Recruitment and Appointment of Faculty – Iliff School of Theology - Frequently Asked Questions

Vacancies in Faculty Positions

Periodically the Dean and the Faculty Personnel Committee will review and discuss the size and shape of the Faculty, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses in carrying out the educational mission of the School, and will provide a means of engaging the Faculty Council in this conversation. The Dean will then convey the content of that conversation to the President and to the Board of Trustees, and seek means of engaging Faculty, President, and Board in appropriate conversations and strategic planning about the future size and shape of the Faculty.

Authorization for the establishment or continuation of a tenure-line and/or contract-renewable Faculty position is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees in consultation with the chair and members of the Board’s Academic Affair Committee, on which committee also sit the President and the Dean along with the Chairperson of the Board. Appointment of a Faculty member to a position at the Iliff School of Theology is the responsibility of the President. Faculty search committee processes and recommendations for hiring to the President are the responsibility of the Faculty Council.

Review of Vacant Faculty Positions

When a Faculty position is vacated, the Faculty Personnel Committee will institute and conduct a review of that position, beginning with the impact of that vacancy on the educational mission and programs of the School.

Review Process for Vacant Faculty Positions

Such review will involve, at a minimum, an open forum with students, discussion in Faculty Council, solicitation of written assessments from faculty and students, an assessment of budgetary concerns and resources for the position, and a written assessment by the Dean after consultation with the President and the Board of Trustees. The consultation with the President should address whether and how broader institutional concerns such as the balance and makeup of the Faculty in terms of religious, social or gender diversity should be named as factors in the search and how such factors might be expressed in the position description. The Faculty Personnel Committee will prepare a summary of these discussions and documents and will make a recommendation to the Faculty Council concerning the continuation of the position and possible rank.

Approval for Continuation or Reconfiguration of Vacant Faculty Positions

If the Faculty Council votes to approve the continuation or reconfiguration of a position, the Faculty Personnel Committee takes that recommendation to the Dean. The Dean forwards the Faculty Personnel Committee’s recommendation, and the Dean’s recommendation to the President. The President will forward the Faculty Council recommendation, the Dean’s recommendation, and the President’s recommendation to the Board of Trustees for its action.

Approval by the Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees, exercising its discretion, acts upon the recommendation, which includes the area of the search and the possible rank of the position. Where the Board authorizes a search at the Associate or Professor rank, such authorization may include the possibility of an appointment with tenure. In such event, an appointment with tenure shall be part of the President’s appointing power.

New Faculty Positions

The President, Dean, Board of Trustees, or a group of Faculty may submit a proposal for a new faculty position to the Faculty Council. If the Faculty Council approves consideration of such a proposal, then the Faculty Personnel Committee will conduct a review of the proposal and the process will then proceed according to the same procedures outlined in section III.A. 1-4 above for the review and approval of a vacated faculty position.

Search Committee and Process

Make Up of the Committee

In consultation with the Faculty Personnel Committee, the Dean will appoint members of the search committee for any position that has been duly authorized. The Dean will appoint the Chair of the search committee, who normally will be conversant with the field in which the appointment is to be made.

The search committee normally will consist of four faculty and two students, including normally one master’s level student, one doctoral level student (when appropriate), and one faculty member in the field (or related field) of the appointment. Normally, students will be conversant with the field in which the appointment is to be made.

The Dean is an ex officio member of all faculty search committees.

Search Process

Search committees shall follow these confidentiality and reporting protocols for the search process. Accountability for a search, in all of its aspects, resides with the Board of Trustees, the Faculty as a whole, the President, and especially the Dean as the head of the Faculty and Chief Academic Officer.

