The
University Senate of Michigan Technological University
SEARCH
PROCEDURES FOR DEPARTMENT CHAIRS AND SCHOOL DEANS
(Proposal 16-92)
(Proposal
6-11)
Senate Procedures 805.1.1
Background:
The Senate has the
responsibility and authority to establish procedures for the selections of
Deans, School Deans and Department Chairs (Senate
Constitution Article III.F.1.a.10).
Following the adoption of the departmental governance policies defined by Senate
Proposal 16-92, university units
established revised procedures for searching for new Chairs.
Over the last twenty years,
the University administration has come to believe that these procedures should
be defined by University-wide policy and not on a unit-by-unit basis.
Among the rationales for this change is the fact that Chairs and School Deans
are administrative officers and thus serve at the discretion of the president,
but units have rights of appeal as defined in the grievance policy outlined
by Senate
Proposal 23-00. As an extension
of this fact, units have the power of review and comment during searching,
hiring, and evaluating/reviewing.
Academic units and members of
the administrative team have disagreed whether an individual unit can direct a search to be for internal or external
candidates. This proposal mandates an open search for a
School Dean and grants the authority to resolve this issue to the appropriate College Dean or the Provost in consultation with the department for a
Chair search.
This proposal contains
language duplicated from current, approved charter procedures for both School
Deans (i.e., Forestry) and Department Chairs (i.e., Chemical
Engineering). Editorial and other changes have been made to the material
which afford the following differences:
1. All School Dean searches
will be open in scope.
Proposal Text:
This policy applies to
Departmental Chairs and Deans of Schools only. Search provisions for
Deans of Colleges and the Dean of the Graduate School are governed
by Proposal
19-07 (Senate
Procedures 802.1.1) and Proposal 17-07 (Senate Procedures
803.1.1) respectively.
I. Searching
for School Deans and Associate School Deans
The School Charter shall
specify who is eligible to vote at all stages of the search process.
A. Searching
for a School Dean and Appointing an Associate School Dean
1. In the event of a vacancy in the School Dean's position, the
Provost shall appoint a search committee consisting of at least five faculty
members from the School. The Provost will consult with the faculty
of the School on these appointments. The search committee will include the
following persons:
i. At
least four of these faculty members must be tenured.
ii. One faculty member from
another unit on campus
iii. A member of the advisory board
iv. The Provost in consultation with the faculty of the School will
also appoint a staff representative.
v. One student (chosen by
the School’s undergraduate student organizations).
vi. One graduate student member (chosen by the School’s graduate
students).
2. The search committee shall
conduct an open search, in accordance with all applicable State and Federal
laws and University policies and guidelines. For guidance regarding
procedures and methods of deliberation, the committee will consult Senate Procedures 802.1.1 pertaining
to the search procedures for College Deans. The committee will identify the
best-qualified individual. The Provost will make final selection of the new
School Dean. Approval of the Board of Control is also necessary if
the appointment includes tenure.
3. If the school has an Associate School Dean position, and in the
event of a vacancy in this position, the School Dean shall appoint an Associate
School Dean from the tenured/tenure-track members of the School
faculty. The School Dean’s choice for Associate School Dean must be
confirmed by a secret ballot of the voting members of the School (as defined in
the School’s Charter) within 60 days. In the event the faculty does
not confirm the Associate School Dean, a new Associate School Dean will be
chosen by the School Dean from the tenure-track members of the School faculty
and confirmed by another secret ballot vote.
4.
Appointment of Interim or Acting School Dean: When it is evident
that the School Dean will be unable to perform his/her duties for more than one
semester or a search for a School Dean has failed, the Provost will appoint an
Interim School Dean. If a search has failed, a new search will begin
at the earliest possible opportunity.
II. Search Procedure for Department Chairs
A. Searching for
Department Chairs
1. The Department Charter shall specify who is eligible to vote
at all stages of the search process.
2.
Procedure for Determination as to Internal or Open Search: When a new Chair must be
selected, the Dean of the College will visit the department and discuss whether
the search will be open or restricted only to internal candidates. The College Dean will consider the will of the faculty, and
after consultation with the Provost, will determine if the search will be an
internal only or open search. Both external candidates and current Michigan Tech faculty are encouraged
to apply for any open search, since the distinction is made here only in
reference to publication and marketing of the search.
