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Faculty Handbook Twelfth Edition- 2018 
    
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Faculty Handbook Twelfth Edition- 2018

Appendix A-Recruitment and Appointment of Faculty

Introduction

Few decisions can influence the future of the College more importantly than the appointment of highly qualified faculty committed to the mission of the institution. The search for and appointment of such faculty is an undertaking of considerable consequence. Searches must be conducted with thorough attention to approved procedures to ensure the growth and development of the College as an educational institution with its own distinctive heritage and mission. What follows is an outline of the process that all academic departments are expected to observe in their efforts to recruit and appoint new faculty.

Ordinary Faculty 

  1. Authorization
    The department chair, or program director shall present to the school dean (or designee) the department’s or program’s request for a faculty position. This request will ordinarily precede, or occur simultaneously with, the department’s or program’s budget request for the following fiscal year. If the school dean approves the request, he/she will forward the request to the provost for review and approval. If the position is authorized, the provost shall send formal notification to the department chair or program director.
  2. Advertisement of Position
    When the position is authorized, the department or program shall submit for the provost’s approval a proposed advertisement for placement in appropriate professional journals and electronic list serves.
  3. Search Committee
    The chair, or program director, after consultation with the school dean, shall constitute a search committee, which shall consist of the chair, or other tenured faculty member acting as chair of the search, and at least three other members of the department. As appropriate, the committee may also include a member of another department in the College. For interdisciplinary appointments, the search committee shall also include the program director and one other faculty member to be named by the program director.
  4. Search
    An external search shall be deemed unnecessary if any of the following conditions applies:
    1. Appropriate approvals are secured for the appointment of a visiting faculty member to a tenure-track position.  Application of this exemption should include, in the majority view of the home department, that this candidate is highly qualified for the position and likely to be a finalist for a national search for a similar tenure-track faculty position.  Only visiting faculty who were initially identified via a national search are eligible for this exemption.
    2. A qualified spouse of a candidate for an open faculty position may also qualify for this exemption as part of a dual-career hire, if a position is determined to be appropriate at the completion of the procedures outlined in  Appendix S  .

             3. A Dominican Friar, qualified for the position, is available.

 If none of these conditions applies, then an external search shall be initiated. At the time the department submits its position description, the provost shall take appropriate steps to determine if there is any member of the Dominican community who should be considered for appointment. Those steps will include the forwarding  of the position description to the regent of studies and, as deadlines permit, the inclusion of the description in the Provincial News Digest. If the president and the provost, in consultation with the department chair, and where appropriate, a program director, determine that a Dominican Friar, qualified in the discipline, is available, the name, professional credentials and proposed rank of the Dominican Friar shall be submitted by the provost to the Committee on Rank and Tenure. If an external search is to be initiated, the department shall submit to the school dean a search plan that includes the following: 

  1. the deadlines that will be established for the various stages of the search process, e.g., the submission of applications and nominations, initial review of candidates, the designation of candidates for further review, the procedures to be employed in the checking of references, and the timing of on-campus interviews;
  2. the actions that the department will take to assure the application of an adequate number of diverse and qualified individuals;
  3. the actions the department will take to assure the application of qualified candidates who have attended Catholic schools, colleges, and/or universities and who support and foster the College’s Mission and character as a Catholic and Dominican institution (e.g., letters to appropriate departments in Catholic colleges and universities);
  4. the candidates’ submission of responses to the College’s Mission prior to the departmental search committee’s determination of candidates to be invited to campus;
  5. the submission of the materials for three candidates recommended for on-campus interviews to the provost’s office prior to the extension of invitations to visit the College;
  6. on-campus interviews with the department chair, the search committee, the school dean, the provost, and the president or his designee; and
  7. the candidates’ demonstration of effectiveness in teaching.

    ​5. Recommendation
    The search committee’s recommendations concerning the finalists shall be presented to the Ordinary Faculty of the department. Ordinarily, the names of at least three candidates recommended by the department for appointment shall be submitted by the department chair to the school dean. The school dean will forward hiring recommendations to the provost (as chair of the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure). Candidates found unacceptable to the school dean will still be forwarded to the provost. The provost shall submit to the president a personal recommendation on the three candidates. The president shall then determine which of the recommended candidates shall be presented to the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure for its review and recommendation.
    6. Final Selection
    The president, after receiving the recommendations of the department, the school dean, the provost, and the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure, shall inform the provost of his decision.

