Dean shall convene the Search Committee and present its charge.  At this meeting the Committee will discuss the specific qualifications required of candidates and determine procedures for reviewing applications, including the University’s commitment to affirmative action.  The Committee may also agree on a checklist of characteristics (weighted according to importance) being sought in the candidates.

Once the application deadline has passed, the Chair of the Search Committee will screen the applications to determine whether or not each meets the minimum qualifications for the position.  If necessary, the Committee Chair will consult with the Chair on individual cases.

The Search Committee then will review the eligible applications and draw up a short list of approximately three finalists it recommends to be invited for on-campus interviews.  The Chair will be invited to review the list before it is finalized.  This list then is submitted to the Campus Dean.  (In the case of multiple searches, if a candidate’s name should appear on the short list of more than one Regional Campus search committee, the office of the Vice Provost for the Regional Campuses will coordinate visits to allow for interviews on the interested campuses.)

Prior to the visits, the Search Committee will organize and publicize the itineraries, compose a uniform checklist of generic questions to be asked of each candidate and of key strengths and weaknesses to be noted during interviews.  It will also prepare evaluation sheets for faculty and students to record impressions during teaching demonstrations.

Each candidate’s visit should include the following: a teaching demonstration; separate interviews with the Search Committee, the Campus Dean, the Department Chair, and, if requested, a representative of the Vice Provost for the Regional Campuses; opportunities for informal meetings with faculty of the local campus and campus tours.  When possible, the candidate should make a scholarly presentation at the Kent Campus.  Because these activities involve two campuses, at least two days are generally needed for each visit.

Following the on-campus interviews, the Search Committee shall convene to formulate its report to the Campus Dean.  The Chair shall be invited to this meeting.  The Committee shall submit to the Campus Dean a list of the qualified candidates, ranked in order of preference, with accompanying summaries of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.

After consulting with the Department Chair, the Campus Dean shall choose the successful candidate and negotiate with the candidate.  The formal offer of employment shall be made by the Vice provost for Regional Campuses.

Throughout the process, the activities of the Search Committee and of all administrative officers shall be conducted with scrupulous respect for the privacy of all applicants; and, to the extent permitted by Ohio law, rules of strict confidentiality apply to all deliberations and actions involved in the hiring process.

When a candidate has accepted an offer, the Campus Dean shall announce the results of the search to the campus and to the Department Chair, who will publish it in the weekly newsletter.