Hiring Tenure-Track

In winter term, the Provost will ask departments and programs to submit proposals for tenure-track hires.  Do not assume that every retirement or resignation will lead automatically to a new hire in your department/program. Because faculty lines represent a significant financial investment for the college that potentially stretches over decades, any vacancy must be the occasion for re-examining the overall distribution of faculty FTE among departments and programs. Therefore, you will need to make the case for the position.

Our institutional commitment to create a more inclusive and diverse community for learning and teaching will be at the forefront in our decision-making. Requests should address the importance of the position to the College as a whole, to interdisciplinary programs, and to the department. In doing so, you should address the following questions:

• How does this position support the liberal arts at Carleton?
• Where does your department or program want to be in 10 or 20 years? What new fields are emerging in your discipline? What perspectives and experiences are you missing, and how will the department adjust to accommodate them? If this is a foundational position in your discipline, describe its evolution in new directions or explain why it is of enduring importance. Refer to a recent decennial review of your department/program, if appropriate. 
• How will this position further college-wide IDE goals? How has your department invested in building a diverse applicant pool? Have you developed additional networks and contacts that will enable you to personally reach out to the candidates you are looking for? If your strategy includes delaying the search (by a year or more, for example), describe how that delay will be used to recruit a robust pool of candidates. {It may also make sense to use visitor hiring as a means to explore potential long-term directions instead of a tenure-track position at this time.}
• How will this position enhance or potentially impact an interdisciplinary program or department other than your own – such as by strengthening current ties, contributing in new ways, or pivoting in another direction? Include a supporting statement from the related program(s) or department(s) that describes the potential synergies, benefits, and challenges. {FTE contributions to departments and programs will be negotiated as part of the approval process.}
• How will mentoring of the potential hire be handled within your department, or if applicable, within or in collaboration with an interdisciplinary program?
• Please provide a three-year staffing plan with and without this position including course numbers and titles. Identify any courses that must be taught and for which we would have to hire part-time faculty if we do not approve this request.
• Please provide course enrollment data for the past three years in your department/program including maximum enrollment limits and actual seats filled.
• In extraordinary circumstances, a search can be proposed to hire with tenure. For more information, see the Faculty Handbook.

Requests will be reviewed by the Faculty Curricular Planning Committee (FCPC) (which advises the Provost). 

The Provost’s office will notify department chairs or program directors when positions are approved. If a position is not approved, the chair or director will have the option of meeting with the Provost to discuss elements that would have made the proposal more successful. If an approved position remains unfilled for two years after approval, whether a search was attempted or not, you will need to resubmit the request to the FCPC for review.

Review the recommended practices for conducting faculty searches.

Once a position has been approved, schedule a meeting for Associate Provost Yansi Pérez, Provost Michelle Mattson and the department or search committee chair. At this meeting, you will discuss composition of the search committee and search logistics (conferences to attend, etc.); timing of ad listings, application deadlines, and campus visits; and, crucially, strategies for attracting a diverse and inclusive pool of candidates.  

• Submit advertisement copy to Associate Provost Yansi Pérez for review and approval (see Criteria for Ad Copy and Sample Ads). She will return the ad copy to you with any changes. Be sure Yansi Pérez and Sally Pierce have a copy of the final ad. In addition, In order to set up your ad, Sally will need to know who the members of your search committee will be.
• Advertise your position.
  • Place ads in specialized journals or newsletters for minority and women’s caucuses within the appropriate professional organizations, and in professional journals and electronic media of potential interest to those with one or more specialties you are seeking.
  • The Office of the Provost will place tenure-track openings in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed, so do not send ads to these publications. They will also place your ad on the Office of the Provost website, and post your listing on the Upper Midwest Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (UMW HERC) website. 
  • If you anticipate that your total advertising budget will be over $1,500, consult with the Provost. Information on recruiting expenses
• Reserve interview times. Contact Sally Pierce to reserve one hour interview times for tenure-track positions on the Provost and Associate Provost’s calendars.

Please Note: Department members and internal candidates for tenure-track positions may seek your counsel about letters of recommendation. Normally, department members do not write letters on behalf of internal candidates. We want to avoid situations in which our faculty are placed in complicated advocacy roles, prior to their evaluation of all candidates in a search. It is also important to be very clear that any partner of a Carleton faculty member interested in a tenure-track position at Carleton can expect to be considered for that position on an equal basis with any other candidate. The fact that a candidate is a partner of an existing faculty member will in no way count against that candidate. Chairs will be very careful to make sure this policy is enforced.

