Faculty Search Process for 2019-20 (January 7, 2019)

Monday, January 7, 2019

Dear Colleagues,

I write on behalf of the Faculty Resource Committee (FRC) with information about the 2019-20 search process. Below you will find background information, and details about the search timeline and search request process.

Background

As in previous years, we expect to be able to authorize roughly 35 standard new searches across the FAS for 2019-20, of which roughly two-thirds will be at the junior level. Most of those searches will be fully supported by departmental (D) slots. We are grateful for your leadership in helping your unit come to a consensus about the areas of greatest opportunity and need within your department or program.

In addition, there will be a number of pool (P) slots available across the FAS for 2019-20 searches. These pool slots (typically allocated in half-slot increments) have been specifically allocated for appointments that add excellence and diversity to our faculty, or that support new areas of teaching and research. Proposals to use these slots should emphasize how the search will support overall academic excellence, including new academic fields of inquiry, spousal initiatives, areas of intense teaching need, interdisciplinary academic activity, and targets of opportunity.

If you have questions about your departmental slot resources, or about the process for requesting a pool-supported search, your FAS divisional dean or area committee chair or senior associate dean will be happy to meet with you.

  • Humanities: Amy Hungerford or John Mangan
  • Social Sciences: Alan Gerber or Bob Burger
  • Biological Sciences: Jeff Brock or Paul Turner or Bob Burger
  • Physical Sciences: Jeff Brock or Pieter van Dokkum or Bob Burger
  • Engineering and Applied Sciences: Mitch Smooke or Bob Burger

Searches on departmental slots that went unfilled in previous search cycles can be expected to continue in 2019-20. Such searches will be counted in the year in which they were initiated (rather than in the 2019-20 “tally”). If you have an unfilled search that you would like to continue in the same field at the same rank, you need not resubmit a request. If you would like to change the field or rank for which you are searching, please contact the FAS Dean’s Office by mid-April to discuss the proposed change.

We realize that this year’s searches and other comings-and-goings may not have resolved until late in the semester and that in some cases you will be making requests contingent on those outcomes. While we plan to approve most 2019-20 searches by mid-June, we will leave some search approvals and slots in reserve to accommodate late requests that are the result of these sorts of unanticipated events and of late-breaking opportunities throughout the year.

2019-20 faculty search requests timeline

January-February | Departments should undertake discussions of search priorities early in the semester in anticipation of the February 25 deadline. 

February 25th | Departments’ search request lists for searches on departmental slots should be submitted to the FAS Dean’s office. Requests for pool-supported searches should also be submitted at this time. Please submit your request by filling out the form available at http://fas.yale.edu/fas-search-request-form. (Late requests may also be submitted, but we may not be able to respond to such requests on the timetable below.)

March 4th | Search request lists will be distributed to area divisional deans and directors.

March and April | Area advisory committees will review requests for searches on departmental and pool slots, and prepare recommendations for review by the Faculty Resource Committee (FRC).

April, May, and June | The FRC will meet regularly during the months of April and May to discuss and approve search requests for 2019-20. We hope to be able to provide responses to the majority of spring requests by the middle of June.

June, July, August | Late-breaking search requests will be considered by a summer subcommittee of the FRC.

Request process

Search requests should be submitted to http://fas.yale.edu/fas-search-request-form. Your request should include the following information.

Note: that if you are proposing a joint search with another department or program, only one of you needs to submit the request. Please do not submit such a request unless both departments/ programs have agreed on the area and level for the proposed search.

(1)  What is the resource base for the request? (On the search form, you will be asked to identify the slot basis for the requested search. If you are proposing a joint search with another department or program, or a search supported fully or partially with a slot from the FAS pool, you will be able to indicate that on the form.)

(2)   Is the request for a junior, senior or open-rank position, and why?

(3)   In what area(s) are you proposing to search?

(4)   What is the rationale for this search?  

