Applies to: (examples; Faculty,Staff, Students, etc)

Faculty , Staff

Policy Overview:

The policy on Faculty Searches provides a consistent approach to ensure that the recruitment of full-time and part-time faculty is conducted in a manner that meets compliance needs, consistent with our values (diversity, growth, inclusion, integrity, positivity, professionalism, respect), UHSP’s strategic priorities and goals, as well as following best practice to ensure for selection of the best possible faculty members.

Applies to faculty, staff or administrators authorizing, managing or participating in faculty searches.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. The Importance of a "Search Committee"
3. Culture of Searching
4. Defining the Search
   1. Determine position specifics and job description
   2. Develop a realistic timeline
   3. Determine if sponsorship is available for the position
5. Approval to Fill a Position
   1. Requisitioning the position
   2. Review for Affirmative Action Goals
   3. Freezing a search
6. The Search Committee Makeup and Guidelines
   1. Search Committee structure
   2. Appointment of search committee chair
   3. Appointment of the rest of the committee
   4. Goal for the committee
   5. Committee Training
   6. Confidentiality
   7. Communication with applicants and candidates
   8. Search Committee Records
   9. Search Committee Materials
7. Advertising and Sourcing Candidates
   1. Print/Online advertising
   2. Broadening the Applicant Pool
   3. Networking
   4. Affirmative Action Outreach
   5. Written advertising plan
8. Applications
9. Evaluation and Interviewing
   1. Selection criteria
   2. Prohibited selection criteria
   3. Applicant pool demographics
   4. Narrowing the candidate pool - Minimum qualifications
   5. Assessment of interview pool demographics
   6. Preferred Qualifications
   7. References
   8. Phone/Video Screening Interviews
   9. Finalists and on-campus interviews
   10. Failed Search
10. Recommending a candidate
    1. Report of search finalists
    2. Negotiation
    3. Acceptance of an offer
    4. Background Check
       

Appendix A:  Job Specifics and Description Template

Appendix B:  Sample Faculty Recruiting Timeline

Appendix C:  Minority Directories

Appendix D:  Screening Criteria

Appendix E:  Sample Thank You Rejection Letter

Appendix F:  On-Campus Interview Evaluation

Appendix G: Checklist for search policy requirements

Appendix H: Written Advertising Plan

Appendix I:  Sample diversity statements

Appendix J:  Search Committee Membership Notice

Appendix K: Sample “Core Values” Questions

Appendix L: Phone/Initial Screening Interview Template

Appendix M: Report of Recruitment Results and Request to Interview Candidates

Appendix N: UHSP Candidate Disposition Reasons for Applicant Tracking System

Definitions:

Details:

1) Introduction
University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis believes strongly in the principles of shared governance and recognizes that an academic institution’s faculty traditionally have had significant influence in searches for new faculty. While selection of new hires is not a faculty charge outlined in the bylaws, faculty participation is critical. This policy aims to provide the structure needed to encourage participation in job searches while recognizing that there are different roles for faculty and administration (human resources, chairs, deans, president) within that process. The goal of the search committee is to recruit, evaluate, and recommend the best candidate(s) for the position. The hiring process followed by the committee helps to ensure the candidate pool is diverse in terms of culture, worldview, experiences, skills and/or abilities.

2) The Importance of a “Search Committee”
Faculty positions can have a number of roles ranging from administrative positions (program directors, assistant or associate dean, chair, dean) to research positions and a combination of teaching, clinical practice, research, and scholarship, and service. In all instances, appropriate input is critical in selecting the best candidate. It is important as well to hear from a variety of campus constituents to ensure broad campus input when selecting a new faculty member.

3) Culture of Searching
Reimagining recruiting as an ongoing activity rather than as a special occasion means encouraging your department to be in the habit of regularly “scouting” for potential candidates who will enhance the faculty and its diversity profile in specific ways.

Scouting activities are meant to identify and build relationships with potential job applicants so that the department is in a good position to attract high quality applicants when it has an approved search. Scouting also can lead to the identification of “preferred” candidates the department would like to hire.

