Employment of Faculty and Staff
The University has a number of policies and procedures covering a variety of concerns affecting faculty and staff. The explanation, interpretation, and enforcement of these policies is often assigned to the department head; thus, it is extremely important for you to be knowledgeable about personnel polices and procedures.
The College of Liberal Arts is strongly committed to personnel policies that apply equally and fairly to all prospective and incumbent students and staff. Individuals are selected for admission to programs, for employment, and for advancement based upon personal abilities, qualifications, and other relevant characteristics. No one is excluded from participation or promotion for reasons relating to race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin or ancestry, genetic information, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or status as a veteran. As a department head, you must be sensitive to any infringement upon the civil rights of staff or students. If individuals seek your assistance in resolving problems relating to any form of harassment or discrimination, please give these issues highest priority and your immediate attention. Whenever such an incident or complaint is received, Dean Hong should be notified at once and the dean’s office kept informed as you resolve the situation. It is important for all of us within the college to create an environment for work and study that is free of bias and is comfortable and inclusive for all of our faculty, students, and staff.
The selection and appointment of staff is a major responsibility of all department heads. In this section, procedures for the appointment of faculty, administrative/professional staff, lecturers, and clerical/service staff are reviewed. College and University affirmative action procedures relating to hiring are also included, in addition to a discussion of the procedures for employing international faculty and staff.
The selection of tenure-track, clinical, and research faculty is an important function for all academic departments. The first step is to gain the dean’s authorization for a search. Development of the position description is led by the Department Head in consultation with the Dean and relevant members of the department, which may include the search committee, field members, or the full faculty. The Dean approves the position description and the appointment of the search committee. Search Committees place the advertisement, screen and respond to applicants, and conduct interviews. Department members meet with prospective applicants, attend presentations, and provide aggregate feedback. Feedback serves as advisory information to the search committee and the Head. The search committee provides feedback on strengths and weakness to the Department Head who conducts an independent review and makes a hiring recommendation to the Dean. Department heads formally extend offers on behalf of the Dean of the College, negotiate salaries, and establish the terms of the appointment. University and college affirmative action procedures must be followed (to be discussed later in this section) and several University documents, including the Faculty and Staff Handbook must be given to new employees.
In the case of a vacancy in the department headship, a full national search may be undertaken, assuming availability of funds. Internal candidates may be nominated and/or apply as part of the national search. However, due to budget constraints, department head searches may be limited to internal applicants only.
Appointments of non-ladder rank faculty (visiting faculty, limited term lecturers, post-doctoral research associates) do not require the same search procedures as are required for tenured and tenure-track faculty, or continuing lecturers. While some administrative/professional appointments do not require a national search or a search committee, departments may utilize search committees and regional or national advertising in selecting these staff members. Affirmative action procedures for non-ladder rank and administrative/professional searches will also be discussed in a later section.
The appointment of clerical and service staff is generally handled through the Office of the Vice President for Human Resources. Departments with clerical or service vacancies contact HR and provide a description of the vacancy. Positions are advertised through their internal staff listing system and applicants are referred to individual departments for screening. Initiate staff job postings here. Departments are encouraged to seek members of underrepresented groups for these positions through active recruitment in the local community or surrounding areas.
Since May 2011, Purdue policy has required background checks on all new faculty and staff hires. Click here for the background check policy: http://www.purdue.edu/policies/human-resources/vif6.html
In this section
Appointment of Faculty and A/P Staff
Employment of International Faculty and Staff
Faculty Promotion and Tenure Procedures
Letters of Evaluation from Outside Reviewers
Start-up Teaching Reduction Program
Review of Liberal Arts Department Heads
Review of the Dean and the Dean's Staff