Recruitment of New Faculty

1.0 Recruitment of New Faculty

1.1 Policies

These guidelines have been developed with advice from the FAS Policy and Planning Committee. They provide the normative frame for making regular, full time faculty appointments including tenured and tenure track, language lecturer, clinical professors, and visiting lines. Five important considerations are highlighted below:

• All full time faculty hires, including visitors, are required to apply for the position through Interfolio subject to approval by the NYU Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.
• Under provisional authorization or approval via the response to the Annual Planning Report (APR), recruitment that is approved for hiring in Fall 2022 can commence in Summer or Fall 2021.
• There are separately detailed procedures for making appointments in more than one NYU unit (cross appointments) and for defining the rights and responsibilities of faculty with such appointments.
• Data on the candidate pool and projected recruitment costs must be provided to and reviewed by divisional deans before candidates can be invited to campus.
  
• Faculty searches must adhere to best practices that address diversity of women and underrepresented minorities. Departments and search committees are encouraged to work with the FAS Director for Faculty Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Development throughout the search process. Please refer to the FAS Faculty Diversity and Inclusion Website for details and resources. See Section 1.3
  

The aim of the early approval process is not necessarily to make offers earlier, although this may be a result. The primary reason for accelerating the approval process is to increase the depth and breadth of the applicant pool, which will have an impact on quality and will also maximize our efforts to meet equal employment goals. There must be an explicit understanding with Chairs and departments: authorizations given to recruit are truly provisional and subject to final administrative and financial approval before an offer can be made during the following academic year. Indeed, authorizations to make offers may not be made depending upon the outcome of budgetary and administrative deliberations. We will defer consideration of recruitment plans that cannot be initiated on provisional terms until the following fall semester.

1.2 Procedures

These procedures assume a particular model of recruitment -- a precise and discrete series of steps. In some instances, departmental recruitment may follow a "rolling" process or entail more open-ended searches. Whatever the model authorized in a given instance, the guidelines here should be followed.

