Associate Professors and Professors

1. Department Chair obtains approval for faculty slot through Executive Committee
2. Department completes posting and advertising approval process
3. Department solicits data for AAR via email using the following text:

“The University of Michigan is required by Federal law to request and maintain data on applicants for employment. As such, we would appreciate your cooperation in completing a self-identification form by visiting our online reporting system. This is entirely optional on your part. The information you provide will be used only in conjunction with the University’s Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action program and will not be used in the employment decision.”

The message will first go out from the Unit Administrator and a subsequent follow-up email should follow from the Chair to encourage compliance.  These data will be compiled by the ADAA office and supplied to the search committee at the end of the search for completion of the AAR form (submitted as part of the candidate dossier to executive committee).

4. Department submits candidate pool spreadsheet and summary to ADAA for evaluation.
5. Department organizes campus visit

Prior to inviting the first candidate for a visit, the department submits to ADAA office a list of the current pool of viable applicants.

All candidates for senior positions as Professor or Associate Professor are required to meet with the ADAA. (If the ADAA is not available, the faculty candidate must meet with one of the other Associate Deans.) In addition, an appointment should be scheduled with the Dean for candidates considered as senior hires (Associate Professor or Professor).

A minimum of two weeks notice is required to schedule faculty candidates to meet with the Dean, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (ADAA) or the other Associate Deans in the absence of the ADAA. Please call Martha Sweigert (7-7020) to schedule an appointment with the ADAA and Kathleen Grimes (7-7008) to schedule an appointment with the Dean.

It is the responsibility of the department to make sure that the faculty candidate is on time for his/her appointment and that the candidate is escorted after his/her appointment in LEC to his/her next appointment.

Departments are required to fill out the Department Candidate Form for each candidate. This form should accompany the following documents in one pdf file:  candidate’s vita, teaching, research and DEI statements, external letters of reference (if received), seminar abstract, itinerary.  Please email the packet to Sherry Hall (sfolsom) and Martha Sweigert (sweigert) prior to the candidate’s visit.

Two College Representatives should be scheduled, by the department, to interview the candidate and to attend the seminar (see Example Letter to College Representatives). College Representatives should be at or above the rank being considered, whose home department resides outside the interviewing department.  The College Representatives are to evaluate the candidate’s presentation and, when meeting with the candidate, provide him or her with a broad perspective on the College of Engineering as a whole.  It is not assumed that the representatives are an expert within the candidate’s field of study, although CoE representatives usually have some familiarity with the general field.  The evaluations are extremely important as the CoE Executive Committee considers the College Representatives’ evaluations very seriously in its decision to grant the department permission to make a position offer to the candidate.  Department contacts are expected to give Sherry Hall ([email protected]) in the ADAA office the names of the College Representatives selected at least one week before the visit.

The ADAA office will contact the College Representatives to submit an online or e-mail evaluation of the candidate to the ADAA office. Once Sherry has received the evaluation from the College Representative, she will forward the evaluation to the appropriate CoE Chair’s assistant.  It will be the responsibility of the Chair’s assistant to forward the evaluation to the Chair of the Search Committee.

All female faculty candidates should be scheduled to meet with the ADAA (contact Martha Sweigert to arrange this meeting) and one tenured female faculty member. The meeting with the female faculty member is not evaluative and no feedback is provided to the departments. Departments should contact Sherry Hall to obtain the name of a tenured female faculty member to serve in this capacity.

6. Dual Career Services

When the ADAA Office receives candidate information, Sherry Hall notifies the CoE Director of Dual Career Services with the candidate’s name and contact information.  The Director will then contact the candidate directly, informing them of our services.  It is our hope that this will improve our ability to respond to the needs of dual career candidates with an earlier indication of the possible solutions to the needs of their partners.

There will no longer be the need for the department chair to make a formal request of the ADAA for dual career services.  When a candidate makes contact for dual career services, the Director will work closely with the ADAA, Department Chair and departmental staff to arrange services and coordinate a separate itinerary for the partner if needed.

Please see the following links for further information:

• Dual Career Visits
• Dual Career Positions

7. Department approves final candidate for position; addresses any immigration issues if applicable
8. Department submits candidate casebook to Executive Committee for hire (for reference please use the casebook checklist)

Cover letter from chair: The letter should include a) description of the appointment in the context of the field and the specific needs of the department; b) substantive description of candidate’s work and significant contributions to the field; and c) a balanced summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the case.  It should also include a paragraph that describes the search process leading to the candidate’s selection (including the nature of the search – e.g., open or targeted; composition of the pool; information about candidates at each stage of the search) and a separate paragraph justifying the recommendation for the appointment with tenure at the relevant rank.  The letter should address or explain any negative comments in the internal and external letters. 