The provost shall inform the department chair and the Committee on Rank and Tenure of the president’s decision. If the president decides to appoint, the provost shall negotiate an initial contract with the selected candidate. All such initial appointments shall be for one academic year or less. All subsequent appointments shall be for one year commencing July 1, ending June 30.

Time spent teaching in a full-time capacity in the rank of Assistant Professor or above at another accredited baccalaureate or graduate institution of higher learning may be credited in the calculation of the length of the probationary period. A maximum of two years of credit may be applied towards the term of the probationary period. All commitments regarding the amount of credit must be given to the new faculty member in writing at the time of the initial appointment or no later than March 1 in the initial year of service at Providence College if additional time is required to verify or evaluate whether applied credit is appropriate.

Any change in the number of years of credit toward tenure shall be made as a written bilateral agreement prior to August 1 of the academic year in which a candidate’s tenure case is scheduled to be considered.

Renewable Contingent Faculty 

  1. Authorization
    The department chair, or program director shall present to the school dean (or designee) the department’s or program’s request for a renewable contingent faculty position. This request will ordinarily precede, or occur simultaneously with, the department’s or program’s budget request for the following fiscal year. If the school dean approves the request, he/she will forward the request to the provost for review and approval. If the position is authorized, the provost shall send formal notification to the department chair or program director.
  2. Advertisement of Position
    When the position is authorized, the department or program shall submit for the provost’s approval a proposed advertisement for placement in appropriate professional journals and electronic list serves.
  3. Search Committee
    The chair, or program director, after consultation with the school dean, shall constitute a search committee, which shall consist of the chair, or other tenured faculty member acting as chair of the search, and at least two other members of the department. As appropriate, the committee may also include a member of another department in the College. For interdisciplinary appointments, the search committee shall also include the program director and one other faculty member to be named by the program director.
  4. Search
    An external search shall be deemed unnecessary if any of the following conditions applies:
    1. Appropriate approvals are secured for the appointment of a visiting faculty member to a renewable contingent faculty position.  Application of this exemption should include, in the majority view of the home department, that this candidate is highly qualified for the position and likely to be a finalist for a national search for a similar contingent faculty position. 
    2. A qualified spouse of a candidate for an open faculty position may also qualify for this exemption as part of a dual-career hire, if a position is determined to be appropriate at the completion of the procedures outlined in Appendix S  . 
    3. A Dominican Friar, qualified for the position, is available.

   If none of these exceptions applies, then an external search shall be initiated.

   If an external search is to be initiated, the department shall submit to the school dean a search plan that includes the following

  1. the deadlines that will be established for the various stages of the search process, e.g., the submission of applications and nominations, initial review of candidates, the designation of candidates for further review, the procedures to be employed in the checking of references, and the timing of on-campus interviews;
  2. the actions that the department will take to assure the application of an adequate number of diverse and qualified individuals;
  3. the actions the department will take to assure the application of qualified candidates who have attended Catholic schools, colleges, and/or universities and who support and foster the College’s Mission and character as a Catholic and Dominican institution (e.g., letters to appropriate departments in Catholic colleges and universities);
  4. the candidates’ submission of responses to the College’s Mission prior to the departmental search committee’s determination of candidates to be invited to campus;
  5. the submission of the materials for three candidates recommended for on-campus interviews to the provost’s office prior to the extension of invitations to visit the College;
  6. on-campus interviews with the department chair, the search committee, the school dean, the provost, and
  7. the candidates’ demonstration of effectiveness in teaching.

5. Recommendation
The search committee’s recommendations concerning the finalists shall be presented to the Ordinary Faculty of the department. Ordinarily, the names of at least three candidates recommended by the department for appointment shall be submitted by the department chair to the school dean. The school dean will forward hiring recommendations to the provost (as chair of the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure). Candidates found unacceptable to the school dean will still be forwarded to the provost. The provost shall submit to the president a personal recommendation on the three candidates. The president shall then determine which of the recommended candidates shall be presented to the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure for its review and recommendation.