3.
Search Committee: The Search Committee for
the Chair will be elected through a secret ballot organized by the Senator of
the department and one other faculty member selected by the department’s
faculty. The number of members on the Search Committee will depend
on the number of faculty in a department. Departments with twelve members
or fewer will have a committee of at least three members. Departments
consisting of more than twelve faculty members will have a committee of at
least four faculty members. In each case, one additional person
from outside of the department will be appointed by the College dean. If the department has professional staff, one staff member
should be elected by the staff to be on the committee. The
chair of the search committee will be elected by the committee at its first
meeting. At least one person on the search committee has received training in
recruiting strategies to improve diversity and on the legal aspects of faculty
hiring. At the first convening of the
Search Committee, a representative from Human Resources will be invited to
review appropriate hiring procedures. Following this consultation
and review, the committee will determine the process for evaluating and voting
upon candidates after they visit campus. The procedures must comply
with Human Resources policy that promotes best practices ensuring equal
opportunity to all interviewed candidates. No committee member can be
under consideration as a candidate.
4. Search
Procedure: The Search Committee,
with input from the present Chair, the Dean, and the Affirmative Action
Officer, will produce the first draft of the position description and position
advertisement. The Search Committee will complete the Request
for Posting Memo and send it to the Human Resources Office. The
Committee is responsible for ensuring that the search conforms to current legal
requirements, and for maintaining the applicant flow
log. Applications for the position are made to the Chair of the
Search Committee. Departmental faculty may nominate
candidates. In the case of an open search, the position will be
advertised in appropriate professional journals, and faculty should distribute
position descriptions to their professional colleagues.
5. Short List of Candidates: The Search
Committee will review the applications to produce a short list of
candidates. These candidates will be invited for an interview. For
each candidate who accepts the interview invitation, the committee should
attempt to obtain independent assessments from referees not listed by the
candidates and should solicit faculty help in identifying these
referees. If the search is only internal, all applicants will be on
the short list of candidates. The committee is expected to obtain
faculty input during the screening process. No committee member can be
under consideration as a candidate.
6. Candidate
Interviews: The application materials of each candidate on the
short list will be available to all departmental faculty and
staff. The letters of recommendation will be accessible to members
of the department, but the letters cannot be copied. The candidates
will be informed of this requirement, and will be furnished with copies of the
position description, departmental charter, statements of departmental goals,
and recent annual departmental report.
While each candidate is on campus, the Search Committee will make
arrangements for each individual to make two presentations:
1. A technical presentation in his/her field of
specialization that includes trends, directions and opportunities for research
in the field. (In the case of an internal search, this presentation
can be waived.)
2. A presentation that may include, but is not limited
to the following issues: the candidate’s administrative philosophy and plans
for meeting short and long term goals; The direction of undergraduate and
graduate education in the department; Resources needed to attain the goals.
The Search Committee will arrange the candidate’s schedule and set
up appointments with appropriate administrators and other persons outside of
the department (Dean, VP for Research, Provost, other department chairs if
overlapping research interest).
7. Selection of Chair: After the candidates have completed their interviews, the Search Committee will arrange a meeting of faculty and staff to discuss the candidates. The Search Committee will solicit the opinions of graduates and undergraduate students. The Search Committee will conduct a vote by secret ballot to determine if the candidates are acceptable or unacceptable to serve as Department Chair. The staff vote takes place first, and will be advisory to the faculty vote. The search committee will tabulate the votes. The search committee will prepare recommendations based on ballot results and strength and weaknesses of the acceptable candidates and meets with the Dean to discuss the recommendations. No candidate will be deemed acceptable for department chair who does not obtain a majority vote of the faculty. The Dean has the final responsibility for making the appointment subject to the approval of the Provost and President.
8. Failed Search: If the
Department finds no acceptable candidates following the interviews or the Dean
is unable to hire a chair from the list of finalists advanced by the Search
Committee, the search is considered to have failed. The Dean will
appoint an Interim Chair as provided by II.A. 9.
