Chapter 3 - Faculty Personnel Policies

3.5 Recruitment and Appointment

3.5.1 Determination of Faculty Staff Needs

1. Each department chair shall review the staff needs of his or her department with the members of the department. The department chair's recommendations shall be presented to the academic dean, along with any dissenting views, in the annual State of the Department report.
2. The academic dean shall review the staff needs of each department with the department chair and shall prepare a recommendation with the provost to be submitted to the president.
3. The president, in consultation with the Professional Status Committee, shall make the final decision as to which requests for staff are approved.

3.5.2 Declaration of Staff Needs

1. The provost shall inform the faculty of the staff needs, including the nature of the needs, as soon as they are determined. Faculty members are encouraged to suggest to the academic deans and the department chairs the names of qualified persons they would like to have considered for a position at Calvin College.
2. Active recruitment of minority candidates who are committed to the principles and goals of Calvin College is encouraged irrespective of department staffing requirements. When vacancies exist, special efforts and procedures to recruit minority persons should be implemented after consultation with the academic dean. Calvin College will comply with all relevant state and federal regulations, and with all institutional policies relative to equal opportunity, affirmative action, and nondiscrimination.
3. Departments may declare staff needs to alumni of Calvin College and advertise vacancies in appropriate professional journals and church-related publications. Normally, all tenure-track positions should be advertised nationally to ensure the best possible pool of candidates. Term positions should be advertised as widely as possible as time and circumstances permit. All advertisements must include reference to the distinctive Reformed Christian character of Calvin College and its commitment to equal opportunity.

3.5.3 Processing Appointments

3.5.3.1 Responsibilities of the Department and Department Chairperson

The recruitment of new faculty members is one of the most important responsibilities of departments. Although the president, provost, and academic deans are very much concerned with and involved in the recruitment of faculty members, the primary responsibility for the recruitment of faculty lodges with the department involved and, particularly, with the department chairperson. Each department should keep current a list of persons qualified to teach in the department. The department chairperson should also keep in touch with these persons to ascertain their current status and availability. From time to time some of these potential candidates should be invited to visit the Calvin campus, to lead seminars, and consult with the department on developments within its field of interest. Departments should make special efforts to identify possible candidates from under-represented minority groups.

The department chairperson shall periodically consult with the academic dean of his or her division about qualified candidates and inform the dean of important events, such as campus visits and department interviews of potential candidates. It is imperative that the academic deans be fully involved in the early stages of the recruitment process.

It is expected that a department will conduct a thorough on-campus examination, including an intensive interview, of all candidates it wishes to have considered for appointment to the faculty. Although a variety of procedures may be employed, each examination must touch on the particular candidate's reformed Christian commitment, teaching ability, promise of scholarship, and overall potential for positive contributions to the department and the college as a whole. Departments are urged, as part of the examination, to consider requiring their candidates to 1) teach under observation a class in the discipline and 2) present a scholarly paper. Each candidate should also meet with an academic dean while on campus.

It is also the responsibility of the department chair to obtain all of the information that is needed to process the appointment of any person being considered for a position on the faculty. At a minimum, the information listed below should be available for any person who is to be considered by the academic administration for possible interview by the Professional Status Committee.

1. An official transcript of the candidate's undergraduate record;
2. An official transcript of the candidate's graduate record;
3. Three current letters of recommendation from persons qualified to evaluate the candidate's academic and professional ability;
4. Letter of recommendation from the candidate's pastor or someone else qualified to evaluate the candidate's spiritual and personal qualifications for a position at Calvin College;
5. Evaluations (by students, if possible) of the candidate's performance or potential as a teacher;
6. A completed application form (this form provided by Calvin College);
7. A 250- to 500-word written statement by the candidate on how he or she seeks to express his or her Christian faith in teaching and scholarship.

Following departmental consideration of the candidate(s), the department chairperson shall solicit, by vote, the advice of the members of the department on regular appointment and recommend to the academic dean those candidates who are to be further interviewed. The department chairperson is to submit his or her written recommendation (copies to be available to department members) which shall include at least the following:

1. A statement of the procedures which were followed to recruit minority persons;
2. A list of the persons considered for the position(s), and the names of those interviewed by the department;
3. A summary of the reasons for the recommendation;
4. A record of the departmental vote on the recommendation;
5. A summary of significant dissenting opinion, if any.

