Authority

The Great Basin College Faculty Senate confirms, as per Chapter 5, Section 3, Page 3 of the Great Basin College Policy and Procedures Guide (1998), that “The President shall determine whether any full-time contracted position at the college shall exist,” and that after being fully informed of compliance with the following search and recruitment procedures and their outcome, that “...The President has final authority” on the decision to hire a specific individual. The Great Basin College Faculty Senate confirms that it is the agent for the facilitation of the procedure governing the search for and recruitment of faculty through its Personnel Committee, with the responsibility to participate as requested in the separately conducted vice-presidential hiring process for Administrative Faculty. (See Chapter 5, Section 3, Pages 3-4 of the Great Basin College Policy and Procedures Guide, 1998)

Establishing Need for a Position

1. Administrative Faculty, cabinet positions

   The institutional President shall appoint a Chair who will, at the direction of the President, form a Search Committee. The Senate Personnel Committee will be asked to review and provide input into the position description, and to provide faculty representatives to serve on the presidentially-authorized search committee. The composition of these committees is understood to be broadly representative of the college community, and the procedures used will be those established by the Administration which will be appropriately cognizant of relevant portions of the Great Basin College Policy and Procedures Guide, the Board of Regent’s Handbook, and the University and Community College System of Nevada Human Resource Management guidelines. Since the hiring of the Vice President for Academic Affairs affects the teaching faculty so directly, and because this leadership position establishes professional tone and pedagogical engagement, and is central to the program vision of the college, the faculty will be well-represented on this particular search committee. Specifically, major areas of the college teaching function will be represented.

   

2. Administrative Faculty, mid-level management positions

   An institutional Vice President shall appoint a Chair who will, at the direction of the Vice President, form a Search Committee. If the position affects the college’s teaching function, the Senate Personnel Committee will be asked to review and provide input to the position description, and to provide faculty representatives to serve on the search committee. The composition of these committees is understood to be broadly representative of the college community, and the procedures used will be those established by the institutional Administration which will be appropriately cognizant of relevant portions of the Great Basin College Policy and Procedures Guide, the Board of Regent’s Handbook, and the University and Community College System of Nevada Human Resource Management guidelines.

3. Faculty, tenure and tenure-track positions

   Within six weeks of the beginning of the fall semester (except under circumstances declared by the institutional President to have created exceptional budgetary uncertainty), the President or Vice President for Administrative Services will inform the Council of Department Chairs of the number of faculty positions available to be advertised and for which to be recruited during the college year. After consultation with their respective departments, the Department Chairs will create a list of positions desired. This list will be forwarded to the institutional President and Vice President for Academic Affairs for their review. Any adjustment to that list will be resolved between the Council of Department Chairs and the institutional President and/or the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Search Committee Formation for Faculty Positions

The finalized recruitment list will be passed to the Chair of the Faculty Senate Personnel Committee who will inform the Faculty Senate as a whole of the contents of the prioritized list. If the Senate as a whole exercises majority disapproval of the list, then the list will be revisited once again by the Council of Department Chairs, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Faculty Senate Personnel Committee who may respond to Senate concerns. A revised list, or unrevised if so decided, will be submitted to the Senate as an information item only. If the Senate exercises majority approval of the prioritized list, or following the presentation of a revised or unrevised list offered as an informational item, the Senate will pass the list to the Faculty Senate Personnel Committee. After committee discussion of the list, the Chair of the Faculty Senate Personnel Committee will appoint a member of the Senate to head each search committee. The Faculty Senate Personnel Committee Chair may choose to head one or more of the search committees. The Faculty Senate Personnel Committee Chair will be, if he/she so chooses, an ex-officio member of all committees. Search Committee Chairs, in consultation with the Faculty Senate Personnel Committee Chair, will assemble a committee of a minimum of five (5) persons. Should a Search Committee Chair not be a member of the academic department for which the recruitment is being sought, a Co-Chair for the committee will be selected from the recruiting department. Each search committee will have at least one committee member from departments other than that for which the recruitment is being sought.

