Tenured and Tenure-Track faculty encompass the following titles: Distinguished Professor, Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor. Faculty members who have one of these titles and who have not yet been awarded Tenure are considered “Tenure-Track.”  The Tenure clock refers to the amount of time a faculty member may serve in a Tenure-Track appointment prior to being granted tenure, or if Tenure is denied, includes the faculty member’s terminal year appointment.  There are rare occasions when appointments to the titles listed above are made without Tenure, and are not Tenure-Track.

The Position Description
The department should first meet to discuss the position for which it would like to advertise. Various issues should be addressed at this meeting including rank, desired research and instructional areas, expectations, perceived role in the department, and the department’s immediate and future needs. The result of these deliberations should be brought to the Dean for his/her consideration. The Dean must approve the search before any further action can be taken. Decanal units should also consult with their respective Chancellor’s offices if such level of approval is required. The recruitment effort then continues with a written position description that includes the position and rank - which should accurately and clearly describe the full range of responsibilities and duties for the position - and a brief description of desired research and instructional areas as well as required skills or experience.

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After receiving the appropriate approval to recruit, the department must post the advertisement in ROCS. In addition, the department may place an advertisement in any other venue such as professional and scholarly journals, the unit’s website, and other sources appropriate to the position. Many units choose to post advertisements in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Academe, and The New York Times, or elect to advertise on career websites such as www.ChronicleCareers.com, www.HigherEdJobs.com. Units are responsible for the expenses related to these advertisements; however, there is no cost for advertising on www.NJHERC.org. Advertisements should give position title, rank, desired research and instructional areas. They must also include the unique link to the ROCS posting. Applications are to be accepted only through ROCS. All position announcements and all classified advertising should be written in gender-neutral language and contain the following statement:

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, military service or any other category protected by law. As an institution, we value diversity of background and opinion, and prohibit discrimination or harassment on the basis of any legally protected class in the areas of hiring, recruitment, promotion, transfer, demotion, training, compensation, pay, fringe benefit, layoff, termination or any other terms and conditions of employment. 

The Search Committee
Each unit establishes its own policies and procedures for reviewing applications, selecting candidates for campus visits and recommending candidates for hire. Typically, there will be a search committee that will have representatives from the department/field in which the school is looking to hire. Membership on the search committee varies. In some departments the entire department constitutes the search committee, in other departments only the Tenured members of the department participate, and in others a representation of fields and ranks is desired. Prior to compiling a list of possible committee members the department should establish what the role of the committee will be.

Interviewing and Hiring
The search committee should develop a list of clearly defined criteria arranged in order of importance by which applicants will be evaluated. These criteria, based on the position description, must relate to the essential functions of the position and be applied uniformly to all candidates. It is the responsibility of the Search Committee to make every effort to treat all candidates who are interviewed in an equal fashion. All candidates should be seen by a reasonable and representative number of voting members of the department or discipline. Although conversations with candidates take their own directions, the format and content of the interview should be uniform. All questions directed to applicants should be related to the position for which they have applied. The committee should consider drafting a list of questions and topics in advance to discuss during the interview and agreeing on a rating system for the candidates. Questions concerning race, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, or disability should not be asked during an interview. After each interview, the interviewers’ evaluations should be put in writing and retained in department files with all other documents related to the search for three years.The dean must be consulted on all final selections and all written offers for hire must come from the Executive Dean. For further details about this process, consult the bylaws of specific units.