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Department Chair and Center Director Search Process
Guidelines from the College of Medicine

In general, a faculty search process should be followed as detailed in the checklist within the Provost Guidelines available at the following web site: http://www.hr.arizona.edu/01_rec/searches/SearchGuide.pdf

In addition, the COM recruitment process has the following specialized features:

  1. **Hiring Authority or Designee Solicits Input from the Faculty within the affected Academic Unit, the Dean’s Faculty Advisory Committee, the Dean’s Research Council and interested COM faculty before the identification of a search committee chair.
    1. Current Strengths/Weaknesses or Issues
    2. Information Packet of the Academic Unit for Candidate
      1. Current faculty biosketches, including support pages
      2. Space allocations
      3. Teaching Commitments
      4. Current Department Vision Statement and Financial Statement
    3. Nominations for Search Chair and Search Committee Members
    4. Essential Features of an Outstanding Candidate (minimum and preferred)
    5. Current Interactions with other Academic Units; Identifying Interface Areas in clinical/basic science disciplines
  2. Selection of Search Committee Chairperson
    1. Chairperson holds a COM primary appointment and full professor rank
    2. Chairperson cannot hold a primary appointment in the academic unit for which recruitment is being performed
    3. Chairperson must be able to represent different constituencies
  3. Selection and Appointment of Search Committee Members
    1. Limit to 6-8 COM faculty members. Faculty with primary appointments in the Academic Unit cannot serve
    2. For Clinical Departments, Faculty from Basic Sciences must be represented
    3. For Basic Science Departments, Faculty from Clinical Departments must be represented
    4. Members primarily restricted to associate and full professor level
    5. Invited by the Hiring Authority
  4. Establish Liaison Committee
    1. Composed of a maximum of 6-8 COM Faculty from and selected by the Academic Unit
    2. Community physician/scientist representation is encouraged where appropriate
  5. Responsibilities of the Liaison Committee
    1. Provides nominee list to search committee for invitation letters
    2. Provides information for the advertisement
    3. Provides information packet for candidates (see 1b, above)
    4. Solicits and coordinates all information to the search committee from the academic unit. Information includes: feedback on candidate nominations (including identification of acceptable candidates), candidate visits, evaluations and national perspective issues.
    5. Suggests the best structure for interaction of the candidates with the Academic Unit.
    6. Reports to the search committee
  6. Charge given to the Search Committee by Hiring Authority
    1. Outline essential elements of the successful candidate
    2. Review confidentiality
    3. Review recruitment responsibilities
    4. Emphasize Importance of Diversity
    5. Outline Scope of Resources in general terms and discuss the role of the Academic Unit in the COM
    6. Outline the Timeline
  7. Search Chair Responsibilities
    1. Obtains position announcement approval from hiring authority
    2. Responsible for Communication, serves as committee spokesperson
    3. Schedules meetings between search committee and liaison committee throughout the search process
    4. Invites Nominees suggested by Faculty to Apply for Position
    5. Coordination of Airport Interviews, Group Interviews and Social Events
    6. Assure Diversity Process is Used by reviewing acceptable candidate pool
  8. Search Committee Tasks
    1. Agree on Decision Making Approach
      1. Scoring System: Three Tiers
      2. Assigned Reviewers to Applicants
      3. Evaluation Process including standard set of questions and input from candidate’s institution
    2. Agree on a timeline for advertising, initial screens, phone interviews and campus visits
    3. Write the Advertisement
    4. Agree on Strategies to find Diverse Candidates
    5. Recruitment Plan and Budget
    6. Decide Application Materials Required. Include candidate cover letter, CV and 1-2 page statement of vision for academic unit.
    7. Send request to “First Cut” candidates for letters of reference
  9. Candidate Visits
    1. Campus-wide Scientific Seminar scheduled
    2. Candidate meets with Faculty of the Academic Unit as directed by Liaison Committee
    3. Feedback solicited from Academic Unit and COM faculty in the form of email and phone calls.
  10. Internal Candidates
    1. Identical consideration to external candidates
    2. All internal candidates should be interviewed by the search committee
  11. Forward the names of top three unranked candidates to the Hiring Authority

**Hiring Authority: For recruitment of Department Chairs and Center Directors, the Dean is the Hiring Authority