The
University Senate of
SEARCH
PROCEDURE FOR COLLEGE DEANS
(Proposal 19-01)
(Proposal 3-07)
(Proposal 19-07)
(Proposal 12-13)
Senate
Procedures 802.1.1
The
following procedure is for searches for deans of the College of Engineering and
the College of Sciences and Arts. Searches for deans of schools are described
in the school charters.
1.0 Inception
1.1 The person to initiate
the search for a College Dean will be the President, or the Provost as the
President's designee.
2.0 Search Committee
2.1 Departmental
Representatives: The person initiating the search will ask each department in
the college to elect one departmental representative to the Search Committee.
The representative must be a member of the faculty of the department, and may
be the department Chair. The departmental Senator and a person appointed by the
department Chair will conduct the election. Balloting will follow departmental
charter procedure or standard University Senate procedure. The Senator and the
appointed individual will count the ballots and announce the results. Ties will
be resolved by a random process. The Senator will report the name of the departmental
representative to the person initiating the search and to the President of the
University Senate, who will announce the membership of the Committee at the
next meeting of the Senate.
2.2 Student
Representatives: The person initiating the search will ask the Undergraduate
Student Government and the Graduate Student Council each to elect one Committee
representative and one alternate, who should be enrolled in the college.
2.3 Staff Representative:
The person initiating the search will select at least one staff member to serve
on the Search Committee. The staff member should be employed within the
college.
2.4 At-large
Representatives: The person initiating the search will select three individuals
from the University community (faculty, staff, students, administrators,
alumni) to serve on the Committee.
2.5 The person initiating
the search will ask Human Resources to designate a representative to serve
without vote.
2.6 A list of the names of
Committee members will be posted electronically, and will be submitted for
publication in Tech Topics
and The Lode.
2.7
Confidentiality
All Search Committee members are
responsible for signing a confidentiality statement at the beginning of the
process before the committee begins any work including discussion of criteria,
drafting of interview questions, reviewing of applications and/or resumes. Confidentiality statement can be found at:
http://www.mtu.edu/affirmative-programs/hiring/faculty-hiring/hiring-forms/
3.0 Meetings
3.1 The person initiating
the search (President or Provost) may call the first meeting of the Committee
as soon as at least a three-fourths majority of Committee members have been
named.
3.2 The person initiating
the search (President or Provost) will deliver the charge to the Committee. He/She
will relate the guidelines for the search process including staffing and the
budget for advertising and interviewing.
3.3 The person initiating
the search will inform the Committee of the role of the Board of Trustees in
the search process.
3.4 The person initiating
the search will supervise the election of a chair and associate chair by
written ballot, in closed session, at the first meeting. During the first
meeting the Committee and the person initiating the search will specify the
responsibilities of these individuals.
3.5 The person initiating
the search and the Committee will agree on a target date for selection of the
candidate and on other time lines of the search.
3.6 The Human Resources
representative or other designated persons will provide an orientation for the
Search Committee at the outset of the search, and will be available thereafter
for any needed consultation. The Committee should discuss the legal issues
involved in record keeping and be informed of their legal responsibilities and
liabilities. As of the writing of this procedure, notes must be kept for three
years.
3.7 The representative
from Human Resources will assist the Committee with its tasks of organizing
paperwork, documenting activities, advertising the position, and following
guidelines for the search and screening processes.
3.8 Searches will proceed
under the principle of openness. Committee meetings will be open to members of
the University community unless a closed meeting is necessary to maintain
confidentiality.
3.9 The Search Committee
should expedite the search process by forming working subcommittees for
appropriate tasks.
4.0 Goals
4.1 In order to select
appropriate candidates, the Search Committee must consider the published goals,
the mission, and the vision of the college.
5.0 Position description and list of
qualifications and attributes
5.1 The Search Committee,
with input from the person initiating the search, from Human Resources, from
appropriate administrators, and from the Office of Institutional Equity, will
draft a position description (e.g., qualifications, duties, expected
achievements, etc.) that is consonant with the college goals.
5.2 Before soliciting
candidates, and in consultation with the person initiating the search, the
Committee will establish the essential qualifications and desired attributes
(inter-personal skills, management style, etc.) of candidates, and will group
(weight) the attributes by major and minor importance.
5.3 The draft position
description and list of qualifications and attributes will be sent via email or
otherwise to all faculty and staff of the college, and will be posted
electronically. Faculty, staff, and students will be invited to send comments
to the Committee. The Committee will hold an open meeting of faculty, staff,
and students to discuss the position description and the list of qualifications
and attributes.
5.4 The Committee will
consider the comments, and then write a final description and list of
qualifications and attributes. The final version will be published in Tech Topics, The Lode, posted
electronically, and sent to applicants.
6.0 Mechanism for identifying candidates
6.1 At the discretion of
the President, the search may be conducted using the services of a search firm
or consultants. The Search Committee will direct the efforts of the firm or
consultants.
6.2 To ensure a diverse,
well-qualified applicant pool that meets EEO requirements, the Committee should
solicit applicants according to procedure established by the Office of
Institutional Equity and work with the Institutional Equity Officer.
6.3 In the case of an open
search, the position will be advertised in appropriate professional journals
and publications. Faculty should be invited to nominate both internal and
external candidates. Faculty should be encouraged to contact colleagues and to
send them position advertisements.
6.4 The Committee will
screen applicants according to its published criteria. If an applicant appears
to be a strong contender for the position, the Committee will check applicant
information (e.g., degrees, positions held) and references.