Hiring committees are required to attend the “Workshop on Inclusive Hiring Techniques” and can work with Associate Provost Yansi Pérez to discuss diversity issues in the context of the discipline/field in which you seek to hire and strategies for building an inclusive search.

In some cases, screening candidates can be done by a search committee that is not the full department.

Search committee members should keep their discussion of candidates confidential.

• Determine early the appropriate role of a retiring faculty member in the search for his or her successor. A retiring faculty member may play the role of a consultant but should not be invited to meetings at which ranking and votes will be on the agenda.
• It is important to establish within your department what the role of students will be and to make the rules clear. Their input is important, but their role is strictly consultative. Students should not be invited to departmental meetings to discuss the final candidates and they should not be informed of the departmental decision until after the appointment is made.
• Determine the role of junior faculty in hiring decisions. The responsibility for hiring ultimately rests with the tenured faculty, the Provost, and the President, but departments should also involve the tenure-track faculty in hiring as full partners. Be deliberate about whatever you do and talk with junior colleagues about it so that your and their expectations will be clear.
• If the department wishes to screen candidates at a professional convention, you must apply to the Office of the Provost for funding. The Office of the Provost will normally pay all reasonable expenses for the Department Chair or the head of the department’s recruitment committee plus one additional member of the search committee to make such a trip. Colleagues who want to attend the meeting anyway and who might help interview may apply to the Headley Fund for help.
• Keep the recommendations for preliminary interviews in mind when interviewing candidates.
• Send the names of your top six to eight finalists to Provost Michelle Mattson and Associate Provost Yansi Pérez and indicate which are your top three or four and why.  They will review the application materials online and be in touch to discuss the finalists.You must obtain approval from the Office of the Provost to invite finalists to campus.
• Be sure that your finalists have the qualifications necessary for the job.
• No candidate should be invited to campus without prior approval.

Expenses for faculty recruiting must be submitted through Workday for approval by the Provost’s office.

If any expense category (interviewing at conferences, advertising, etc.) is likely to exceed $1,500, you must receive clearance from the Provost in advance.

Ordinarily, lunches at which the candidate is entertained should cost no more than $20 per person and dinners no more than $50 per person. Unless special approval is given, the College will pay the expenses of no more than four department members at each meal. The College does not cover spouses’ meals.

In addition to travel and accommodations for applicants, the faculty recruitment budget will cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner with candidates, but other refreshments during candidate visits, or during other hiring activities, should be paid for from department funds. If you have candidates who will be eating meals on campus, the Provost’s office has a few OneCards that can be used for candidate meals in the Burton and East dining halls, Schulze Café, Sayles-Hill Café, or Weitz Café. Because there is a limited supply, please pick up a card just prior to your first candidate’s visit and return it after your final candidate visit.

For expenses you paid from personal funds, go to create an expense report in Workday.

1. Remove the existing Cost Center by clicking the X in front of the name and then search for Faculty Recruiting
2. Click OK
3. Click the orange Add button and upload a copy of your receipt
4. In the Expense Item field, choose the appropriate category
5. Enter the total amount
6. Describe the expense in the memo field
7. Submit

For expenses you paid using your Carleton purchasing card, create an expense report in Workday.

• Scroll to the bottom of the screen
• Select the credit card transaction for this purchase
• Follow the instructions above

