Instructional and Administrative / Professional Faculty Recruitment
Recruitment Process / Timelines
Establishment of Position
Requests for new or replacement positions (Administrative/Professional Faculty positions require completion of Form AP-9 and Form AP-12) are initiated by the department chair and are reviewed by the dean of the College.
Recruitment Phase
- Initiation of search process - Once a position has been established (Administrative/Professional Faculty positions require completion of Form AP-9 and Form AP-12), the department chair secures permission to recruit by filling out the first two sections of Form AP-15F (Position Information and Recruitment/Advertising) and obtaining the appropriate signatures.
- Appointment of search committee - The department chair appoints a search committee of at least three members.
- Scope of search - Unless there are exceptional circumstances, all searches will be national in scope.
- Processing of applications - All applications will be sent to the director of faculty recruitment, who will be responsible for mailing the letters acknowledging receipt of each candidate’s application.
Screening Phase
- Review of applications by the search committee - The director of faculty recruitment will forward the applications to the search committee on the date that the application review is to begin as stated in the position advertisement.
- Selecting persons for a telephone interview - If the number of telephone interviews is at least three, then those persons are to be interviewed. If the number of telephone interviews is fewer than three, the search committee will re-evaluate the persons in the possible interviews category.
- Selecting persons for a campus interview - Once the search committee has conducted all telephone interviews, two candidates will be selected for campus interviews.
- Exceptions to the required number of candidates to be interviewed - With the proper authorization, the search committee may conduct fewer than three telephone interviews.
- Exceptions to the telephone interviews - With proper authorization, the search committee may forgo the telephone interviews.
Interviewing Phase
- Developing interview questions - Prior to conducting any interviews, the search committee will meet with the director of faculty recruitment to discuss the following: (1) what questions are impermissible; (2) how to phrase any troubling questions so that the questions will be permissible; and (3) any other concerns that the search committee may have about the search.
- Search committee interviews - The search committee will then conduct the interviews.
Offer and Appointment Phase
- Extending the offer - The provost will extend the offer for employment to the instructional faculty. The director of faculty recruitment will extend the offer for employment to the administrative/professional faculty.
- Appointment as a faculty member - The successful candidate will be offered a contract.
Non-faculty hiring
The recruiting and hiring procedures for classified and hourly positions are promulgated and governed by the Commonwealth of Virginia as set forth in the policies of the Department of Human Resources Management.
Classification Definitions
Full-Time Instructional Faculty
Positions in this category have specific assignments that customarily require instruction, research or public service as a principal activity. Examples include academic rank titles such as professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor or lecturer. Requires Form AP-15 to establish new position.
Full-Time Administrative/Professional Faculty
Administrative faculty performs work directly related to management of the activities of the institution, department or subdivision. Incumbents in these positions exercise discretion and independent judgment and generally direct the work of others. Qualifications for administrative faculty positions include: advanced degree or training and work experience at a level which equates to an advanced degree; performance of duties and responsibilities associated with this category more than 50 percent of contractual time; regular exercise of discretionary actions.
In general, the vice presidents, vice provosts, deans and their immediate staffs are designated as administrative faculty. Also, directors of major administrative units reporting to the vice presidents are categorized as administrative faculty.
Professional faculty require advanced learning and experience acquired by prolonged formal instruction and/or specialized work experience. This category is normally limited to librarians, counselors, extension agents, coaches, physicians, and other professional positions servicing education, outreach, research, athletic, medical, student affairs, and development functions or activities.
Qualifications for professional faculty positions are advanced degree or training and work experience at a level which equates to an advanced degree; performance of duties and responsibilities associated with this category more than 50 percent of contractual time; regular exercise of professional discretion and judgment; and production of work that is intellectual and varied in character, not standardized.
Requires Form AP-9 and Form AP-12 to establish a new position.