The Offices of the Provost and Human Resources are excited to initiate a collaborative project re-envisioning faculty recruitment at Drake. The project team consists of Jennifer Harvey, Ann Guddall, and Drinda Williams in Academic Affairs; Maureen De Armond and Marli Jefferson in Human Resources; and with Renée Cramer and Sue Mattison as the project’s executive sponsors.

We will be seeking cutting edge best practices to help Drake attract and hire faculty who will help us meet our institutional goals, serve our students, and live Drake’s Core Values.

At present, the key deliverables have been identified as: (1) creating a strategic faculty recruitment guide with recommendations, templates, sample language, dos & don’ts, and other related resources designed to help solicit large, diverse pools of viable faculty applicants, adopt best practices in recruitment and hiring, and embedding consistent and legally compliant practices; (2) developing a technical guide for search chairs, hiring authorities, search committees, business office managers, HR, and the Provost Office (this will be designed to go with the new applicant tracking system that replaces Hire Touch, which will be sunset at the end of the calendar year); and (3) adopting comprehensive communication and training materials for stakeholders involved in future faculty searches.

The project team will work closely with the academic leaders to strike an appropriate balance between what aspects of faculty recruitment process and strategy should be consistent across the institution and what aspects are more appropriately tailored by the academic units.

The project team will be thoughtful in reaching out to recently hired faculty, recent search committee chairs, deans, academic chairs, business office managers of academic units, and other important stakeholders for feedback.

Since the project team will be working over the summer, it is important to capture ideas and suggestions from faculty prior to the close of the semester. The project team welcomes feedback on current strengths and weaknesses in the existing faculty recruitment processes, suggestions for new and innovative practices, or anything else that comes to mind. You are invited to email such messages to drakehr@drake.edu. Please use “Faculty Recruitment” as the email subject line and the message will be shared with the project team.

— Jennifer Harvey, Associate Provost, Campus Equity and Inclusion & Maureen De Armond, Executive Director of Human Resources