9. Appointment of
Interim or Acting Chairs: When
it is evident that the Department Chair will be unable to perform his/her
duties for more than one semester or Chair search has failed, the Dean will
appoint an Interim Chair. Interim Chairs serving more than two years
must be evaluated as detailed in Section B. If a search has failed,
a new search will begin at the earliest possible opportunity.
An Interim Chair is different
from an “Acting Chair” or someone serving as “Next In
Charge.” If a Department Chair expects to be absent from campus or
otherwise unable to perform his or her duties for a period of time, they
appoint another individual to serve as “Next In
Charge.” For somewhat longer absences, they can appoint someone as
Acting Chair. “Next In Charge” appointments are intended only for
very brief periods, generally lasting a few days. A serving Chair
can appoint an Acting Chair to cover medium-term absences lasting up to one
semester. If a Chair will
be absent for more than one
semester, he or she should step down and allow the Dean to appoint an Interim
Chair.
III. How
to conduct a Secret Ballot Procedure
Secret ballots will be
conducted using a double envelope process.
The marked ballot will be placed into a small sealed envelope. This envelope must be sealed into a larger
envelope, which must be signed by the voter across the flap. The Committee (Promotion and Tenure in the
case of a School or the Search or Evaluation Committee in the case of a Chair)
must be present when the votes are separated from the large outer envelope by
the School Dean’s or Chair’s Administrative Associate. The School Dean’s or Chair’s Administrative
Associate also will record the names of the voters. Finally, the School Dean’s or Chair’s
Administrative Associate will mix the smaller envelopes and give them to the
appropriate Committee for vote counting.
The department or school can decide if the counting is conducted with a
quorum of faculty members present or if the committee can count the votes.
IV. Confidentiality
Instructions
for the Chairperson of the Committee: It is the responsibility of the Chairperson
of the Recruitment/Hiring Committee to read the following statement regarding
confidentiality to the entire committee at the beginning of the process before
the committee discusses criteria, drafts interview questions, reviews
applications and/or resumes or begins any work.
A form published by San Jose State University at: http://www.sjsu.edu/hr/docs/wfp/forms/confidentiality.pdf
is suitable for this purpose.
STATEMENT |
All information learned
from any recruitment document or during interviews is privileged. The information is not for public
disclosure. In the eyes of the law,
each committee member is viewed as an agent of the university. During the selection process, it is
important that we do not create a liability for the university or for
ourselves as individuals. Members who
disclose privileged information run the risk of involving themselves and/or
the university in a lawsuit involving a tort action. Examples are the tort of defamation, which
is committed when an individual communicates false, injurious information
about another; and tortious invasion of privacy, which includes placing
another in a false light in the public eye or public disclosure of private
facts. In any lawsuit it is possible
for an individual to be named as a defendant as well as the university. An appropriate response
to questions from individual applicants or the public about any aspect of the
selection process should be: Selection is a confidential process and
therefore I am unable to respond to your question. The recruitment process is treated with
confidentiality, so it would be inappropriate for me to answer your question or that of any other
applicant. If the person inquiring
is not satisfied with your response, please ask them to refer the question to
Workforce Planning in the Human Resources. |
COMMITTEE
MEMBER SIGNATURES |
||
I confirm that the
Confidentiality Statement has been read to me and that I understand it and
agree to abide by the provisions and requirements of the statement. |
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Proposal
16-92:
Adopted as Amended by
Senate: 29 September 1993
Approved by President: 15
February 1994
Approved by Board of
Control: 18 March 1994
Proposal 6-11:
Introduced to Senate: 10 November 2010
Revised and reintroduced: 23 November
2010
Senate Returned to Committee: 08
December 2010
Revised and reintroduced to Senate: 19
January 2011
Edited (in red)
at Senate Meeting: 19 January 2011
Editorial changes (highlighted in blue):
2 February 2011
Adopted by Senate: 02 February 2011
Amended by Administration (in green): 11 March 2011
Amendments Adopted by Senate: 23 March
2011