When thinking about scouting, units should bear in mind that:

• Scouting activities are meant to help build high quality, diverse pools of potential applicants for the future; they cannot guarantee funded positions.
• It is important to openly discuss how the department and the relevant school will approach preferred candidates and/or specialized searches in relation to long-range hiring plans.
• Administrators for departments, schools, and the institution should be careful not to build unrealistic expectations for either potential applicants or current faculty.

With these cautions in mind, here are some ways a department can foster effective habits for scouting:

• Develop, discuss, and regularly update long-range hiring plans, taking into consideration the University's current Affirmative Action Plan. (If the department is unaware of its Affirmative Action Plan, check with the Human Resources office). All members of the department should be aware of current and anticipated needs, including those related to anticipated or known retirements, as well as of the department’s “wish list” for future hires.       
• Encourage all members of the department to view professional meetings as opportunities to scout for potential faculty applicants. Members can track future potential faculty by attending presentations from graduate students, postdoctoral students, fellows, and pharmacy residents.
• Consider hosting a targeted reception or event at your discipline’s major conference or meeting that spotlights a critical University goal a new hire could help us achieve.
• Consider using a research seminar, guest lecture, or seminar series as an opportunity to invite potential future applicants to campus. This is a “low stakes” way to introduce potential applicants to the department and to campus allies, and to give them an opportunity to experience UHSP firsthand.

4) Defining the Search
When a faculty opening occurs, the appropriate dean shall work with the appropriate department chair to define the terms of the search.

a) Determine Position Specifics and Job Description
The position description must be consistent with established academic need and strategic plans. Human Resources can provide a template (Appendix A). The appropriate dean and/or chair (if delegated by the dean) will broadly define the type of faculty position based on budgeted positions, approved strategic initiatives or goals. The chair will select faculty within the department, and request input from faculty across departments, when developing the position specifics and job description. For faculty positions funded wholly (90% or more) by a faculty Primary Investigator’s (PI) research, the PI may direct the creation of the specifics and job description, but the chair and dean of the affiliated academic department and school must approve of the description.

A complete description will include:

• General or specific academic discipline for the position
• Full-time or adjunct status
• Track for the position, for promotion and tenure purposes (administration, clinical educator, teaching/research/service, researcher)
• Date/time the position needs to start
• Salary range available in the budget (available to administrators only)
• Division of effort among teaching, research/scholarship, service, and practice
• Acceptable academic rank
• Tenure vs. non-tenure track
• Determination of resources (research start-up funds, lab space, materials, etc.)
• Teaching responsibility (including didactic and experiential)
• Preferred area(s) of research or scholarship
• Service responsibilities
• Pharmacy practice obligations, if applicable
• Minimum requirements for education and experience
• Preferred education and experience requirements
• Desired communication and interpersonal skills
• Notice of diversity and inclusion value, and/or cultural competency outcome, and/or desire to have a candidate contribute to diversity on campus. See Appendix I for examples.

b) Develop a Realistic Timeline
Beginning with the target start date for the faculty member, work backwards and develop a realistic timeline for recruiting candidates and interviewing applicants. The timeline should be developed by the dean, but may be delegated to the department chair and approved by the dean, or delegated to the PI and approved by the chair and dean. An example can be found in Appendix B.

c) Determine if Sponsorship is Available for the Position.
Some candidates may need to be sponsored for employment. Additional work, time (three or four months) and budget resources is involved to obtain a visa if the University wishes to hire a foreign national candidate. The dean will determine if funding is available for visa sponsorship and notify the committee. See the Employment Eligibility and Sponsorship Policy.

5) Approval to Fill a Position

a) Requisitioning the Position
The hiring department/researcher is responsible for completing a requisition for each position, regardless if it is a replacement or new position. The requisition must be approved by the relevant chair and dean before being sent to Human Resources and the president. Only when a requisition is completed can an open position be confirmed.

b) Review for Affirmative Action Goals
Affirmative Action is the University taking demonstrable action to increase diversity and inclusiveness. The University accomplished this through an Affirmative Action Plan, which analyses its workforce to assess the possible underutilization of women, minorities, veterans, and persons with diversity. If underutilization is identified for specific positions, the University creates specific outreach efforts to find underrepresented candidates. In addition, the University trains hiring staff to ensure that the recruitment process is equitable and unbiased. Affirmative action is not a “quota” or extending preference to any individual based on race, color, religion, gender, veteran status, or national origin. Selection is merit based.

