Department solicits data for AAR via email using the following text:
“The University of Michigan is required by Federal law to request and maintain data on applicants for employment. As such, we would appreciate your cooperation in completing a self-identification form by visiting our online reporting system. This is entirely optional on your part. The information you provide will be used only in conjunction with the University’s Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action program and will not be used in the employment decision. “
The message will first go out from the Unit Administrator and a subsequent follow-up email should follow from the Chair to encourage compliance. These data will be compiled by the ADAA office and supplied to the search committee at the end of the search for completion of the AAR form (submitted as part of the candidate dossier to executive committee).
All faculty candidates for Assistant Professor positions are invited and encouraged to meet with the ADAA for the purposes of recruiting as well as candidate evaluation. The decision to meet or not meet with the ADAA is left to the discretion of the Department Chair. (If the ADAA is not available, the faculty candidate may meet with one of the other Associate Deans.) A minimum of two weeks notice is required to schedule faculty candidates to meet with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (ADAA) or the other Associate Deans in the absence of the ADAA. Please call Martha Sweigert (sweigert@umich.edu, 7-7020) to schedule an appointment.
It is the responsibility of the department to make sure that the faculty candidate is on time for his/her appointment and that the candidate is escorted after his/her appointment in LEC to his/her next appointment.
Departments are required to fill out the Department Candidate Form for each candidate. This form should accompany the following documents in one pdf file: candidate’s vita, teaching, research and DEI statements, external letters of reference (if received), seminar abstract, itinerary. Please email the packet to Sherry Hall (sfolsom) and Martha Sweigert (sweigert) prior to the candidate’s visit.
One College Representative should be scheduled, by the department, to interview the candidate and to attend the seminar (see Example Letter to College Representatives). The College Representative may be at any tenured or tenure-track professorial rank, whose home department resides outside the interviewing department. The College Representative is to evaluate the candidate’s presentation and, when meeting with the candidate, provide him or her with a broad perspective on the College of Engineering as a whole. It is not assumed that the representative is an expert within the candidate’s field of study, although CoE representatives usually have some familiarity with the general field. The evaluations are extremely important as the CoE Executive Committee considers the College Representative’s evaluation very seriously in its decision to grant the department permission to make a position offer to the candidate.
Department contacts are expected to give Sherry Hall in the ADAA office the name of the College Representative selected at least one week before the visit. The ADAA office will contact the College Representative to submit an online or e-mail evaluation of the candidate to the ADAA office. Once Sherry has received the evaluation from the College Representative, she will forward the evaluation to the appropriate CoE Chair’s Assistant. It will be the responsibility of the Chair’s Assistant to forward the evaluation to the Chair of the Search Committee.
All faculty candidates should be scheduled to meet with the ADAA (contact Martha Sweigert to arrange this meeting) and one non-evaluative faculty member. The department staff person arranging the interviews/itineraries, will contact the faculty candidate with the following information:
It is our practice for faculty candidate interviews in the College of Engineering to include a non-evaluative meeting with a faculty member from another department. The purpose of this meeting is to offer a chance to discuss anything about being a faculty member in the College–including issues of special personal concern–with assurance that such discussion will be held confidentially and provide no input into the hiring decision. Topics of discussion may relate to family status, climate for individuals of varying identities, special interests, or anything at all (you can talk about the weather). Accordingly we offer the option to indicate any preferences you may have for categories that might be represented by the individual you will meet in this slot:
(Please indicate “n/a” for no preference.) Note that anything you specify here will also be held confidentially and not disclosed to faculty in the department.
The candidate’s response should not be shared with the search committee or any faculty in the department. The candidate’s response should be forwarded to Sherry Hall who will match the candidate with a volunteer faculty member. She will then provide the name of the faculty member for scheduling the meeting.
Dual Career Services
When the ADAA Office receives candidate information, Sherry Hall notifies the CoE Director of Dual Career Services with the candidate’s name and contact information. The Director will then contact the candidate directly, informing them of our services. It is our hope that this will improve our ability to respond to the needs of dual career candidates with an earlier indication of the possible solutions to the needs of their partners.
There will no longer be the need for the department chair to make a formal request of the ADAA for dual career services. When a candidate makes contact for dual career services, the Director will work closely with the ADAA, Department Chair and departmental staff to arrange services and coordinate a separate itinerary for the partner if needed.
Please see the following links for further information:
Department approves final candidate for position; addresses any immigration issues if applicable
Department submits candidate casebook to Executive Committee for hire (for reference please use the casebook checklist)
UPDATED: Cover letter from chair: The letter should include a) description of the appointment in the context of the field and the specific needs of the department; b) substantive description of candidate’s work and significant contributions to the field; c) space needs; and d) a balanced summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the case. It should also include a paragraph that describes the search process leading to the candidate’s selection (including the nature of the search – e.g., open or targeted; composition of the pool; information about candidates at each stage of the search) and a separate paragraph justifying the recommendation for the appointment with tenure at the relevant rank. The letter should address or explain any negative comments in the internal and external letters. Please also include the final vote tally, without names, such as 4-2-0 (i.e. # of positive votes-# of negative votes-# of abstentions/recusals) of any faculty group (department review and/or executive committee) that voted on the requested potential hire.
Letter from joint department/program, if applicable
Cover letter from search committee (optional)
Candidate’s curriculum vitae
Teaching/Research/DEI statements
Three external letters of recommendation from reviewers are required. These should be from reviewers at or above the rank of the position for which the candidate is being considered. The letters should be truly evaluative. Letters from the candidate’s thesis advisor or major collaborators are acceptable. However, we discourage letters from reviewers having a personal relationship with the candidate.
One internal letter is expected as evidence of the Department’s evaluation of the candidate. The internal reviewer should be at or above the rank considered.
Executive Committee considers candidate for position, ADAA notifies department of outcome.
If approved, Department Chair negotiates salary and start-up with ADAA and submits draft offer letter, addendum and faculty start-up worksheet for approval. If the faculty candidate wishes to start his/her appointment early (prior to Sept. 1 or Jan. 1) the department must request permission from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to name him/her a Visiting Assistant Professor. Such an early start should be articulated in the offer letter and approved by the ADAA as part of the startup package.
Once approved, the department submits a final Faculty Start-up Worksheet to the ADAA for signature. A signed copy will be supplied to the department following execution. If grants will be transferred, please also include the Transfer Grant Form.
Department sends letter to candidate and copies ADAA.
If candidate accepts, department sends original signed letter to ADAA and begins employment paperwork for RPM-HR.
