Coming Home Again

Several faculty members in the College of Arts & Sciences I oversee left us for a few years — usually to teach or take an administrative job at another institution — only to return to our university.

Their reasons for leaving are highly varied, but they all seem to be glad to have come “home” again. In fact, some of them are quite open with their opinions about the proverbial grass not always being greener elsewhere.

It’s very common in administrative searches to contact fondly remembered former faculty members who might be interested in returning to serve in a new role. The advantage of that approach to recruiting is finding candidates who know the important players in the decision-making pool and know the institution’s culture from the inside.

Those same advantages, though, can be barriers to luring back former employees if they had a bad experience during their first tour of duty with the major players or the institutional culture.

Any of you have experiences — positive or negative — that you would like to share about returning to work at a college, or about bringing someone back?