Human Resources will use the requisition and job description to review the position in light of the University's Affirmative Action plan, determining if the position requires specific outreach efforts. The results of this review will then then be communicated to the search chair, department chair and dean.

c) Freezing a Search
Should administration determine that stopping an active search might be required; the appropriate dean will discuss the potential need to stop the search with the faculty in the department and the search committee and receive input. If it is essential to stop the search, the appropriate dean will actively communicate with the search committee and department that the search has been stopped as early in the process as possible.

6) The Search Committee Makeup and Guidelines

a) Search Committee Structure
The make-up of search committees may vary depending on the function of the faculty position. Specific examples of various structures are outlined below. In general:

• A search for a faculty member in a shared or co-funded clinical practice position will include significant input from the practice site.
• A teaching/research/service faculty member search will include greater input from department and school faculty involved in classroom delivery.
• A search for a faculty member whose primary focus is research will include input from appropriate faculty researchers and administrators.
• A search for an administrator may be chaired by an administrative focused faculty member (dean, associate dean, department chair) but with significant input from individuals from representative departments.
• Part-time or adjunct faculty search committees may consist only of one or two individuals, often with a department chair serving as search chair. The chair may bring in a subject matter expect, course coordinator or other faculty member for input.

Input and representation from faculty is important in all of these types of searches, but the proportion of representation will differ depending on each position’s requirements.

b) Appointment of Search Committee Chair
The department chair will recommend a search committee chair to the dean who is responsible for affirming the appointment. The chair should be someone who is held in high regard by other University personnel, is knowledgeable about, but not necessarily from, the same discipline in which the search is being conducted, and who has experience in successful searches or possesses other skills including the ability to conduct meetings. Through his/her own work and interpersonal interactions, the potential chair should demonstrate both a commitment to University values and a willingness to expand the applicant and interview pool so to increase the number of underrepresented minorities involved.

The chair is responsible for:

• Following the University search policy
• Keeping the search moving according to the timeline,
• Ensuring that the committee is holding true to search parameters outlined in the position description
• Communicating with the department chair and dean on the status of the search
• Ensuring records--including those pertaining to the reasons that candidates have been rejected-- are kept in accordance with HR requirements
• Communicating directly to applicants and candidates
• Working with Human Resources in placing advertisements in appropriate websites and venues
• Assigning roles to committee members
• Ensuring that a “wide net” is cast (use of minority directories, ensuring personal contact is made to a wide variety of potential candidates), see Appendix C.
• Reporting to the department chair and dean about the search committee’s recommended finalists with rationale in a written report that includes information on candidates invited to campus.
• Requesting utilization of support staff for the search, i.e. itinerary preparation
• Running a confidential, fair, ethical, non-discriminatory search

c) Appointment of the Rest of the Committee
The department chair and search committee chair shall recommend committee members for the dean’s approval. While a substantive portion of the committee’s membership may consist of personnel from either the department conducting the search or the discipline to which it pertains, other stakeholders should have appropriate representation. It is helpful in many circumstances to balance junior and senior faculty and have student representation where a position has heavy student contact. Given that the committee’s composition sends a message to potential applicants about the culture of the department, the college, and the University, it must include members who will provide a range of different perspectives and expertise, and whose behavior consistently aligns with University values. Consequently, the committee’s membership is expected to reflect the University’s diversity in gender, ethnicity, educational background, and other social identifiers. The dean will be responsible for providing written notice to Human Resources that the committee is sufficiently diverse based on faculty available to serve on the committee. See Appendix J for an example.

In addition to the assigned chair, two special roles should be assigned to committee members other than the chair:

• Secretary (faculty member responsible for documenting meetings, search parameters, etc.)
• UHSP Core Values Liaison (faculty member responsible for ensuring search includes assessment of University values)

These roles may be in addition to placement on a committee as a disciplinary expert, departmental member, etc.  For adjunct faculty searches, the chair and course coordinator may fill these roles.

