Department Chair Info

The Executive Council, as the long-range planning and policy body of the faculty, should be centrally involved in providing advice on allocation of faculty resources. It is critically important that any policy and procedure dealing with the allocation of faculty resources deal not only with how faculty additions are approved and allocated, but how possible reductions or reassignments of faculty positions are handled. In addition, it is important that new faculty appointments respond to changes within disciplines and to the strategic directions of Grinnell College.

Prior to submitting a proposal for implementing a search for a tenure-track or renewable non-tenure-track faculty member, a departmental representative must meet with the Associate Dean to discuss strategies for achieving broader diversity in the applicant pool. This meeting will include review of the content and placement of the position advertisement, identification of strategies for identifying and contacting potential candidates from identified priority groups* and discussion of available resources at Grinnell for assisting departments in their search. This meeting should take place well in advance of the April 1st deadline for submitting position requests to the Executive Council.

Departments wishing to request filling a current or adding a tenure-track or renewable non-tenure-track faculty position may prepare and submit a proposal for implementing a search, as outlined herein, to the Executive Council by April 1 of the academic year prior to the year of the anticipated search. In the event of a department's being unable to meet the April 1 deadline because of personnel considerations which arise after March 15, that department may submit the statement by two weeks before the beginning of classes for fall semester for consideration by the Council.

A proposal for a tenure-track or renewable non-tenure-track appointment to the faculty should:

• explain how the appointment will contribute to liberal education. The entire curriculum of the college, whether departmental or extra-departmental, is directed to this end.
• indicate what courses this position will support and how those courses will fit with and enhance the existing curriculum. This discussion should include the level of the courses, their projected size, the general type of pedagogy envisioned, and how the appointee's expertise will coordinate with that of current faculty.
• explain why the appointment is needed. Curricular justification is primary, but practical concerns such as the history of enrollments are also relevant.
• describe steps that will be taken to develop a diverse pool of applicants for the position.
  

In addition, if an appointment has the potential to contribute to any of the following more specific goals, the proposal should so indicate:

• diversity, whether demographic, curricular, or pedagogic;
• strategic directions of the college, e.g., an interdisciplinary emphasis, an international emphasis, close mentoring of students, and emphasis on our location in the prairie;
• adding to the staffing of courses taught by faculty from more than one department (examples include, but are not limited to: Humanities 101, 102, 140; introductory statistics; tutorial), or otherwise allowing faculty to teach outside their departments and expand their intellectual horizons;
• reducing the college's reliance on term appointments for replacing leaves and course reductions.

The Expanding Knowledge Initiative presently supports new faculty positions that provide new curricular areas, expand the college's interdisciplinary offerings, free current faculty to pursue interdisciplinary projects, support inquiry-based learning and student-faculty research, or reduce reliance on term faculty. See the EKI guidelines at: http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/eki/facultyresources

We encourage those considering position proposals that emphasize interdisciplinary and new areas of study to consult "Guidelines for developing new areas of study under the Expanding Knowledge Initiative at Grinnell College" and to discuss their ideas with the Director and Board of the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies.

The Dean can provide additional advice as to the issues to be addressed in the document. Proposals should include a draft advertisement copy, a template for which can be found at: http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/chairinfo/fac%5Frecruit/desc%5Ftemplate


* There are many ways to define diversity, and Grinnell values many types of diversity. To prioritize commitments of time and energy, our highest priority is to focus our present efforts on increasing the representation of Black/African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, and Asian Americans. There may be particular circumstances where the need of the college would suggest that other elements of diversity are also a priority.

(Last modified 02/22/08)