Recruitment, Selection and Hiring of Faculty

The recruitment, selection, evaluation and promotion of members of the teaching faculty of an academic department is a serious undertaking. Decisions made in this process have an important impact on faculty members involved, and these decisions also affect the lives and careers of hundreds of students and the continuous development of the School of Journalism as a center of excellence.

The decisions on faculty recruitment, selection, evaluation and promotion in an academic environment traditionally are made only after the advice of the peers of those being considered.

To strengthen this decision-making process, the Policy Committee hereby recommends that the faculty of the Missouri School of Journalism adopt the following policy statement:

The decision to recruit a new member of the departmental faculty shall be discussed with the department faculty before such a position is advertised and before applications are sought in other ways. When making such decisions, members of the department faculty shall be informed of the probable academic rank and salary range to be offered.

All recruitment notices prepared for such recruitment shall be discussed or otherwise made available to the faculty. The faculty shall be notified when candidates for positions will be on campus for interviews. The basic notification shall include basic biographical data about candidates and shall report the schedule of the candidates while on campus.

Persons currently on the faculty shall be eligible to apply for open positions provided they meet all requirements for the position.

Departments will form committees to conduct searches and interviews leading to the selection of the new faculty member. Each department of the School of Journalism shall develop guidelines for the selection of a search committee, and the committee shall follow the procedures established by the MU Office of the Vice Provost in conducting the search.

In no case shall the School of Journalism discriminate against applicants on the basis of race, creed, national origin, gender, gender identification or age. Search committees must demonstrate aggressive pursuit of affirmative action policies. Any list of finalists that does not include a member of a minority group must be justified.

All appointments shall be at the appropriate rank given the candidate’s qualifications, and the school’s policy committee shall advise the dean on rank and salary.

Nothing in this policy shall prevent emergency hires as long as university policies for making such hires are followed.

Adopted by the Missouri School of Journalism faculty, 1986.
Updated by the Missouri School of Journalism faculty, 2010.