Search/review Committee Formation
Through its Chair, the department nominates to the Dean the membership of its search or review committee, which can and sometimes must include faculty from outside the unit. In cases recommending the granting of tenure or internal promotion to the rank of full professor, the Chair/Dean must solicit from the candidate a brief synopsis describing the candidate’s intellectual interests, including a description of any factors – interdisciplinary or otherwise – that the candidate believes should be taken into consideration when establishing the review committee. The Chair will forward a copy of this statement to the Dean when nominating the review committee.
In schools without departments, the Dean will assure these responsibilities described as the Chair’s as well as the Dean’s own. For initial appointments granting tenure, there will be two separate committees – the first will conduct the search and the second will conduct the tenure review. Although these two functions must take place separately and sequentially, the two committees may have identical compositions if rank and tenure-track requirements are met for the final vote. Initial tenure review committees must include at least one member from outside the primary reviewing unit, appointed by the Dean of the school where the dossier will be reviewed.
While there are no hard and fast rules governing the size of search/review committees (with one important exception, explained in the next paragraph), it is common practice for them to have three members. In cases where the candidate’s research is unusually interdisciplinary, however, it is may be necessary to appoint a larger committee in order to achieve sufficient breadth.
In cases of initial appointment or internal promotion to the rank of full professor, Duke requires that at least five full professors vote on the case at the departmental level (see Faculty Handbook, chapter 3). If a unit has fewer than five full professors, the review committee must consist of at least five full professors, some of whom will, of necessity, have primary appointments in other departments. The Provost must approve all such ad hoc committees, upon nomination by the Dean.
Search Advertisement
In consultation with the Dean and the Office of Institutional Equality, the search committee drafts an advertisement inviting applications and nominations. The ad must contain:
- description of rank, tenure-track status
- start date
- teaching expectations
- minimum qualifications and/or credentials (see SACS guidelines)
- application deadline
- name and address of search committee chair
- Duke's Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
- Duke's Reference Check Statement (regular rank postings only)
The advertisement must be approved by the appropriate school officers and published on approved platforms. Hiring units are required to advertise their vacant faculty positions in Academic Jobs Online (AJO). The School of Law, School of Nursing, and the School of Medicine Clinical Science department are excluded from this requirement.