The search committee will normally be appointed early in the spring quarter of the academic year prior to the year during which the search will be conducted. The committee will be convened in the same quarter and begin the search process according to the procedures outlined here below.
The committee will prepare a position description, a sample advertisement, and a calendar for the search and interview process. The position description must include at least (a) a description of basic responsibilities, including teaching, research, advisory and committee work, etc., (b) delineation of necessary background, experience, degrees, etc., (c) rank or range of eligible ranks, and (d) tenure-track or term status of the position. The position description, sample advertisement, and the calendar will be presented to the Faculty Council for its approval normally by the end of the academic year prior to the one during which the search will be conducted.
The search committee chair is responsible for having agendas and minutes prepared for all its meetings. The committee chair will schedule a meeting of the committee with the president regarding institutional factors in relation to the position. All documents and discussions of the committee are to be confidential, with materials available to the president on request. Reports on the search process to any individual or group are to be provided only by the Dean or the chair of the search committee, or by members of the search committee with the approval of the chair.
The Dean’s office will advertise the position in appropriate placement periodicals. In addition, and depending upon the field in question, the committee will seek nominations from presidents, Deans, departmental chairs, and selected faculty from other schools in the discipline(s) named in the job description, and any other appropriate persons. Iliff students, faculty, staff, and relevant University of Denver faculty will be encouraged to submit names of potential candidates to the search committee.
The search committee will provide regular and public reports to the School concerning the search process. Such reporting will respect the confidential character of the committee's work, but may enable those interested to know such things as the number of applications, statistics regarding gender and racial-ethnic identity, denominational affiliation, various specializations of applicants, and other information pertinent to the search.
Application files should minimally include a letter of application, a curriculum vitae, and letters of reference.
The chair of the committee should ensure that all applicants receive acknowledgment of receipt of application.
As soon as is feasible after the due date for applications, the search committee will establish an initial short list of candidates at a date determined by the search committee and inform those not on the list they are no longer under consideration for the position.
Other than the official public reports, the work of the search committee is to be strictly confidential. The only persons to be in contact with candidates are the chair of the committee, the Dean, or the president except in those cases that the committee chair and the Dean have delegated to someone else responsibility to be in communication with a candidate. The names of applicants who fall into categories that have for that search been designated internally as preferentially weighted (i.e., racial/ethnic, United Methodist, ordained, etc,) shall be reported to the Dean and a brief report shall be provided to the Faculty Council.
External evaluations of candidates are to be requested only by the chair of the search committee or the Dean. All requests for evaluations of a given candidate are to be uniformly worded. Both the request and the responses received are to be written and placed in each applicant's file. Access to external evaluations of the candidates is limited to the members of the search committee and the Dean and the president. Iliff faculty who believe special circumstances justify their contacting colleagues at other institutions about an applicant are asked to request permission for such contacts from the chair of the search committee and the Dean and to report such contacts to them.
No later than the first week of the winter quarter, the search committee will present to the Faculty Council for approval a list of candidates for on-campus interviews. The list may be unranked or ranked. Normally, more than one person will be interviewed for a position.
The search committee, in consultation with the Dean, will be responsible for arranging the schedule for an on-campus interview. Interviews for the same position are to include similar public and private meetings, each with similar purposes. The committee chair will communicate the schedule of the interview and the purpose of the various meetings to each candidate prior to his/her arrival. Normally, candidates will visit for no fewer than two days at the School's expense. At a minimum, there will be (1) discussions with the Faculty Council, President, Dean, and Librarian; (2) student forums, so that students have the opportunity to interact with the candidate; and (3) a public presentation of their own scholarship open to all members of the Iliff community. Each candidate is a guest of the Iliff School of Theology, assessing Iliff as an attractive place of employment, and should be accorded the hospitality and consideration due that status.
The President is responsible to see that the candidate is informed about salary range and benefits. All those interviewed will be kept apprised of their status within the search process in a timely and appropriate fashion by the chair of the search committee. When a decision has been reached not to appoint a person who has interviewed, the search committee chair or the Dean will communicate that information to the individual in question.
Prior to an on-campus interview, the chair of the search committee will place the curriculum vitae and selected publications of the candidate on reserve.
After the interview has been completed, the search committee will request written assessments of the candidate from those involved in the interview process. The search committee will use the written form provided by the office of the Dean to collect assessments from students, faculty, and staff. Individual memos, evaluation forms, petitions, and other communications that express judgments about a candidate should explain the basis for the evaluation (e.g., personal contact with the candidate, information from other persons, etc.)
When presenting recommendations about the candidates, the search committee should present an accurate and balanced summary of the documentation it has received. All letters and other communications received are to remain a part of the official search file as are all letters and communications written on behalf of the search committee.
The only outside evaluations of applicants appropriate for reporting and collective consideration at any stage of the search process are written evaluations secured by the chair of the search committee or the Dean, or, in rare instances, orally communicated evaluations the contents of which are validated by both the search committee chair and the Dean.
The search committee makes a recommendation to the Dean and to the Faculty Council.
After the conclusion of each interview, only the President, the Dean, and others as approved by the Dean and/or the President are to communicate substantively with a candidate about the position.
At the conclusion, suspension, or postponement of a search process, the Dean or the President is to communicate that information to applicants.
At the conclusion of the search, all records produced by the search committee (including official committee reports, minutes of meetings, position description(s), search timeline, and demographic summary of applicants) will be archived electronically by the Dean’s office. All other search documents (including candidate applications and related materials) shall be maintained for a minimum of three years, after which they may be destroyed.
The foregoing search procedures are statements of general propriety, not inflexible rules. Nevertheless, modification to these procedures requires consent of president, Dean, and Faculty Council, in accordance with Section III.C.3. of this Faculty Handbook. The primary basis for the evaluation of a search process is the degree to which it is properly comprehensive in scope, flexible and open to the introduction of legitimate personal and professional concerns, fair to all appropriate information and the diversity of views expressed, and well organized.