Search Committee Procedures

1. The committee will meet to review the position description created by the Council of Department Chairs and will produce at draft of the position announcement, which will include the following:
   1. Disclaimer, “subject to funding.”

   2. Position title and description.

      The position descriptions should state if internet and/or interactive video instruction is required; if travel is required; and that day, evening, and weekend classes may be required.

   3. Qualifications desired.<

      The intent will be to attract the largest pool of qualified persons. Depending upon the position, the copy should read, “a Master’s Degree or terminal degree from a regionally accredited institution,” with “Doctorate preferred” added where appropriate. “Doctorate required” will be necessary for some accreditation-linked programs. Some positions may require professional as well as academic qualifications; these should be stated specifically.

   4. Date the position is available.

   5. Terms of employment.

      This item refers to nature of contract, part-time or full-time employment, tenured or non-tenured-track temporary.

   6. Application deadline.

      This will usually fall on a Friday, end of business week, date.

   7. Procedures for obtaining a formal application packet. *

   8. Affirmative Action statement.*

      *Items will use established Human Resources formula and a standardized institutional and descriptive copy will be included.

2. The search committee will forward a draft position announcement and advertising plan to the Vice President for Academic Affairs with a copy to the institutional President. At this time the search committee will indicate how it wishes the position to be advertised; nationally, locally, and/or in discipline-specific journals. After review, the Vice President for Academic Affairs will return the position announcement and advertising plan to the Search Committee Chair either initialed and approved, or with specific written amendments. The initialed copy and advertising plan will then be forwarded to the Great Basin College Department of Human Resources for implementation.

   The outlined procedure is slightly amended in the case of vice-presidential hires wherein the institutional President determines the suitability of the final copy of the position announcement and the accompanying advertising plan. Similarly, in the case of Administrative Faculty hires, the responsible vice president will approve the position announcement and the advertising plan.

3. The Great Basin College Department of Human Resources will maintain incoming applicant files. These are not available to anyone outside of Human Resources, which alone is responsible for verifying the completeness of an application, until after the application deadline. If the application deadline is at the close of a business week (i.e., Friday, as recommended), Human Resources is authorized to accept files, or items to complete a file, through the mail delivery of the following workday. Any incomplete file is ineligible for consideration after that date.

4. While files are being received, the Search Committee will meet and create a list of questions to be asked of interviewed candidates. This is to avoid the creation of any questions that speak unfairly to the strengths of any one candidate. This list will be reviewed by the Affirmative Action Officer who will certify the appropriateness of the questions and who will be responsible for providing the list of questions at the actual interview.

5. All eligible files will be delivered to or picked up by the Chair of the appropriate Search Committee. The Chair will circulate all the files to committee members, and establish a date by which all files must be read. From this point all notes made by committee members and any ex-officio participants are to be considered privileged information and are not to be shared publicly. At the end of the search procedure all notes will be surrendered to the Committee Chair who will be responsible for their destruction. This rule does not apply to the Equal Opportunity Officer who is required to retain any notes generated.

   At the committee meeting after all the files have been read, committee members will reduce the applications to be considered to a manageable number, and then, or at a later meeting, reduce the leading candidates to those selected for interview. For teaching faculty positions, the Vice President for Academic Affairs may attend in ex-officio capacity (but without vote) at the second reduction stage, and can request a reconsideration or expansion of the leading-candidate pool.

   Should there be few applicants for a position, or even just one, then the Search Committee will meet with the Vice President for Academic Affairs to collectively determine if a low or singular applicant pool will serve the college’s interests. The Vice President for Academic Affairs will have a vote under these circumstances.

   In the event that few or no applications are received by Human Resources in a timely manner, Human Resources will be charged with informing the Search Committee Chair of the fact so that an agreement can be reached with the President and Vice President for Academic Affairs for the extension or broadcasting of the advertising and the re-setting of an application deadline.