  • Why is this an important area for your unit to search in? How will it help enhance existing departmental/programmatic/university strengths, capitalize on existing opportunities, and/or fill existing gaps? How will it contribute to Yale’s commitment to supporting research and teaching in areas of enduring importance that expand the horizons of human knowledge and understanding?
     
  • Is a search in this area likely to produce a diverse field of excellent candidates? If not, how might the area of search be shifted or broadened to allow consideration of a broad and diverse range of candidates of the highest caliber?
     
  • How does this search fit into your department/program/division’s long-term plans, both in terms of research and in terms of teaching? Keeping in mind that devoting a ladder slot to an area means making a multi-decade commitment, how important do you expect this area to be in the next decades, as your field evolves? How would hiring in this area help ensure that Yale remains a leading university in the 21st century?
  • What role would you expect the candidate to play in the teaching and mentoring of undergraduates (including majors, non-majors, and students in cross- and interdisciplinary programs), of graduate students, and (where relevant) the mentoring of post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty? How does this fit into your department or program’s long-term teaching plans?

(5)   In what office/laboratory space do you propose to house the candidate? Please provide detailed information: No search will be approved without a specific space plan.

(6)   What other resource needs will be associated with the hire (laboratory renovations, library investments, special teaching facilities, equipment and setup funds, graduate student support, etc.)?

(7)   If your department or program is requesting more than one new search for 2019-20, please rank these searches clearly in relation to one another. Leaving them unranked defers judgment of a department’s priorities to the FRC.

Concluding thoughts

We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future improvements to the faculty search authorization process, and we look forward to receiving your departments’ and programs’ requests.

Yours,

Tamar, on behalf of the Faculty Resource Committee

Faculty Resource Committee: 2019-20 Search Cycle

  • Tamar Gendler, FRC Chair; Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy; Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science
  • Steven Berry, David Swensen Professor of Economics and Professor of Management
  • Jeff Brock, FAS Dean of Science (starting January 1, 2019); Professor of Mathematics
  • Marvin Chun, Dean of Yale College; Richard M. Colgate Professor of Psychology and Professor of Neuroscience
  • Lynn Cooley, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; C. N. H. Long Professor of Genetics and Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
  • Alan Gerber, FAS Dean of Social Science; Chair, Social Sciences Advisory Committee; Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Political Science and Professor in the Institute for Social and Policy Studies, of Economics and of Public Health (Health Policy)
  • Larry Gladney, Phyllis Wallace Dean of Diversity and Faculty Development for the FAS; Professor of Physics (starting January 1, 2019)
  • Daniel Harrison, Allen Forte Professor of Music Theory; Chair, Theater Studies Program
  • Amy Hungerford, FAS Dean of Humanities; Chair, Humanities Advisory Committee; Bird White Professor of English and Professor of American Studies
  • Kathryn (Katie) Lofton, FAS Deputy Dean for Diversity and Faculty Development (through January 1, 2019); Chair, Religious Studies; Professor of Religious Studies, of American Studies and of History and Divinity
  • Gregory McCarthy, Henry Ford II Professor of Psychology
  • Mitchell Smooke, Acting Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Strathcona Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  • Daniel Spielman, Henry Ford II Professor of Computer Science and Professor of Mathematics; Acting Chair, Department of Statistics and Data Science
  • Paul Turner, FAS Acting Dean of Science (through January 1, 2019); Chair, Biological Sciences Advisory Committee; Elihu Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Pieter van Dokkum, Chair, Physical Sciences and Engineering Advisory Committee; Sol Goldman Family Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Physics

Non-voting advisory faculty

  • Richard (Rick) Bribiescas, Deputy Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity; Professor of Anthropology and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (advisory member)
  • Peter Schiffer, Vice Provost for Research; Professor of Applied Physics (advisory member)

Non-voting advisory staff

  • Pamela Bosward, Assistant Director of Faculty Affairs (FAS)
  • Lloyd Suttle, Deputy Provost for Academic Resources
  • Jason Zentz, FAS Assistant Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs

 
Cc:       FAS Steering Committee, FRC Members, FAS Chairs’ Assistants