6.02 Academic Department Head Recruitment/ Appointments

Purpose

To provide guidelines regarding the recruitment and selection of academic department heads and directors.

Policy Statement

Academic department head recruiting shall be in accordance with Affirmative Action policy and procedures and other applicable hiring and employment policies. The Faculty Hiring Guide is to be reviewed and applied and the careers.uni.edu applicant tracking system is to be utilized.

Chapter 6: Faculty Employment Policies

Procedure

Search and Screening Committee:  The Committee shall be composed of a maximum of five (5) tenured/probationary faculty members selected by the department in consultation with the dean. In addition,  one department head from within the college, and one faculty member from within the college, may be appointed by the dean if so desired, making total Committee membership seven (7) or less. The Committee should select at least two (2) students from within the college in which the department is housed to meet with candidates separately and provide the Committee with feedback regarding the student perspectives on the candidates. Any committee member electing to become an active candidate shall be replaced on the committee according to procedures above.  A chairperson will be chosen by the dean in consultation with the committee.

Position Announcement:  The committee will meet with the dean of the college to develop the position announcement and to discuss the search policies and procedures. 

Recruitment Procedures:  The committee shall pursue applications and nominations from a wide variety of sources including the teaching faculty, administrative staff, professional associations, and other colleges and universities if an external search is conducted.  Recruitment plans are to be approved through the requisition process.

The committee shall screen the applications and nominations. Screenings may be done via telephone or electronic means in order to gather additional information from candidates prior to the determination of on-campus interviews.  The committee, in consultation with the dean, will make arrangements for interviews by the committee, departmental faculty, and appropriate university officials for a reasonable number of candidates. 

The committee chair will use the careers.uni.edu system to forward the unranked names of acceptable candidates whom it endorses to the dean.

The committee chair should submit evaluation comments for each candidate interviewed. The candidates shall not be numerically ranked. The dean will consult with the committee and the department faculty prior to forwarding a recommendation to the Provost and Executive Vice President through the careers.uni.edu system.

In unusual circumstances, the dean, in consultation with the department faculty, may request provost approval to seek a variance from any or all of the above procedural steps. 

Other related policies:

13.01 Affirmative Action

4.02 Staff Recruitment and Hiring 

Academic Affairs Council, and Office of Civil Rights Compliance, approved March 3, 2015
President’s Cabinet, approved May 19, 2015
President and Executive Management Team, approved June 1, 2015 
[Last reviewed and/or updated 7/2024, 3/2015]