02-09-17 Faculty Recruitment

Dear Friends of the College:

In addition to new students coming to College Station, the Fall Semester brings new faculty to Texas A&M University.  And, even as these new members join the Aggie community, our departments are laying plans to recruit next year’s new faculty hires.  Because faculty are so critical to realizing our goals of national prominence, internationalization, and diversity,

I would like to explain how our departments recruit new faculty to Texas A&M.

Recruitment of assistant professors often begins 18 months before they appear on campus as new faculty members.  For advanced hires at the associate professor or full professor levels, recruiting may involve 24 to 30 months of lead time.  In all instances, current faculty discuss the needs of their respective departments in terms of fields that should be covered by a new hire and priorities of the department.  Department heads make recommendations to the Dean for searches in particular areas and file plans for how they intend to conduct the search.  I approve the position and search plans, and then the departments are largely on their own to identify outstanding candidates for their positions. 

Search committees composed of three to five faculty members are usually responsible for organizing the search.  They prepare a written job description and post an advertisement in disciplinary journals.  Although most disciplines have a newsletter or journal devoted to job listings, departments also contact leading Ph.D. programs and well-known scholars directly to invite nominations or applications.  As you might expect, the personal contacts are especially important in attracting top-notch candidates.  The search for a senior position may even include invitations to outstanding scholars to visit campus to give a lecture before they are encouraged to apply for the position.  Additionally, I expect departments to make special efforts to assure that an applicant pool is at least as diverse as their respective discipline.  Thus, I ask departments to document calls and other contacts with leading women and minority scholars in the fields of interest to encourage applications from under-represented groups.

 Identifying candidates and gathering applications often takes three to five months, and may yield from 20 to over 200 candidates depending on the nature of the position.  The search committee reviews files provided by the applicants – a curriculum vitae (or resume), copies of publications, teaching materials, and letters of reference – to identify a few outstanding candidates. 

Committee members usually narrow the applicants to a short list of exceptionally well qualified candidates for whom they often seek additional information through calls to references and to others who might know about their work.  Eventually, this process produces an interview list of two, three, or four candidates.  Before scheduling interviews, the department head seeks “certification” from the Dean’s Office showing that the department made good faith efforts to secure a diverse pool of applicants. 

Once the applicant pool is certified, the department invites candidates to Texas A&M for on-campus interviews.  Each finalist is interviewed individually in a visit that lasts two or three days in which candidates meet with faculty, officials in the Dean’s Office, and students.  Candidates are asked to give a presentation to the department about their scholarly work and teaching interests.  During their presentations or in office visits, candidates respond to a variety of questions such as:

• Why did they choose the particular topic to research for a dissertation?
• What is the theoretical or real-world interest in this topic?  Why is it important?
• Why did they choose a particular methodology or approach to address the topic?
• How does the evidence or logic of their argument support their conclusions?
• Are there rival explanations or points of view that ought to be considered?
• What are the implications of their findings or argument for the discipline?
• What future area area of scholarship and teaching do they see emerging from their work? 
• What courses are they interested in teaching?
• How do they structure their classes and how do they assure that students do their very best?
• Have they had experience with or are they interested in team teaching, new instructional technologies, or special teaching projects such as directing honors work?          

The visit also allows candidates to learn more about the department, the College, and Texas A&M University.  Thus, candidates often ask questions themselves: