Hiring Guidelines for Tenured and Tenure-track Faculty School of Public Service
Revised October 2021
Introduction:
The School of Public Service Dean, in consultation with the Faculty Director(s) and Program Leads, determines hiring priorities in the School when (1) faculty positions become vacant, or (2) when new funding becomes available for additional tenure-track faculty positions.
Pre-Search Administrative Procedures:
Once the hiring process is initiated by the Dean’s Office, Dean’s Office staff will complete the necessary back-office tasks for filling a vacant position, or establishing a new position.
Once the hire is approved, the Faculty Director(s), in consultation with the Program(s) Lead(s) of the hiring Program(s), will appoint a faculty Search Committee to draft the job announcement prior to the regular search cycle. The Faculty Director(s), in consultation with the Program Lead(s) of the hiring Program(s), will appoint the Search Committee’s chair, as well as individual search committee members. Proposals will be sent to the Faculty Director(s) for feedback. Once a final draft of the job announcement is agreed upon, the Faculty Director(s) will send the job announcement to the Dean’s Office for final approval.
Search Committee Composition:
Faculty Search Committees in the School of Public Service are composed of (1) a non-voting Search Committee chair, (2) a minimum of two faculty members from the hiring Program(s), (3) and at least one faculty member unaffiliated with the hiring Program(s).
All Search Committee members shall be either tenured or tenure-track faculty in the School of Public Service, or tenured or tenure-track faculty affiliated with the School of Public Service. Faculty members whose primary appointment is in another academic unit on campus are eligible to serve as voting members if they are affiliated with the School of Public Service (for example, in a Program Lead role).
Search Committee chairs shall be tenured or tenure-track faculty in the School of Public Service, or tenured or tenure-track faculty affiliated with the School of Public Service. Chairs are non-voting members of the committee.
Beginning Search Process:
The Search Committee chair and the Faculty Director(s) will work collaboratively to ensure that reasonable timelines are met, including the posting of the job announcement and the creation of a “short-list” of candidates to be interviewed once the job announcement closes.
The Search Committee chair will be assisted in all phases of the search process by the assigned member of Dean’s Office staff.
Before participating on a Search Committee (either as a chair or as a member) faculty must complete all required Human Resources Department trainings.
The initial meeting of the Search Committee will be the “charge meeting,” in which the Faculty Director(s) will define the expectations for the search and ensure that the goals of the search are aligned with the School’s mission and vision. The Search Committee must create a rubric for evaluating candidates, which must then be reviewed and approved by the Faculty Director(s).
Once the job announcement has closed, Human Resources will certify the pool of candidates, and then the list of candidates and their application materials will be shared with the Search Committee. The Search Committee will establish a reasonable timeline for initial review of applicants and may first create a “long-list” of candidates for review based upon the minimum and preferred qualifications listed in the job announcement. At the discretion of the Search Committee, phone interviews or Zoom interviews may take place with these candidates, however, the chosen mode of interview must be uniformly utilized for all candidates.
This long-list of candidates will be circulated to all tenured or tenure-track faculty in the School, and a meeting will be scheduled to collect their feedback. Using this feedback, and their own assessments, the Search Committee will ultimately create a “short-list” of candidates for on-campus interviews.
On-Campus Interviews:
When possible, on-campus interviews will be two-day visits to include interviews with tenured and tenure-track faculty members from the hiring Program(s), interviews with other SPS faculty, an interview with the Faculty Director(s), an interview with the Dean and/or Associate Dean, a research colloquium (open to all SPS faculty and staff ), a group interview with students (when appropriate), a group interview with advisory board members or government agency personnel (when appropriate), a tour of campus, a city tour and/or an exit interview with the Search Committee.
The Search Committee chair will work with the assigned Dean’s Office staff member to create the itineraries of candidates coming to Boise State for on-site interviews. Itineraries should be provided to the Faculty Director(s) for feedback, and then shared with all SPS faculty.
Invitations to research talks and related events will be sent, along with the job announcement and other contextual information, to all faculty by the assigned Dean’s Office staff member.
Post On-Campus Interview Feedback:
At the conclusion of all interviews (or after each interview, at the discretion of the Search Committee), feedback about the short-list of candidates will be solicited from SPS faculty and staff through an in-person meeting, hosted by the Search Committee, that interested faculty and staff can attend, or through written feedback from faculty and staff who are unable to attend.
Using this feedback, and their own assessments, Search Committee members will deliberate and provide a rank-ordered list of acceptable candidates to the Dean. The Search Committee may recommend that one or more candidates are not acceptable. A descriptive evaluation outlining the committee’s assessment of each of the candidates, and an explanation as to the order of the candidates, is required.
The Offer Stage:
The Dean of the School of Public Service will forward the recommendation of the search committee to the Provost with the Dean’s recommendation. Upon the Provost’s approval, the Dean will extend an offer of employment to the chosen candidate. The Dean will handle all negotiations following the offer, and the Dean’s Office will provide periodic updates as to the status of these negotiations to the Faculty Director(s) and the Search Committee chair.
Once the chosen candidate has officially accepted the written offer of employment, sent to them by Human Resources, the Dean and/or Dean’s Office will notify the Faculty Director(s), the Program Lead(s) of the hiring Program(s), as well as the Search Committee chair, and Search Committee members. Then a School-wide announcement will be made by the Dean’s Office, welcoming the new hire into the School of Public Service.