The project team reviewing faculty recruitment strategies will soon start drafting recommended tools and templates for consideration and possible adoption. The workgroup—consisting of Jennifer Harvey, Ann Guddall, and Drinda Williams in Academic Affairs; Maureen De Armond and Marli Jefferson in Human Resources; and Renée Cramer and Sue Mattison as the project’s executive sponsors—remains excited about opportunities to modernize practices and refine strategies when it comes to recruiting new faculty.
Through due diligence efforts, the project team also dove into some recent faculty searches to draw more data-informed conclusions about what we are seeing in current pools. We found that recent applicant pools have ranged in size from 3 to 277. We are seeing that more and more candidates are finding our job postings on sites like HigherEdJobs, professional organizations, and through word of mouth. Gone are the days when The Chronicle was “the place” to look for faculty openings.
One topic of interest shared by deans was interest for a dual career/spousal hiring program. Many universities offer a range of support to the spouses and partners of top candidates, who will also be seeking work in Des Moines. The project team listened to suggestions from deans, benchmarked practices at peer institutions and other universities, and are working up the outline of an initial program for Drake University. While this project’s focus is recruitment, the adoption of a dual career program will also support faculty retention.
In consultation with Kevin Saunders, director of institutional research and academic assessment, the project team will be very intentional in assuring any draft documents it proposes speak to the faculty qualification standards established by the Higher Learning Commission. HLC standards should co-exist with Drake’s faculty recruitment materials and the project team will assure this happens.
The project team will also be reviewing search committee chair and search committee training to assure we are using the most modern and best practices to assure our search committees are informed, supported, and prepared to manage searches.
The project team has been thrilled with the feedback and input it has received from new faculty, former search chairs, academic chairs, business office managers, and deans. While the list of work yet to do remains long, this is an ideal time to revisit recruitment. More updates to come in August.
If you have questions or suggestions relating to faculty recruitment that you would like the project team to hear, please email drakehr@drake.edu, subject line: Faculty Recruitment and the team will get the message.
— Jennifer Harvey, Campus Equity and Inclusion; and Maureen De Armond, Human Resources