Below are typical but not the only acceptable models for search committees:

Teaching/Scholarship/Service Faculty Search

1. Search Committee Chair
2. Faculty member – disciplinary expert
3. Faculty member – departmental faculty
4. Faculty member – departmental faculty
5. Faculty member from another department
6. At large members from other college
7. Student representative
8. Department chair (Ex-Officio)
9. Optional additional at large members

Administrator search committee:

1. Search Committee Chair
2. Faculty member – disciplinary expert
3. Faculty member – departmental faculty
4. At large member – experienced faculty administrator
5. At large member from another department
6. At large members from other college
7. Student representative
8. Department chair (Ex-Officio)

Clinical educator search committee:

1. Search Committee Chair
2. Faculty member – disciplinary expert
3. Faculty member – departmental faculty
4. Faculty member – practice site representative (for shared positions)
5. Faculty member – non-departmental faculty
6. At large members from other college
7. Student representative
8. Department chair (Ex-Officio)
9. Optional at large member

Faculty researcher search committee:

1. Search Committee Chair
2. Faculty member – disciplinary expert
3. Faculty member – departmental faculty
4. Faculty member – non-departmental faculty
5. Faculty member with active research programs
6. Outside research partners
7. Lab staff
8. Department chair (Ex-Officio)

Adjunct faculty search committee:

1. Department chair
2. Faculty course coordinator/subject matter expert, as needed by chair

The committee is responsible for sharing the search workload in a fair way, working within the search parameters, following policies and procedures as outlined, and proceeding in accordance with the University's mission and goals.  Committee members who act in their self-interest, do not participate and/or fail to follow guidelines may be removed and replaced from the search by the dean at the request of the search chair or department chair.

d) Goal for the Committee
The goal of the search committee is to recruit, evaluate, and recommend the best candidates for the position. A search committee will be given a specific charge to find outstanding, qualified, and diverse candidates. The dean or designee will give the search chair the official committee charge:

• For teaching/scholarship/service faculty, clinical educator faculty, and research faculty the committee charge will typically end with recommending finalist(s) to the dean.
• For administrator searches, the charge will typically end with a recommendation of finalist(s) to the dean or, in the case of a dean search, the president.
• For adjunct faculty the charge will typically end with a selection of finalist(s) by the department chair

 Information or instructions shared by the dean or designee in the search charge will also include:

• Job specifics and description for the position.
• The department’s specific goals for the search (if any) and expectations for the search process, including the expectation of confidentiality.
• An outline of the ideal search and recruitment timeline (Appendix D).
• An emphasis on the importance of each committee member’s regular attendance at meetings and full participation in the search process.
• Available fiscal resources to assist with the search (such as funds for travel, advertising, etc.) and administrative support.

The committee is not required to recommend a certain quota of final candidates. Nevertheless, committees are generally expected to recommend at least two, and no more than four, finalists.

e) Committee Training

Prior to reviewing candidates, all UHSP committee members must have undergone committee search training within the past two years. This ensures that committee members are up to date regarding questions that can and cannot be asked during an interview, confidentiality, recordkeeping, and UHSP processes. UHSP committee members must be knowledgeable about the University’s equal employment opportunity policy (that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability, age, gender, gender expression/identity, sexual orientation, veteran status or other protected class in admission, financial aid, athletics or any of its educational policies and programs), its affirmative action plan, the University’s diversity and inclusion values, ways to avoid interview bias, and promote the long-term retention of prospective candidates.

f) Confidentiality

While appointment to a committee and most of the description of the job is not confidential, some job specifics should be treated as confidential.  In most circumstances, only administrators will have confidential search information such as salary range and access to academic resources, such as research start-up, development funds, etc.

All applications are considered confidential.    An applicant’s name, CV, or other materials may not be shared outside the committee, department chair, appropriate dean, Human Resources, and assigned support staff until a candidate accepts an invitation to interview on campus. Revealing an applicant to his/her current employer may jeopardize his/her position and/or reputation.