Targeted Searches

In cases where a targeted search is deemed necessary for reasons of diversity, faculty balance, and other significant institutional goals, a modified search process can be instituted. The search committee, Faculty Personnel Committee, Dean, or President may propose a modified search with specialized processes. Modified searches and their procedures require the mutual consent of the President, the Dean, and the Faculty Council.

Search Committee Recommendation to the Dean and Faculty Council

After the approved interviews, and in accord with the search calendar, the search committee will make a recommendation to the Dean for an appointment. The search committee’s recommendation will, at a minimum, include:

A review of the responses solicited from those involved in the interview process.
A rationale for the proposed appointment.
A proposal with respect to the beginning date, rank, tenure, and other matters of relevance.
If a recommendation for appointment involves proposals for tenure and/or rank of Associate Professor or Professor, these proposals must be submitted to the Faculty personnel Committee for approval before the search committee brings a recommendation to the Faculty Council.
The search committee recommendation may include proposals regarding consideration of other candidates, should the initial candidate recommended for appointment be unable to accept the offer.
Upon concurrence of the Dean, the Chair of the search committee will submit the recommendation to the Faculty Council for approval. If the Dean does not concur with the recommendation of the search committee, and if the Dean and the search committee cannot reach agreement, special meetings of the Faculty Council must be called to act on the differing recommendations. In such a case, a recommendation for appointment from the Faculty Council will be sustained with the three-fourths vote of a duly called meeting of the Faculty Council.

Faculty Council Recommendation to the Dean and the President

The decision of the Faculty Council will be forwarded to the Dean and accompany the Dean’s recommendation to the President. The Dean’s recommendation shall also include recommendations concerning specific appointment title, salary range, tenure status, and other such matters having to do with the terms of the proposed appointment.
If the President concurs, the President will provide a contract to the candidate in a timely fashion and enter into necessary negotiations with the candidate to reach agreement for the appointment. Upon completion of such negotiations, the President shall report the results of those negotiations to the Dean, the Faculty Council, and the Board of Trustees.
If the appointment of a candidate has been approved by the Faculty Council, and if the President does not concur and does not act upon the recommendation, the

President is obligated to provide, in a timely manner, explanation appropriate to the circumstances to all those bodies having earlier approved the appointment. If the President is going to invoke the following criteria, she/he notifies the search committee at the earliest possible moment. Criteria for such a decision may include:

The search or evaluation process in the Faculty Handbook was not followed.
New hires did not fulfill the criteria of the position description.
Documented information came to the Dean or to the President bearing upon the suitability of the individual proposed for hiring because of professional misconduct or other ethical violations.
Financial or other institutional exigencies emerged that would make it inappropriate to affirm the recommended action.
A failed background check.