• Contact the finalists and set the date for their interview. A faculty member should make the first contact with the finalist. Provide the information to the Provost’s office.
• Make arrangements for transportation to and from the airport and for accommodations.
• Develop the interview schedule. Things to think about when planning the schedule:
  • Include meetings with department faculty as appropriate, with majors (maybe over breakfast or lunch), and with non-department faculty and staff if appropriate.
    • If a candidate would be expected to be involved in a significant way with an interdisciplinary program, even if the position is not formally defined as interdisciplinary, a meeting with the director of that program (or his/her designate) should be included in the candidate’s schedule.
  • Ask candidates if there are other people outside of your department or the interdisciplinary programs already included in the schedule that they would like to meet. Keep in mind that candidates may want to meet faculty, staff or students with similar or different backgrounds and interests from themselves. Emphasize that we are a diverse community, and that we’d be happy to arrange meetings that give them a better feel for the climate and culture of Carleton.
  • Most departments schedule a research presentation and also ask the candidate to teach a class. You will need to coordinate this carefully with the instructor and the candidate. You will also want to make sure that a couple of faculty members attend the class. Let the candidate know how long their presentations should be and who to expect. Will it be a mixed constituency of students, staff, and faculty? Also let them know that the audience will likely be fairly small. Advise the candidate to let the audience know whether they prefer questions at the end of the presentation or during it, and make sure the candidate knows what type of technology is available in the classroom for their presentation.
  • Publicize the dates and times of presentations to students majoring in the department, particularly those on the Departmental Curriculum Committee, the President, the Provost, the Director of Intercultural Life, and the Director of International Life, and as widely across campus as is feasible (e.g. in department or interest newsletters). Be sure to invite faculty from any interdisciplinary programs to which the candidate would be expected to contribute. One of the best recruiting tools is having a room full of engaged students at a candidate’s presentation.
  • Allow time for tours or information about relevant resources (library, teaching labs, etc.)
  • Make sure to allow time between appointments for candidates to get to their next appointment or have a quick break. Please note that interviews with the Provost are 45-60 minutes.
  • Schedule an exit interview for an hour or so before the candidate leaves campus. 

It is very important that internal candidates experience the same kind and number of communications and interview days that external candidates experience. Err on the side of conformity to the itinerary used for external candidates. A casual tone or makeshift scheduling for internal candidates may send the signal that their candidacy is being treated differently or taken less seriously.

• Once you have contacted the candidates to schedule a campus visit, notify Sally Pierce in the Provost’s Office. The Provost’s Office will send a “Welcome” e-mail to your candidates which includes a link to a website with information for faculty candidates.
• Schedule two conversations with the Provost – one after the final interview but before the department meeting to discuss the candidates, and another after the department meeting.

Make certain faculty understand what is expected.

• All finalists should meet with all available tenured and tenure-track faculty members in the department and all appropriate continuing faculty members.
• Every member of the department meeting the candidate should read the candidate’s work before the candidate arrives for the interview.
• Every member of the department who meets the candidates should attend the scholarly presentations and the classes.

Make certain candidates understand what is expected.

• Schedule candidates for a job talk or talks in keeping with the culture of your department. Be explicit with the candidates about the expectations for the talk(s): audience, levels of sophistication, uses of classroom technology, and length of presentation. Explain your department’s assumptions about the “sample” class, conference paper, or public lecture presentations – if these are the relevant distinctions. The presentation is often the most stressful part of an interview. Between the invitation and the actual interview day, encourage candidates to be in conversation with you so that they can “test their assumptions” about the talk(s). We want to decrease the chances that otherwise acceptable candidates put themselves out of the running because they misunderstood our expectations for the job talk(s).
• Check with the candidate to see whether he or she will need a computer, an overhead projector, or other equipment.

On the day of the visit:

• Offer the candidate a chance to visit the classroom or lecture room before the presentation. Make sure all technology necessary is in the room and is functioning.
• Allow the candidate a free period of time before the presentation so he or she can review notes and prepare.
• Find out his or her timetable for making a decision, telephone numbers in the next few weeks, and interest in the job.
• Tell the candidate what YOUR timetable is and when to expect a telephone call from you.
• Have candidates complete a W-9 so they can be reimbursed for expenses.

The Provost will talk to candidates about salary, benefits, the tenure process, etc.

See our Interviewing Do’s and Don’ts for a list of questions you an and cannot ask candidates.

Partner Issues:

A large percentage of candidates for your position will be struggling with joint location issues associated with their partners. You and your colleagues, of course, cannot ask them directly about their personal situation, but you can be attentive and helpful when candidates bring it up voluntarily. It is important for you to be clear with them that the College will try to be as helpful as possible with the co-location issue.

The Upper Midwest Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (UMW HERC) lists faculty and staff job openings at many colleges and universities in our area. We can sometimes maneuver a Carleton leave replacement position so that it fits with a partner’s interests.

