Phase 1 - Search Committee Formation

Best Practices for Committee Formation

Consider embedding your departmental needs and our campus value into the position's job description, including your listing of required and preferred skills, and making mention of existing cluster hire programs or any other programmatic searches.

• Prior to search, it may be a good idea to evaluate departmental search policies and/or practices to assure equitable participation in the search process (e.g., some policies may limit search committee participation to senior faculty, thereby unintentionally decreasing impact of junior faculty voices, etc.). Changes can only be made to departmental policies at the beginning of the year, so looking into these early would be necessary.

• Pay attention to composition; this is one of the first steps to demonstrating and enacting a commitment to an equitable search (Pitts et al., 2020). Diverse committees also yield a more diverse pool of applicants (Kazmi, 2021).

• Consider adding members to your search committee from outside your department who have expertise in your area or perspectives/experience that may add to the search's success.  

• Pay attention to where expertise exists within your ranks (e.g., limiting presence of those in your probationary faculty ranks may limit more current areas of scholarship). 

• Consider asking everyone on the committee to take Employee Equity Facilitator (EEF) training so that the committee's knowledge in this area is up to date.

• Additional trainings for search committees are available; check with Academic Personnel, OUDI, and/or your college for options.