These paragraphs have emphasized the chair's responsibilities in obtaining information from a candidate; the chair is also responsible for clearly and systematically presenting to the candidate the Reformed and liberal arts character of the college, and requirements for faculty membership and tenure. Guidelines and materials to aid chairs in this task are provided directly to the chairs by the Office of the Provost.

3.5.3.2 Responsibilities of the Provost and Academic Deans

The appropriate academic dean and the provost shall interview the candidate(s) recommended, and recommend to the Professional Status Committee those candidates who are to be considered for appointment. In cases in which candidates recommended by the departments are not recommended by the dean or provost for further interview, they shall so inform the Professional Status Committee and explain their reasons.

The academic deans bear the ultimate leadership responsibility in ensuring that all-college interests are considered in the appointment of new faculty. These all-college interests include effective teaching, appropriate scholarship, academic advising, the Reformed and liberal arts character of the college, and special interests that are or may become part of the goals of the college, such as interdisciplinary studies or ethnic minority and gender goals.

3.5.3.3 Responsibilities of the Professional Status Committee (PSC)

Candidates for term appointments of one year or less shall be interviewed by the department and by the appropriate academic dean together with at least one member of the PSC from a department other than the department of the candidate. The dean will make an appointment recommendation to the president and will present the file of the successful candidate to the full PSC for its recommendation.

The Professional Status Committee, normally joined by at least one board-appointed trustee as a voting member, shall interview those candidates recommended by the president, provost, academic dean, and the department chair for appointments of more than one year. This includes persons originally appointed to term positions of one year or less and subsequently recommended for a further appointment.

The Professional Status Committee, after interviewing the candidate, shall make a recommendation on the appointment to the president who shall make a decision. If the president decides against the Professional Status Committee's recommendation, the president will explain the reasons to the Professional Status Committee. The president will communicate the decision to the Board for its endorsement.

The provost shall recommend to the Professional Status Committee the length of the appointment (normally three years for a regular appointment and either one or two years for a term appointment). The Provost's Office will also establish the initial rank of a new faculty member as well as an expected timeline for tenure and promotion. Note, however, that a department may petition for an exception to the agreed upon schedule, asking either that it be delayed or advanced. Such petitions should be based upon strong grounds for exceptions.

Appointments to the faculty are made by the Board of Trustees and submitted to the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church for ratification.

3.5.4 Recruitment of Faculty Candidates Who Would Enhance Cultural, Ethnic, or Racial Diversity

3.5.4.1 Recruiting Responsibilities of Departments

Each department must document its efforts to recruit a culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse faculty at the occasion of each search and also annually in the state of the department report of the chair. If the Professional Status Committee judges that a department has not made sufficient progress in searching for and/or hiring persons who would enhance cultural, ethnic, or racial diversity, the committee may advise the president not to approve the opening or to offer a term position when a tenure-track position has been requested, in order to allow more time for a department to cultivate candidates and conduct a search for the tenure-track position in a subsequent year.

3.5.4.2 Additional Positions for Candidates Who Would Enhance Cultural, Ethnic, or Racial Diversity

If faculty candidates who would enhance cultural, ethnic, or racial diversity are presented to the Professional Status Committee, they will be given full consideration for regular faculty appointments irrespective of the existence of an open tenure-track position in the department.

Any person appointed under this policy should be able to satisfy a departmental need, even if no declared need relative to the department exists. Moreover, the person should be considered to satisfy a declared departmental need as soon as possible. (Thus, for example, when a departmental position is vacated because of retirement, resignation, etc., the position vacated will be eliminated. Also, no replacement will normally be sought by for a person on leave of absence in that department.) The position of a person holding regular appointment in a given department will not be jeopardized solely by the appointment of such a person to the department. 

3.5.4.3 Graduate Study Fellowship Program for Prospective Faculty Members Who Would Enhance Cultural, Ethnic, or Racial Diversity

Departments are encouraged to identify potential or current graduate students (Calvin graduates and others) who would enhance cultural, ethnic, or racial diversity and who may be appropriate candidates for faculty positions. The Professional Status Committee may award Graduate Fellowships to such graduate students. Details of this program are available from the Provost's Office.