• After all campus visits have concluded, the search committee will meet to discuss the candidates. It is essential that the committee have input from all parties involved in the search process, so prior to this meeting, gather the evaluations of others involved.  Talk with students who attended talks or meals with candidates. Many departments have developed survey forms they ask students to fill out. Get input via email, evaluation forms, or personal conversation from other faculty or staff who met the candidates or attended candidate talks.
• Arrange a telephone call with the Provost to get input from the Provost and Associate Provost who interviewed the candidates.
• Call a meeting of the department or search committee to discuss the candidates. Be sure to share information gathered from others involved in the process, including students who attended talks or meals with candidates. The discussion should be thorough and fair. While it’s important to assess the “fit” of the candidates with your department/program needs and the College, be alert to issues of implicit bias.
• Obtain approval to make an offer. Recommendations for hiring must be approved by the Provost before an offer is made.
• Once a department/program has completed its campus visits, decided on a candidate to whom they would like to make an offer, and has received approval from the Provost to contact the candidate, the chair will reach out to that person and let them know that the department/program would like the college to offer them the position for which they interviewed. The chair should explain that the Provost will make the actual offer and work with them on start-up costs. Finally, the chair should request that the candidate email Sally Pierce to make an appointment with the Provost to discuss the offer.
• Before contacting the candidate who is receiving the offer, chairs/directors should discuss with the Provost the department’s constraints and hopeful timeline as well as what the department/program would like to see happen if the person who receives the offer declines it.  Ordinarily this is part of the conversation in which the chair/director receives approval from the Provost.

The Provost will make an offer to the candidate and will generally give them two weeks to make a final decision with a one-week check in for questions. The Provost will encourage the candidate to reach out at any point to the Provost or the chair/director with further questions.

After the initial phone call, the Provost will send the candidate a confirmation email (cc-ed to the chair/director) that lists the anticipated deadline for a decision as well as the date of a one-week check in.

The chair/director is encouraged to stay in regular contact with the candidate to discuss potential teaching schedules. All candidates will be offered a one-course release in their first year. If desired, that one-course release could be taken in the second year instead.

While it would certainly be beneficial to have a firm decision in two weeks, often the negotiations over start-up packages and/or salary (or even other items: spousal hires, etc.) can extend the negotiation phase for longer. The Provost will attempt to keep the chair/director apprised of any developments beyond the initial two-week window, however the chair/director should feel completely free to ask for an update if it seems like things are dragging on a bit.

Once the Provost has made the initial offer, the Provost will then also share a template with the candidate for their start-up request and ask that they discuss it with the chair and return it to the chair and the Provost within one week of receiving the offer (unless another deadline is arranged). The spreadsheet template will include categories of  items that should be included (e.g. equipment, consumables, SRPs).

Start-up funding is designed to cover the costs of the first three years for a new faculty member to set up their lab and/or establish their research program at Carleton. If in the faculty member’s third year it appears some start-up funds will remain at the end of that year, the faculty member can request to extend the availability of those funds through the end of the (academic) year in which they have their tenure review.  To make this request, the faculty member will need to share their plan for the remaining funds with the Provost or Associate Provost, including how their use will contribute to their scholarship. Such requests are likely to be approved. However, under no circumstances will those funds continue to be available beyond a successful tenure review.

We will talk with every department that is hiring in any given year to discuss the potential costs of a start-up package for the position that was approved. In certain circumstances, the Provost may ask departments/programs to contribute to start-up requests through funds available to the department/program (e.g., endowed funds, indirect costs, carry over).

Once a candidate has a rudimentary start-up request, the chair/director should review it with them to determine whether any of the items are already in the department/program and/or could be incorporated into annual operating expenses.

Some things that should not be included in dollars as part of start-up requests, but should be included in the spreadsheet as requests, are the following:

• Requests for SRPs and travel for students.  Theseare all made through existing college processes. We tell candidates to work through these processes, and that the Provost’s Office will backfill if their requests are not fully approved.
• Office laptop. All candidates will be provided with a laptop, but they should note on their start-up request any computing needs that would not be met with a standard issue laptop.

Funds to cover summer salary or Educational Associates will typically not be included in start-up packages.

Please note: offices will come with furniture, but there is some funding automatically available to make minor adjustments to office spaces (e.g., an extra book shelf; a different desk chair).

Once negotiations have concluded, the Provost’s Office will share the start-up package with the chair/director.