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[azv105]

Hi all
When I interviewed for a TT position at a SLAC, I spoke to not only people in my dept. but also people from various other departments. Will ALL the persons that I met with be in the voting committee? Or only the SC members? Thanks in advance.

[madhatter]

It should only be the designated search committee, though they will most likely solicit feedback from others you met.

[yellowtractor]

It varies from school to school.

At my current school, those with voting rights include all department members who attended all job talks, SC and non-SC.  The dean/provost's office and the student committee that met with the candidates report on their preferences, but they do not vote.  Sometimes we get additional feedback from members of other departments or programs with whom the candidate(s) met.



(on preview):  Madhatter, I've never heard of a school or department that limited final voting to the SC.  Anyone?

[aandsdean]

It varies from school to school.

At my current school, those with voting rights include all department members who attended all job talks, SC and non-SC.  The dean/provost's office and the student committee that met with the candidates report on their preferences, but they do not vote.  Sometimes we get additional feedback from members of other departments or programs with whom the candidate(s) met.



(on preview):  Madhatter, I've never heard of a school or department that limited final voting to the SC.  Anyone?

I've never been anyplace where anyone but the SC had a vote, though it's also always been the case that feedback gathering from others was extensive.

YT, I suspect your provost can do whatever s/he wants regardless of what the SC says, though it's a foolish one who exercises said option carelessly or often.  That does generally explain the lack of vote, however.

[concordancia]

I have been one place where all department T&TT vote and one place where all tenured vote.

[yellowtractor]

It varies from school to school.

At my current school, those with voting rights include all department members who attended all job talks, SC and non-SC.  The dean/provost's office and the student committee that met with the candidates report on their preferences, but they do not vote.  Sometimes we get additional feedback from members of other departments or programs with whom the candidate(s) met.



(on preview):  Madhatter, I've never heard of a school or department that limited final voting to the SC.  Anyone?

I've never been anyplace where anyone but the SC had a vote, though it's also always been the case that feedback gathering from others was extensive.

YT, I suspect your provost can do whatever s/he wants regardless of what the SC says, though it's a foolish one who exercises said option carelessly or often.  That does generally explain the lack of vote, however.

Oh yes.  Our dean/provost (never mind; it's an interesting system here) can ultimately veto anything.  It's a tacit rule here that a department really has to be sure of itself (and gunning for a fight) to go against the dean's office.

Fortunately, we have very, very good people in those positions.

I have been one place where all department T&TT vote and one place where all tenured vote.

Yes, I forgot, at the school where I received my Ph.D. everyone sat in on the job talks, but only tenured department members voted.

And I should have also said that at both my present and previous employer only tenured and tenure-track faculty voted.  VAP's were welcome to participate in the meetings but did not vote.

[onestep]

Over here, the SC recommends and the departmental tenure-line faculty vote. We've overturned SC recommendations on occasion.  Visitors from other departments, students and non-tenure faculty don't vote, but do give opinions that inform the SC recommendations and vote.  The Dean and Provost can veto.  The ultimate decision lies with the university's President.  I believe that the Regents could get involved if it's super expensive hire.  I think, however, that everything past the Dean is perfunctory unless it's a high level hire. 

[englitprof]

We just completed two searches, and in both cases, the SC voted after soliciting feedback from everyone who had contact with the candidate.

[ruralguy]

Usually, everyone from outside that you meet with formally, is a voting member of the SC. In fact, the reason why you met with them
is that the are a 'check and balance' against a dept. making decisions that are only in their interests and not the wider concerns
of the college.

However, the word "vote" is nebulous when you get to small schools with small depts. As we have said many times, some depts. do not even really vote. A consensus is reached without a formal show of hands.

Also, some depts. tell an outside member in advance what the parameters are, even if they really aren't supposed to do that.
So, some depts. pretty much strip outside people of anything but casual influence. Still, casual influence can tip the scale, so treat everyone "as if" (even ---(especially?) secretaries, and other staff
you might meet. Don't assume that janitors don't talk to faculty---they definitely do!).

[prissnvinegar]

I have been in a department where graduate students collectively had 1 vote (the same as one faculty member) on whether to accept the recommendation of the search committee regarding the ranking of candidates.  In another, the graduate students collectively had TWO votes (thus having more voting power than any single faculty member).  It pays to take all interactions with folks both off and on the search committee seriously!

[aandsdean]

I have been in a department where graduate students collectively had 1 vote (the same as one faculty member) on whether to accept the recommendation of the search committee regarding the ranking of candidates.  In another, the graduate students collectively had TWO votes (thus having more voting power than any single faculty member).  It pays to take all interactions with folks both off and on the search committee seriously!

On an interview, you must be courteous to everyone you meet.  There are numerous stories here about candidates who are jerks to departmental administrative assistants, for example, which to my mind is a sure way to kill a candidacy.  (You can bet I check with the person in my office who handles all the arrangements for candidates' visits to campus to ascertain their behavior towards her, for example.)

One time at a previous job we had a candidate who had a slide show (this was well before ubiquitous digital projectors).  The projector jammed up.  My wife, who was also on the faculty and taught in the art department, was at this talk because it partly had to do with art.  She fixed the projector for the candidate.  At the end of the talk, I introduced my wife to the candidate (I was chair of the hiring department) and she didn't even thank her for fixing the projector, but went off to schmooze with a (male) member of the SC.  It was pretty obvious, and supremely stupid.

As far as I was concerned, that was absolutely the end of her candidacy.  And I was chair.  Ahem.

It's a lot easier to be courteous to everyone than it is to try to figure out to whom you need to be courteous to obtain maximum benefit.

[mended_drum]

At my SLAC, the sc is the department (though only three members go to conference interviews), and everyone in the department reads the dossiers, attends the campus interview events (the talk, lunch or dinner), and everyone in the department who is tenured or tt votes.  Guests from other departments who meet the candidate, including students, are asked for feedback which is collated and provided to the department before the vote.

Sometimes that feedback is taken very, very seriously.  However, it often happens that those from outside of the department have different criteria than those within it.  I've never known someone from outside the department (aside from the Dean) to sway the vote significantly, though such a person's response can sway individual department members.

[helpful]

Two universities, two processes:

At university one, everyone on faculty votes, but this is a show of hands. A ridiculous process, of course. (and who was for you and against you eventually gets back to the candidate!)

At university two, the search committee votes, passes on the recommendation to the human resources committee of the department, who then votes and passes it on to the dean. In this case, the department faculty give feedback to the search committee and the SC takes this feedback into consideration in their deliberations.

[sibyl]

At my SLAC, candidates meet with a wide range of individuals, including people who have no vote or voice.  So the answer here is "sometimes."

Our committees always have at least one faculty member from another department, and sometimes one student or administrative member.  Technically each of them has a vote, but in practice the "outsiders" defer to the tenured and TT, and they rarely take a formal vote anyway, just as ruralguy says.  VAPs don't participate because they are usually candidates for the jobs, but in at least one case a VAP sought and received permission to sit with the committee just to get some experience with the process.  (My understanding was that the VAP was in another subfield.)