When finalists are selected and brought to campus the committee should disclose to the candidate who, to assist in the assessment process, the applicant’s CV will be shared with constituents on campus. 

g) Communication with Applicants and Candidates 

To ensure confidentiality and integrity during the search process, only the search chair (or designee, such as support staff), division director/department chair, and Human Resources may communicate with the applicant.  The search chair, division director/department chair, and Human Resources will coordinate to ensure communication efforts are not duplicated.  Committee members may be assigned the task of contacting references or candidates, but under no circumstances should committee members make contact with candidates or outside recommenders without the committee’s knowledge, direction, and assent.

h) Search Committee Records

The following records should be kept during the search:

• Written record of dean’s approval of committee membership (HR)
• Record of applicant pool diversity (HR), diversity at application stages of review (search committee & HR)
• Copies of announcements or advertisements (HR)
• Correspondence with candidates, evaluations, references (search committee & HR)
• Committee meeting notes including dates and times of meetings, members present, candidates reviewed, and decisions by the committee. (search committee)
• Evaluations, decisions, and reasons for decisions of candidates at each step, applicants, interviewees (search committee) See appendix D for example template.
• Final recommendation through the Division director/department chair to the dean (search committee)

After the search has concluded, Human Resources will retain search records.

i) Search Committee Materials

Human Resources will provide the search committee with a packet of materials (see Appendixes) that includes all the necessary checklists, sample forms, etc. at the beginning of the search.

7) Advertising and Sourcing Candidates

a) Print/Online Advertising

Human Resources will work with the search committee to create advertisements consistent with the University’s branding efforts and requirements.  Care will be taken to:

• develop language in the job ad that will encourage applications from individuals who are committed to diversity-­‐related work and whose record of research, teaching, service, and/or outreach reflects a commitment to diversity and equal opportunity
• describe the University in a way that is consistent with our branding efforts to introduce UHSP to candidates

Budgets for advertising are limited and search committees should make efforts to ensure that advertisements are of value.  

All positions will be posted on the University’s public website as well as sites that can help ensure the candidate pool is diverse.  Examples include Diverse Issues in Higher Ed, National Pharmaceutical Association, and Higher Education Recruiting Consortium (HERC).  Human Resources will help the committee craft a longer, more descriptive advertisement for our website as a well as a shorter advertisement for publications, if necessary. Human Resources will assist in finding the most productive venues for advertising to a broad range of potential applicants.

All postings are required to have the following language:

“We are an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer that values diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race/ethnicity, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, protected veteran status or status as an individual with a disability. EOE/M/F/Veteran/Disabled”

b) Broadening the Applicant Pool

All search committees are required to make specific efforts to broaden their applicant search for diverse applicants that will enhance their department and the institution.  As best practice, committees are strongly encouraged to utilize minority directories and associations.  A sample list is included as Appendix C.

c) Networking

It is best practice to use professional conferences and meetings to find outstanding candidates.  Committees should also contact peers, doctoral programs, and post-doctoral programs directly to notify them of the search and request information on potential qualified candidates.

In addition, the search committee should broadly communicate about positions within the discipline or within appropriate communities (academic discipline, degree granting institutions, associations, list serves, etc.).  Record of these communications should be included in the committee’s search records.

d) Affirmative Action Outreach

As an institution that seeks federal contracts, we voluntarily comply with the affirmative action requirements under Executive Order 11246. Affirmative Action is the implementation of special recruitment and development efforts to overcome the under-representation of targeted groups to achieve a balanced workforce. Targeted groups include minorities/persons of color, women, persons with disabilities, disabled veterans, and Vietnam era veterans. All persons are afforded equal opportunity. Some committees may be required to conduct and document special outreach efforts for positions listed within the University's Affirmative Action policy as requiring special outreach.  Human Resources will inform the committee chair, department chair, and dean of any affirmative action requirements for the search.

e) Written Advertising Plan

The search committee chair, human resources, and the department chair will collaboratively work to develop a plan to promote the position taking into account the position, labor market, departmental, and affirmative action goals.  The dean must approve this plan. A template for the plan is available to facilitate this process (See appendix H). A plan approved by the dean must be completed and submitted to HR prior to reviewing applications.