6. Final Selection

The president, after receiving the recommendations of the department, the school dean, the provost, and the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure, shall inform the provost of his decision.

The provost shall inform the department chair and the Committee on Rank and Tenure of the president’s decision. If the president decides to appoint, the provost shall negotiate an initial contract with the selected candidate. All such initial appointments shall be for one academic year or less. All subsequent appointments shall be for one year commencing July 1, ending June 30.

Embedded Contingent Faculty 

1. Authorization The department chair or program director shall present to the school dean (or designee) the department’s or program’s request for an embedded contingent faculty position. If the school dean approves the request, he/she will forward the request to the provost for review and approval. If the position is authorized, the provost shall send formal notification to the department chair or program director.

2. Search Since the need for ECF positions often arises from unexpected circumstances, a formal search plan is not required for the appointment of Embedded Contingent Faculty.

3. Advertisement of Position When the position is authorized, the department or program shall ordinarily, in consultation with the provost, submit for the appropriate school dean’s approval a proposed advertisement for placement in appropriate professional journals and/or electronic listservs.

4. Search Committee The chair or program director shall constitute a search committee, which shall consist of the chair of the department as the chair of the search committee, or another tenured faculty member acting as chair of the search, and at least one other member of the department. As appropriate, the committee may also include a member of another department in the College. For joint appointments, the search committee shall also include the program director.

5. Selection Process The process by which a candidate will be selected must include the following:

1. Interview, online or in-person, with the search committee, dean of the appropriate school or his/her designee, and the provost or his/her designee

2. three letters of recommendation

3. graduate school transcripts

4. response to the college mission

6. Recommendation The search committee’s recommendations concerning the finalists shall be presented to the Ordinary Faculty of the department. The recommendation shall then be submitted to the school dean, who will review it and determine if he or she will support the recommendation. The dean will then forward the hiring recommendation to the provost (as chair of the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure). Candidates found unacceptable to the school dean will still be forwarded to the provost. The provost shall then determine which of the recommended candidate(s) shall be presented to the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure for its review and recommendation.

7. Final Selection The president, after receiving the recommendations of the department, the school dean, the provost, and the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure, shall inform the provost of his decision. The provost shall inform the department chair and the Committee on Rank and Tenure of the president’s decision.

Visiting Faculty

  1. Authorization
    The department chair, or program director shall present to the school dean (or designee) the department’s or program’s request for a visiting faculty position. If the school dean approves the request, he/she will forward the request to the provost for review and approval. If the position is authorized, the provost shall send formal notification to the department chair or program director.
  2. Search
    In recognition that the need for visiting faculty positions often arise from unexpected circumstance which leave an ordinary faculty unable to temporarily fulfill his/her duties, a formal search plan is not required for the appointment of visiting faculty.
  3. Advertisement of Position
    When the position is authorized, the department or program shall ordinarily, in consultation with the provost, submit for the appropriate school dean’s approval a proposed advertisement for placement in appropriate professional journals and/or electronic list serves.
  4. Search Committee
    The chair, or program director, shall constitute a search committee, which shall consist of the chair, or other tenured faculty member acting as chair of the search, and at least one other member of the department. As appropriate, the committee may also include a member of another department in the College. For interdisciplinary appointments, the search committee shall also include the program director.
  5. Selection Process
    ​The process by which a candidate will be selected must include the following:
    1. Interview, on-line or in-person, with the search committee, dean of the appropriate school or his/her designee, and the provost or his/her designee;
    2. three letters of recommendation;
    3. graduate school transcripts;
    4. response to the college mission.
  6. Recommendation
    The search committee’s recommendations concerning the finalists shall be presented to the Ordinary Faculty of the department. The school dean will forward hiring recommendations to the provost (as chair of the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure). Candidates found unacceptable to the school dean will still be forwarded to the provost. The provost shall then determine which of the recommended candidate(s) shall be presented to the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure for its review and recommendation.
  7. Final Selection
    The president, after receiving the recommendations of the department, the school dean, the provost, and the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure, shall inform the provost of his decision.

    The provost shall inform the department chair and the Committee on Rank and Tenure of their decision.