6.5 Within time and
budgetary constraints, the Committee may schedule and hold screening interviews
with a select pool of candidates (usually less than 10). The identity of those
interviewed will be held in confidence.
6.6 As the search
progresses, deviations from the budgetary guidelines must be approved by the person
initiating the search.
7.0 Semifinalist candidates
7.1 The Committee, after reviewing vitae,
reference letters, other relevant material, and conducting screening
interviews, will produce a short list of candidates. As a professional
courtesy, the search committee should inform candidates prior to checking
references. Upon approval of the person
initiating the search, these candidates will be invited for on-campus
interviews.
7.2 The candidates become
semifinalists on acceptance of an interview.
8.0 Interview process
8.1 A short vita of each
semifinalist candidate will be sent via email or otherwise to all faculty and
staff of the college at least two work days prior to the campus visit. A full
resume will be made available in the Human Resources office for examination by
all faculty, staff, and students of the University.
8.2 The interview process
will include, among other assessments, the response to a hypothetical job
situation that reveals how the candidate approaches problem-solving,
decision-making, and ethics.
8.3 Each candidate will be
asked to make two seminar presentations:
A. A
seminar open to the public addressed to the department in which the Dean is
likely to be given a tenured position. The presentation might include but not
be limited to the following topics:
1) Trends, directions, and opportunities for research in the field of
the candidate's expertise.
2) The course(s) the candidate would like to teach, if time
permitted.
3) Direction of education in the department (e.g., what should and
will be the attributes of the college's graduates ten years from now).
4) Responses to questions from departmental faculty and staff.
B. An open presentation, addressed to the
college, which includes but is not limited to the following issues:
1) The candidate's administrative philosophy and
a plan for meeting the short- and long-term goals of the college.
2) The direction of education in the college and
the role of the college in the intellectual life of the University (e.g., will
the engineering education component be more general; will the B.S. degree program
extend from its current four to five years, etc.).
3) The debates and trends at the national and
state level that may affect research funding opportunities for the college.
4) The resources needed to attain the goals of
the college.
5) Questions from the audience.
C. The departmental
presentation (8.3.A) will be waived for internal candidates who have already
been granted tenure in an academic department at Michigan Technological
University. Tenured internal candidates
will be required to make the open presentation to the college following the
guidelines stated in 8.3.B above.
8.4 The Search Committee
will make appointments for the candidate to meet the Provost, the President, the
Vice President for Research, the Department Chairs of the college, the Academic
Deans and other appropriate personnel as selected by the person initiating the
search. The Board of Trustees may also request an interview.
8.5 The Search Committee
will schedule and appropriately publicize at least one open public meeting for
the candidate.
8.6 Faculty, staff, and
students will be invited to provide oral and written feedback to the Committee
on the entire slate of semifinalist candidates, based on the published position
description, qualifications and attributes. The Committee will share these
comments with the person who initiated the search.
9.0 Selecting the final candidate(s)
9.1 Selection of the final
candidate(s) will begin only after the on-campus interview process for all
semifinalist candidates is complete.
9.2 After considering the
feedback from the University community, the Committee will develop in closed
session a list of at most three acceptable individuals from the list of
semifinalists.
9.3
For semifinalists who are acceptable after the campus interview, the
Committee will obtain independent assessments from referees not listed by these
candidates, which would be a part of the due diligence verification
process. The Committee should solicit
faculty help for identifying appropriate referees.
As a professional courtesy, the search
committee must inform these semifinalists prior to the due diligence
checks. These checks are only required
for the selected semifinalists. The
names of independent references will not be disclosed. If a semifinalist refuses to allow due
diligence checks, the semifinalist should be informed that this refusal limits
the committee’s ability to complete its evaluation and that the semifinalist
will be withdrawn from consideration.
All questions asked and issues raised must be job-related and should be
similar for all candidates.
9.4 The person who
initiated the search (President or Provost) will also develop a list of
acceptable individuals from the list of semifinalists.
9.5 The Committee and the person
who initiated the search will meet and agree on mutually acceptable finalist
candidate(s). If no agreement can be reached, the search will be reopened.
10.0 Negotiating salary and tenure
10.1 The Provost or
President will negotiate with the chosen candidate(s). Should negotiations with
the candidate(s) be unsuccessful, the Committee and President or Provost will
meet to reach a consensual decision on the selection of a new finalist(s) from
list of semifinalists. The search will be reopened if no acceptable candidate
is found.
10.2 The President or
Provost will negotiate tenure with the Chairs and Deans of appropriate academic
units, and will make any recommendation of tenure to the Board of Trustees.
10.3 An explicit part of the
negotiation will be salary as a tenured faculty member should the candidate
resign as dean.
10.4 Other professional
benefits will be negotiated between the candidate and the appropriate
administrative officer(s). The Search Committee will be informed of the final
accepted offer.
11.0 Closure
The Search Committee should inform the Senate of any
changes it deems necessary in the search procedure.
Proposal19-01:
Adopted by Senate: 8 May 2002
Approved by
President: 24 May 2002
Proposal 3-07:
Adopted by Senate: 11 October 2006
Approved by
Administration: 20 October 2006
Proposal 19-07:
Adopted by Senate: 31 January 2007
Approved by
Administration: 8 February 2007
Proposal 12-13:
Introduced to
Senate: 23 January 2013
Friendly amendment
added (in
blue): 23 January 2013
Committee amendments (in green):
6 February 2013
Approved by
Senate: 6 March 2013
Approved by
Administration with editorial changes (in purple): 1 April 2013
Senate approved
editorial changes: 10 April 2013
Changed Board of
Control to Board of Trustees: 01 March
2016