Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs > Faculty Information & Resources > Faculty Search Handbook Guidelines

I. Introduction

Message from the Provost

The Provost’s Message to the Academic Deans and Faculty

Lehigh University strives to recruit outstanding diverse faculty members and to create an academic climate that welcomes diversity in many areas, including ethnicity, national origin, religion, race, gender, age, disability and sexual orientation. In order to be in a position to successfully recruit and retain diverse faculty, our immediate goal is threefold:

1. To broaden our recruitment net to include a wide-range of highly qualified diverse candidates;
2. To keep track of our recruitment efforts and outcomes so that we can assess our progress and continue to improve.
3. To encourage the participation of faculty, Department Chairs and administrators in this important and evolving initiative.

This must be a collective effort from all of us at Lehigh to continue this institutional transformation. There are no specific numeric targets or quotas – only the important goal of broadening the search process for each of our open full-time, tenure-track positions. Having a Vice Provost for Academic Diversity in place has been helpful in providing guidance on how best to engage the entire Lehigh community in our collective efforts to continue to improve Lehigh.

This handbook is meant to help establish fair, objective, consistent, intentional and transparent procedures across the university in the search and hiring process, and to guard against disparate treatment of candidates, ensure sound selection procedures and avoid inadvertent or unlawful discrimination. It is not meant to micro manage searches or to undermine or substitute for department/program expertise and judgment.

An organized and professional search process will help ensure the best candidates, including women and underrepresented minority candidates, are attracted to Lehigh. This handbook was developed to assist Department Chairs, program directors, and search committee chairs in conducting tenure-track faculty searches. It includes guidelines for establishing the search committee, reviews the charge of the search committee, suggestions and recommendations for enriching the applicant pool, communicating with candidates, maintaining accurate records, evaluating applicants, conducting interviews, and making final recommendations for hiring.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   • Message from the Provost
2. Before the Search Begins
   • Reviewing the Candidate Pool
3. Legal Issues & the Search Process
   • Guidelines
4. Initiating the Faculty Search Process
   • Introduction
   • Completing All the Appropriate Paperwork
   • Composition of the Committee
   • The Search Committee’s Charge
   • How To Make Recruitment Work
   • Reviewing Previous Departmental Search
   • Defining the Position Suggestions
   • Wording for Announcing Positions
5. Recruiting Activities During the Search
   • Broadening the Hiring Net Suggestions
   • Active Recruiting Practices
   • Prescreening of Candidates
   • Creating the Short List
   • Interdisciplinary Hiring
6. Managing Campus Visits
   • Interviewing the Candidates
   • Campus Visit
   • Factors that Bias Interviews
   • Suggestions on Ways to Eliminate Bias
   • Examples that Bias Interviews
   • Best Management Practices for Interviewing
   • Guidelines for Interview Questions
   • Guidelines for Hiring National Employees at Lehigh University & Services Available to a New Foreign National Faculty Member (8/16/12)
   • Work Life Balance & Dual Career Resources
   • Guidelines for Conducting Reference Checks
   • Guidelines for Providing Accommodations for Disabilities
7. Final Selection of a Candidate
8. Negotiating Contracts / Offers
9. Evaluating the Search

APPENDIX

1. Faculty Recruitment & Initial Appointment Checklist
2. Faculty Employment Request Form
3. Permission to Advertise Request Form
4. Reason for Declining Faculty Appointment Offer Form
5. Workshops to Support the Process
   • Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble Group
   • Internal Group—Faculty Search Workshops
6. Principles of Our Equitable Community Document
7. Lehigh University’s Core Values
8. Board of Trustees Diversity Statement
   • Mission Statement
9. Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action / Non-Discrimination Policy
10. Resources for Recruitment: Workshops, Publications, Organizations & Websites
    • General Resources for Faculty Searches
    • Women Faculty & Institutions
    • African American / Black Faculty & Institutions
    • Asian Faculty
    • Faculty with Disabilities
    • Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Faculty
    • Native American Faculty
    • Hispanic Faculty & Institutions
    • Minority & Women Doctoral Directory
11. College & University Addresses
    • Women’s List
    • Black List
    • Hispanic List
12. Women & Minority Institutional Doctoral Directory
13. Women & Minority Doctoral Award History
14. Readings on Diversity, Gender & Faculty Recruitment
15. Handbook References
16. Faculty Search Resources
17. Lehigh University Administrative Offices to Support Faculty Search