1. As part of the Annual Planning Report, the Chair/Director forwards to the Divisional Dean a Faculty Staffing Plan outlining requests for new faculty hiring.
2. If recruitment is approved, the Chair should appoint an ad hoc search committee for the position(s). The names and email addresses of the search committee members should be submitted to the appropriate Divisional Dean, the FAS Director for Faculty Diversity (susan.anton@nyu.edu ), and the Associate Dean of Arts and Science (melinda.starmer@nyu.edu). The membership of the search committee will be posted in the FAS Administrative Resources page, under Faculty. If the search rank is senior or open, it is strongly recommended that the committee include one senior member from a related department. All members of the faculty at any professorial rank may serve on a committee, even for a senior position. It is strongly recommended that search committees have representation by both women and minority scholars.
3. Faculty may be appointed solely to one department or may be considered for an Affiliated, Associated, or Joint appointment (Section 1.5). The different responsibilities and privileges of Affiliated, Associated, and Joint appointments are described in Section 5.0 of the Policies and Procedures, "Faculty Appointments in More than One Unit Within NYU." The rights and responsibilities indicated for each category of appointment should be carefully considered before making the recruitment proposal.
4. If the proposed position is likely to involve an Associate or Joint appointment, one department will assume the lead in the recruitment, but the second department or program must be appropriately represented on the search committee. If an unanticipated possibility of an Associated or Joint appointment emerges in the course of the search, the relevant academic unit should be informed immediately and asked to review the candidate's curriculum vitae. From that point on, the candidate should be jointly considered.
5. The position must be advertised broadly including in the appropriate disciplinary publications and/or field job listings, targeted venues to encourage pool diversity and high profile, multidisciplinary venues. The advertisement must define the position in broad, wide ranging terms consistent with the search committee's definition of diversity and academic excellence. The appropriate Divisional Dean and the FAS Director for Faculty Diversity will work with committees to provide resources on advertisement development.  See Section 1.3. The advertisement must be forwarded to the appropriate Divisional Dean, Susan Antón, the FAS Director for Faculty Diversity, and Melinda Starmer, the Associate Dean of Faculty Advancement  for approval and placement. If some form of Affiliated, Associated, or Joint appointment is proposed or likely, the related department must be consulted on the wording of the advertisement before it is forwarded to the Associate Dean. The approved advertisement should be circulated to members of the department and to the Chairs of related departments. All advertisements for provisionally approved recruitment must include the following language: "...subject to budgetary and administrative approval...."
6. All approved advertisements must be placed in Interfolio. Interfolio’ s Faculty Search is an online applicant tracking and recruitment system which allows departments to collect, view and discuss application materials securely.  Please see Administrators Guide to Faculty Job Advertisements.
7. The Search Committee is expected to actively seek a broad applicant pool comprised of applicants of distinction and/or exceptional promise. Department members should be invited to suggest persons who might be sought out as candidates. In searches of all levels, the Search Committee is required to actively seek the candidacies of women and underrepresented minorities. The composition of the search committee must be forwarded to the Office of the Associate Dean. Information on all faculty search committees will be listed in the Policies and Procedures. Search committee members are encouraged to attend Search Best Practice Workshops held each Fall, and at least one member of each committee should do so; see Section 1.3.
8. The Search Committee is expected to narrow the field and develop a short list. After closely examining the work and references of candidates on that list, they should propose to the department Chair (typically) three finalists to be invited to campus for a lecture or seminar in the department, to be interviewed by department members, and to be interviewed by the Deans. The files of all candidates, those invited and those not, should be available to all faculty of the department for inspection. The files and publications of invited candidates should be distinguished from the general files and made available well before the campus visit.
9. The Chair should forward the curriculum vitae of the finalists to the appropriate Divisional Dean for approval of candidate visits and scheduling of meetings with the Dean. In a cover letter the Chair should describe the search process and the rationale for selection of the finalists, and indicate whether any of the finalists are women or members of underrepresented minority groups. The Chair must complete the Preliminary Data on Candidate Pool Form providing statistical data on the pool of candidates identified by the search. Candidate visits will not be authorized until this information is forwarded to the Divisional Dean, the Associate Dean of FAS and the FAS Director for Faculty Diversity.
10. Search committees are expected to solicit at least 3 external letters of evaluation for each finalist.  For junior, tenure track or contract faculty appointments, letters of recommendation can be sent by the candidate as part of the application or chosen by the committee from the list of references provided by the candidate.  For mid-career or senior appointments with tenure, the search committee must solicit external letters from persons not associated with the candidate (co-author, thesis advisor, etc.) nor identified/suggested by the candidate.
11. Once the required information has been provided, the Divisional Dean will notify the Chair if there is approval to proceed with invitations to the finalists. At this time, the Dean may also establish additional parameters related to the search, including specific budgetary guidelines for campus visits by the finalists, or inclusion of additional faculty or units in these final stages of the process.
12. The Dean of the Faculty, in addition to the Divisional Dean, must interview all candidates for senior tenured positions; junior candidates normally need to be interviewed only by the Divisional Dean.
13. The Search Committee must present its final recommendations to a full department or program meeting for a vote by all members in the professorial ranks. The recommendation must take the form of a written report that appraises the field of candidates, discussing the three finalists in some detail; identifies the specific strengths of the candidate recommended, with a thorough analysis of the candidate's work; and evaluates the reference letters. There should be open discussion in advance of a vote, which may be open or secret, depending upon a department's policy. This should not be confused with the review for tenure, which is a separate procedure. Faculty not present should be invited to submit a written opinion, although their vote or opinion must be recorded separately from those who attended the open discussion.
14. If the appointment is to be Affiliated, Associated, or Joint, the Search Committee must also present its report to the secondary department. The secondary department should then hold an open discussion in advance of its vote, which may be open or secret, depending on department or program policy. The Chair of the secondary department should send a report to the Divisional Dean and the Chair of the lead department indicating that the department faculty were consulted and that they voted on the conferral of an Affiliated, Associated, or Joint appointment. There must be concurrence of both units before an offer is made.
15. The Chair of the lead department must forward the department’s recommendation for appointment to the Divisional Dean and FAS Director for Faculty Diversity, including the external letters of recommendation, the faculty votes and the search committee’s report itself. If the offer of appointment will be with tenure, the Dean of Arts and Science must consult with the Provost’s Office and receive direct approval from the Provost to extend an offer.  The Dean will forward to the Provost a copy of the candidate’s c.v., the report of the Departmental Search Committee, and a minimum of three external letters of recommendation submitted on behalf of the candidate (not solicited or suggested by the candidate.
16. Once approved by the Dean (and Provost if offer will be with tenure), an offer can be made to a candidate.  The Chair (or lead department/program Chair in a joint appointment) should begin developing with the Divisional Dean the specific framework for a formal offer.  After the framework for an initial offer is made, the Divisional Dean will be responsible for negotiating the final terms of the offer including salary, research funds, and housing.  The Divisional Dean will consult with the Chair during the course of negotiations.  The formal offer letter will be sent by the FAS Dean or Divisional Dean.
17. If the position involves an Affiliated, Associated, or Joint appointment with a second unit, both Chairs must agree upon the precise expectations of both departments (number of courses, committee work, merit review, third-year review, tenure and promotion procedures, location of office) in advance of making a formal offer. These terms must be shared with the Dean and with the candidate before the offer is extended, and they must be detailed in the offer letter.
18. In the case of offers with tenure, the offer letter must indicate that the offer is contingent upon a review for rank and tenure. This formal review will begin after the terms of the offer have been accepted. The Department should follow the FAS Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure to conduct this review. 

1.3 FAS Faculty Diversity and Inclusion Best Practice 

The FAS Office of Faculty Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Development provides resources on inclusive search best practice including workshops and online materials.  This initiative reflects an important step towards achieving the long-standing goal of our University to achieve the highest standards of inclusive excellence at the faculty, student, and staff levels. FAS places particular emphasis on enhancing faculty strengths through inclusive hiring to reflect our commitment to creating a scholarly community dedicated to serving the diverse populations of our University, our city, and our global network. Please see the Recruitment section of http://as.nyu.edu/facultydiversity.html

1.4 Academic Job Titles

1.5 Cross Appointments: RIghts, Privileges, Responsibilities

*Subject to the eligibility provisions of each respective campus

Source - NYU Office of Academic Appointments

Example - If the primary appointment is in the Department of Biology in FAS and the secondary appointment is in the department of Pathology in the School of Medicine, the title for a joint appointment or an associated appointment would be "Professor of Biology and Pathology".