Cover letter from search committee (optional)

Candidate’s curriculum vitae

At least five external letters of recommendation from reviewers at “arm’s length” are required (more than five are highly desirable). By “arm’s length” we are looking for reviewers who are not from the candidate’s home department, who did not work or train with the candidate at other institutions, who have not collaborated with and/or do not have a personal relationship with the candidate.  Teachers, advisors, mentors, and current faculty colleagues are not “arm’s length.”  Co-authors and major research collaborators, or former faculty colleagues are not “arm’s length” unless the most recent associate occurred over 10 years prior to the appointment. Letters from persons who have served on a candidate’s thesis or dissertation committee are not “arm’s length”. Letters should be from reviewers at or above the rank of the position for which the candidate is being considered. Letters should not be from individuals on the research professor or research scientist tracks.  If the circumstances necessitate letters from out-of-rank reviewers, those should be explained. The letters should be truly evaluative. While letters from persons who have served as a candidate’s thesis advisor, mentor, co-author, or major collaborator can be especially helpful (because they can be presumed to have a good sense of both the person and the work), it is also true that their own reputations are involved in the work being evaluated. If such letters are included, they must be in addition to the minimum requirement of five. Letters from persons who may be unknown to the candidate, but who may have a clear sense of the significance of the candidate’s qualifications are of greater value.  NOTE: The Provost Office will allow letters from persons who have been a co-author, major research collaborator or former faculty colleague, if the most recent shared work or working relationship occurred over 10 years prior to the candidate’s expected start date.  For the Instructional tenure track and the Research Professor track, the five required “arm’s length” letters must include at least two reviewers suggested only by the department.

Non-academic reviewers (e.g., employed at the NIH or a major research institute) may be included in the required five “arm’s length” letters but only if it is stated that, for those individuals who do not typically hold an academic title, their rank is equivalent or higher to the academic rank for which the candidate is being considered.

External Reviewers: List in alpha order with a brief description of the credentials of reviewers and their relationship to the candidate. A short paragraph for each reviewer should indicate the reviewer’s position, fields of expertise, important contributions and standing in the discipline, appropriateness of the reviewer to provide input, and relationship to the candidate, i.e. dissertation committee, post-doc. supervisor, co-author, etc. (Identifiable measures of stature include: Chaired Professorships, Editorships, Professional Society Offices, Academy Memberships, etc.)  Please also note if the candidate is at arm’s length or not arm’s length and note whether the reviewer was suggested by the candidate or by the department.

Copy or example of letter sent to external reviewers.

At least two internal letters are expected as evidence of the Department’s evaluation of the candidate.  The internal reviewers should be at or above the rank considered.

Course Evaluations: Teaching statement, evidence of teaching experience and performance, including an explanation of the teaching evaluation system and where the candidate ranks in the system. If candidate is from industry and tenure is requested, provide in-depth justification for prediction of teaching success in a university setting.

Research/DEI statements.

Appointment Activity Record form (AAR): Required for provost approval of hire

9. Executive Committee considers candidate for position, ADAA notifies department of outcome
10. If approved, Department Chair negotiates salary and start-up with ADAA and submits draft offer letter, addendum and faculty start-up worksheet for approval.  If the faculty candidate wishes to start his/her appointment early (prior to Sept. 1 or Jan. 1) the department must request permission from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to name him/her a Visiting Professor.  Such an early start should be articulated in the offer letter and approved by the ADAA as part of the startup package.
11. ADAA requests approval to hire from Provost’s Office (may delay offer anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks.) Once the Provost approves, ADAA will inform department.
12. Once offer letter and startup are approved, the department submits a final Faculty Start-Up Worksheet to the ADAA for signature.  A signed copy will be supplied to the department following execution.  If grants will be transferred, please also include the Transfer Grant Form.
13. Department sends approved letter to candidate and copies ADAA.
14. If candidate accepts, department sends original signed letter to ADAA and begins employment paperwork for RPM-HR.
15. ADAA submits Regents Communication for final approval of new faculty hire.  ADAA office notifies department of Regent approval.