Faculty Search Process for 2020-21 (January 21, 2020)

Dear Colleagues,

I write on behalf of the Faculty Resource Committee (FRC) with information about the 2020-21 search process. Below you will find details about the search timeline and search request process for the upcoming academic year.

Background

I begin with some good news: as the result of our significant search efforts and successful recruiting in the last several years, we expect to reach our target faculty size within the next eighteen months. This has implications for our future searching: as we conclude this period of successful growth, we expect to authorize fewer new searches than we have in recent years, which were a period of expansion.

New and continuing searches

The new searches most likely to be authorized in 2020-21 are those supported by an unoccupied departmental (D) slot which do not require the use of a department’s last vacant slot. These are not the only conditions under which searches will be authorized, but they are the most likely, given that we expect to begin the search season close to – or slightly over – our target size of 700 filled FAS ladder slots. If you have questions about your departmental slot resources, your FAS divisional dean or senior associate dean will be happy to meet with you. (A list can be found below.)

Continuing searches on departmental slots that went unfilled in previous search cycles can be expected to proceed in 2020-21. You will be receiving information about your current searches from fas.dean in the next days. Those messages will include instructions about how to refresh an unfilled search that you would like to continue at current rank and area, as well as information about how to propose a modification to an ongoing search.

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 2020-21 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.

Questions?

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your divisional dean or senior associate dean:

• Humanities: Kathryn Lofton or John Mangan
• Social Sciences: Alan Gerber or Bob Burger
• Science and Engineering: Jeff Brock or Bob Burger

2020-21 faculty search requests timeline

January-February | Departments should undertake discussions of search priorities early in the semester in anticipation of the March 2 deadline. 

March 2 | Departments’ search request lists for searches on departmental slots should be submitted to the FAS Dean’s office. 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 and April | Area advisory committees will review requests for searches, 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 2020-21. 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. If you are proposing a joint search with another department or program, only one unit needs to submit the request. Please do not submit such a request unless both units have agreed on the area and level for the proposed search.

Included in a search request should be answers to the following questions:

1. 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?

2. In what office/laboratory space do you propose to house the candidate? No search will be approved without a specific space plan.

3. What other resource needs will be associated with the hire (laboratory spaces, library resources, special teaching facilities, equipment and setup funds, etc.)?

4. If your department or program is requesting more than one new search for the coming year 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

Members of the Faculty Resource Committee can be found here.

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