6. The names of the final candidates of the Search Committee and their files will be forwarded to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and where appropriate or in response to a specific request, to the President. At this time the references of the interviewees will be contacted by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Chair of the Faculty Senate Personnel Committee, working together. After approval the candidates will be invited to the campus for an interview and teaching demonstration.

7. The interviews will be held with all committee members present for all interviews. All interviews will be held at a determined location; interactive video conferencing is an inappropriate vehicle in which to conduct an interview for security reasons. If a committee member is absent for one or more of the interviews he/she may not participate in the final vote. A substitute committee member, with a vote, may be appointed in an emergency situation but only before the meeting that selects the short list. Ex-officio members do not vote. The Faculty Personnel Committee Chair will have a vote in those search committees he/she personally chairs, but not in those committees where the Faculty Senate Personnel Committee Chair is in attendance ex-officio.

8. An interview will be conducted as follows:
   1. Introduction by Committee Chair followed by a brief overview of procedures.

   2. A reading of the Equal Opportunity statement by the Equal Opportunity officer or representative.

   3. Questions to interviewee, taken in turn by committee members.

   4. Opportunity for candidate to ask questions of committee, or to make a relevant statement of fitness for the position.

   5. Dismissal of interviewee.

   6. NO discussion of the candidate by the committee members will be permitted at this time; nor should any discussion of the candidate, casual or otherwise, take place among two or more members of the committee prior to the evaluation of all candidates.

   Prior arrangements should be made for the candidates to explore the campus and meet with members of the Great Basin College community. The tour guide should not be a faculty member, but selected from the ranks of senor classified staff or be a member of student government.

   At this time candidates should be scheduled for a face-to-face meeting with a vice president or the Vice President for Academic Affairs, as appropriate, and with the institutional President.

   Next, all Great Basin College personnel and students are to be invited to the teaching demonstration/lecture. The Search Committee Chair will introduce the candidate and give a brief description of the candidate’s academic background and previous experience. Anyone may ask questions of the candidate, but those questions must relate to teaching principles, the subject matter, and professional interests. NO personal questions of any kind will be permitted. All those present at the teaching demonstration/lecture will be asked to fill in a simple rating and comment sheet. The ratings portion will consist of the following two (2) questions:

   1. Quality of Teaching - Choice of Superior, Acceptable, Poor

   2. Impression of Collegiality and Suitability for GBC - Choice of Positive, Neutral, Negative

   The comments section will require a simple personal response from the evaluator. The comments will be anonymous.

   There will be NO hosting of candidates for either lunch, dinner, or any other social interaction. In order to scrupulously preserve impartiality, the Faculty Senate cannot support any action that might result in contact between a candidate and any individual or group other than that of the complete selection committee responsible for guaranteeing the integrity of the hiring process.

9. After the interviews and the teaching demonstration, the search committee and ex-officio members will assemble to discuss the candidates. No other persons may be in attendance.

   At this time, a call may be made for re-opening of the previously discarded files if it is felt by the Search Committee that the interviews, whether one or all, were unsatisfactory. Previously discussed procedures will apply to any new candidate selected for an interview.

   An immediate baseline vote will be conducted anonymously. If the results are unanimous the procedure stops. If there is diversity of response in the evaluations, the committee is free to discuss and persuade and advocate. Anonymous votes may be called for by the Search Committee Chair at any time deemed appropriate.

   When a majority opinion emerges, that will end the meeting. Names and their files will be forwarded through the Vice President for Academic Affairs to the President. After reviewing the final candidates the President will authorize the Vice President for Academic Affairs to offer a position.

   Rejection by the first choice will trigger the same procedure of the second and/or third choices. An inability to hire any of the choices will result in the Search Committee being directed to review the original applications, and to proceed to develop a search for other candidates according to the previously established rules. Or, the President may choose to terminate the search process.

   Following the acceptance of a position, the new hire will be subject to the procedures laid out in Chapter 5, Section 3, Pages 3 - 9 of the Great Basin College Policy and Procedures Guide.