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[Aristotelian]

Try to come up with questions that aren't generic.  Tailor them as much as you can to the department and the job post.  Show that you're actively interested in the job.  Look over their course listings and see if you have questions about classes you could teach, or if they would be open to classes that you would want to create.  Look over their mission statements and see if you have any questions about that.  And just to echo SCM, try to come up with questions that will give an opportunity to sell yourself in the course of the conversation.

[dr. joe]

Friends:

You've given me a wealth of information that I plan on using in the upcoming phone interview (and knock on wood, a campus interview?).

Asking questions about organizational culture, student enrollment, classes,  department goals -- plus somehow interweaving the questions and selling myself -- should be the strategy here.

Thanks again and I'll email you all on Monday or Tuesday to let you know how it went . . .

Have a great weekend,

The One, the Only, Dr. Joe

[If you REALLY want to impress]

Go to the institution's website.  Do a search for "institutional research."  Or you may find it somewhere in the administrative section.

There should be a "fact book" full of statistics about the institution (you might also search for that).  Look up statistics for the past several years in the interviewing department.  Make up a question relevant to those, to let them know you did serious research.  I have seriously impressed search committees several times with this tactic, as well as learned a lot about the department.  Once I even was able to produce  a document exposing the good, bad, and ugly about the department written by one of their own faculty.  It was buried in the university website.  I was quickly offered a campus visit (which I had to turn down, unfortunately).  Surprise them with your knowledge.  It suggests your genuine interest as well as your research abilities.

[Dr. Joe]

Good idea . . . I just may do that    : )

Dr. Joe