University of Washington – Department of Esoterics [Must be on department letterhead.]
Report Title
Description of the Competitive Recruitment, Selection, and Appointment of Assistant Professor Jane Smith
Composition of the Search Committee
A search committee was appointed in April 20XX to recruit an assistant professor to teach and conduct research in esoterics. Search committee members included professors Horstmann, Cohen, Cramer, Stebbins, and Brenner. Professor Brenner chaired the search committee.
Description of the Job Opportunity
Applicants were required to have a PhD or foreign equivalent in esoterics or a related discipline, as well as a strong research record and strong analytical skills within the field of esoterics. [Listed requirements should match the requirements in the recruitment ad.] Job duties included innovative, high-quality teaching of undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of general esoterics, theoretical esoterics, analytical esoterics, and classic esoterics, as well as research in one or more of these areas. [Explain the business necessity of any unusually restrictive requirements that appeared in the advertising.]
Solicitation of Applications
The job was advertised nationally in the July 8, 20XX issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and in July 20XX in the following publications and on the following websites:
- National Journal of Esoterics
- Society for Advancement of Hispanics and Native Americans in Esoterics
- HigherEdJobs site
- IACR job site
- IEEE Spectrum job site
- University of Washington job site
In an effort to attract the widest possible applicant pool, the chair also sent letters to all doctoral degree granting programs in the discipline of esoterics along with a description of the job and an invitation to publicize its availability.
Competitive Selection Process
There were a total of 78 applicants. Members of the search committee reviewed all applications carefully and then met to discuss the applicants’ qualifications in light of the criteria outlined in the recruitment advertisement. They narrowed the field to 25 applicants for further consideration. Most of the candidates rejected at this stage either lacked the rigorous training necessary for teaching and conducting research at a major research university, did not have a doctorate degree in a relevant field, or were not really specialists in esoterics, but rather generalists.
The search committee met again to discuss and critically study the quality of the writing samples of the 25 remaining applicants. Most of the candidates rejected at this stage were conducting research on topics already covered by other faculty in the department, or were rejected because their letters of intent did not give us a clear sense of their ability to teach courses of the sophistication necessary at a major research university. Also, committee members consulted with each other and colleagues in the esoterics community who might have had knowledge of the applicants.
Based on this information the list was narrowed to a “short list” of 6 individuals whom the committee considered best qualified for this job and whose combination of research interests, teaching experience, and writing ability best matched the needs of our department.
Letters of recommendation were requested and obtained from all references listed by the “short list” applicants.
One applicant from the “short list” was not able to provide satisfactory letters of recommendation and was therefore rejected. The other 5 finalists visited the department, gave seminars, and met with committee members and students for 2 days in February, 20XX. [Note: phone interviews are acceptable for labor certification purposes.]
The following are the 4 finalists who were deemed unacceptable for the job:
- Candidate A (PhD, Harvard) teaches at UCLA. Their research methods are somewhat dated, and they have had trouble (for that reason) attracting graduate students. They were just denied tenure at the time of the interview.
- Candidate B (PhD, Washington State University) had some visionary remarks on their resume that intrigued us. Unfortunately, when interviewed, Candidate B did not pick up on opportunities to talk about their vision. This candidate did not appear to have the sophistication or theoretical ability to teach students in a doctoral program. One of the interviewers noted that despite 12 years of college there was “no real evidence of intellectual development” in this person.
- Candidate C (PhD, University of Wisconsin) is seeking a teaching job. There was genuine concern about their philosophy of esoteric criticism, an area in which they would have responsibilities if hired. Many on the search committee strongly disagreed with Candidate C’s approach, and they did not demonstrate a desire or ability to work with experimentalists.
- Candidate D (PhD, Iowa State) currently teaches at the University of Iowa. The interview with them indicated that their emphasis in and focus on new wave esoterics is broad enough to cover the range of courses for which we need coverage. They were the most impressive of the group, the most experienced, and the most published. After the interviews, Candidate D was ranked first and the position was offered to them. Eventually, however, they turned down our offer and decided for personal reasons to stay at Iowa State.
The search committee then recommended to the faculty and on April 9, 20XX the faculty voted unanimously in favor of offering the job to Dr. Jane Smith. Dr. Smith accepted as shown in the attached appointment letters.
Evaluation of the Most Qualified Candidate
Dr. Smith (PhD, City University of New York) has a strong background and competence in esoterics that is suited to the needs of our department (and will help fill the enormously large gap left by the recent retirement of Professor Wolfe). Dr. Smith will also strengthen the Department in statistical data analysis. They have a breadth of experience in basic theoretical and applied research (36 published articles), including a demonstrated ability and interest to work closely with an experimental group, research experience in theoretical esoterics and extensive work with graduate students. They have also worked in Europe with experimentalists where they demonstrated an ability to apply their strong theoretical background to a variety of research problems. We are very excited to have Dr. Smith join our faculty. In our estimation they are clearly the best qualified of all of the applicants for the job and we expect they will contribute substantially to meeting present departmental needs and to developing our departmental curriculum.
Statement of Teaching Responsibilities
All University of Washington professorial ranks integrate teaching, research and service activities. We anticipate that Dr. Smith will become an active member of the Department in all aspects. Dr. Smith will be teaching ESO205 Theoretical Esoterics, ESO101 Esoterics Introduction, and ESO520 Esoterics Seminar.
Respectfully submitted,
Fritz Brenner, Chair