The department chair is responsible for communicating within the academic department, and/or school regarding an open faculty position.

8) Applications

All applicants are required to submit an application through the Human Resources application system.  This system ensures that electronic materials are available to the search committee.  The system also asks for voluntary demographic information such as race/ethnicity, gender, disability, and veteran status.

9) Evaluation and Interviewing

a) Selection criteria

Prior to reviewing candidates, the search committee should develop selection criteria based on the job specifics and description.

A sample selection evaluation tool is available in Appendix D.  This sample should be customized by the committee to ensure that it includes valid assessment for specific competencies needed for the position (knowledge, skills, abilities, or other attributes).  The evaluation tool will include a tool for assessing a candidate’s alignment with institutional values.

Special care should be taken to ensure that selection criteria are inclusive and do not potentially limit underrepresented minorities from meeting the criteria.  

b) Prohibited Selection Criteria

University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis is an equal opportunity employer.  Search committees are prohibited from using race/ethnicity, religion, color, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, age, veteran status, gender identity, and sexual orientation to discriminate against candidates.

Often a search committee will review an applicant’s publications and scholarly work.  This is acceptable.  However, under no circumstances should the committee investigate to discern information about an applicant’s personal life. For this reason general “Google” searches and Facebook searches are prohibited.

Candidates cannot be discriminated against based on citizenship status. However, some specific positions may require evaluation of citizenship status. This will be communicated to the committee prior to the search commencing.

c) Applicant Pool Demographics

The Human Resources system will track demographics of the applicant pool and report back to the search committee chair, department chair, and dean prior to interviews.  The applicant pool will be compared to available data in the Affirmative Action, St. Louis Metropolitan area and/or other appropriate pool (such as AACP Faculty Roster demographics) to determine if the pool is reasonably diverse.  Pools that are not substantially diverse may have to delay interviewing until additional applicants can be found or a reasonable explanation is presented to the dean.

In addition, the committee will receive information on UHSP student demographics.

d) Narrowing the Candidate Pool - Minimum Qualifications

The entire search committee should take part in reviewing candidates, using previously determined evaluation criteria to narrow the candidate pool into candidates who fail to meet minimum qualifications and those who meet minimum qualifications.  

It is best practice to communicate with candidates who do not meet minimum qualifications and notify them that they are no longer under consideration. The committee and HR will coordinate who will communicate with candidates and when that communication will occur.  See Appendix E.

The committee will be left with some candidates who meet the minimum and some candidates who may have preferred qualifications or more desirable qualifications, experiences, etc.  The committee may decide to communicate to these candidates that they are still under consideration.

Responsibilities:

Resources:

Appendix A:  Job Specifics and Description Template

Appendix B:  Sample Faculty Recruiting Timeline

Appendix C:  Minority Directories

Appendix D:  Screening Criteria

Appendix E:  Sample Thank You Rejection Letter

Appendix F:  On-Campus Interview Evaluation

Appendix G: Checklist for search policy requirements

Appendix H: Written Advertising Plan

Appendix I:  Sample diversity statements

Appendix J:  Search Committee Membership Notice

Appendix K: Sample Questions

Appendix L: Phone/Initial Screening Interview Template

Appendix M: Report of Recruitment Results and Request to Interview Candidates

Medical Exams Policy

Policy Contacts:

Supplemental Information:

Appendix A:  Job Specifics and Description Template

Appendix B:  Sample Faculty Recruiting Timeline

Appendix C:  Minority Directories

Appendix D:  Screening Criteria

Appendix E:  Sample Thank You Rejection Letter

Appendix F:  On-Campus Interview Evaluation

Appendix G: Checklist for search policy requirements

Appendix H: Written Advertising Plan

Appendix I:  Sample diversity statements

Appendix J:  Search Committee Membership Notice

Appendix K: Sample Questions

Appendix L: Phone/Initial Screening Interview Template

Appendix M: Report of Recruitment Results and Request to Interview Candidates

Appendix N: UHSP Candidate Disposition Reasons for Applicant Tracking System

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