Departments and Colleges must make every effort to seek candidates from the designated groups (aboriginal people, visible minority people, people with disabilities and women). Efforts must be reported to the Dean, Provost and Vice-President Academic and The USFA, including the reason why no candidates from the designated groups were short listed for the position. When faced with two candidates for appointment and one is from one of the designated groups, the candidate from the designated group should be recommended for appointment.
Likewise when considering international candidates. When there are Canadian candidates the qualified Canadian should be recommended for appointment.
The Appointments Forum is a body that meets whenever the dean and/or Provost and Vice President Academic does not support a Search Committee’s recommendation for appointment or when a member of the Forum requests a meeting. This also applies for the appointment of Department Heads.
The Appointments Forum is chaired by the Provost and its composition depends on whether you are in a departmentalized or non-departmentalized college. In departmentalized colleges the committee includes the Dean, the Department Head in which the appointment is being made, a Department Head from a cognate department (who was the observer on the Search Committee) and a USFA observer. For Non-departmentalized Colleges the committee consists of the Dean, two tenured in-scope faculty members designated by the Search Committee and a USFA observer.
The purpose of the Appointments Forum is to review and discuss the conflicting views of the Search Committee, the Dean and/or the Provost and Vice-President Academic and evaluate alternatives prior to a final decision from the Provost and Vice-President Academic.
The Appointments Forum for the appointment of Department Heads is the same as that for a departmentalized college except that, as a Department Head is being sought, there are two department heads from cognate departments (who were the observers on the Search Committee) instead of the Department Head and a cognate.
The process for the appointment of a Department Head is the same as for regular faculty with a few differences. The Provost and Vice-President Academic attends the first meeting of the Search Committee to discuss the department’s needs, requests, obligations and opportunities.
Department Heads are appointed initially for no longer than five years. Reappointments are for no longer than three years. There is no specific process for the appointment of Assistant Deans, but many colleges apply a similar process to that used in the appointment of Department Heads.
The Search Committee for the appointment of a Department Head is chaired by the Dean or Dean’s designate and consists of the same membership as the Search Committee for a faculty appointment except that it includes two heads from cognate departments as observers. It may recommend two candidates for appointment. Candidates for the position of Department Head can not be members of the Search Committee.
A positive recommendation for appointment as Department Head is forwarded to the Provost for approval. The Provost has the ability to accept the positive recommendation of the Search Committee, refer the recommendation back for reconsideration or reject the Search Committee recommendation and request a second nomination. If the Search Committee declines to reconsider its recommendation or make second nomination, the Provost will appoint an Acting Head for one year.
Before the Provost rejects or refers back the Search Committee’s recommendation, the Provost must meet with the Appointments Forum to discuss alternatives.
The Appointments Forum for the appointment of a Department Head is Chaired by the Provost or Provost’s designate. It consists of the Dean, the two cognate heads and a USFA Observer.
The Search Committee recommends all appointments for Acting Department Heads except when the acting appointment is for 6 months or less. In that instance the Dean recommends a candidate to the Provost for appointment. Reappointment to a subsequent acting appointment requires approval of the Search Committee. When the acting appointment is for a term of 12 months or less, there is no requirement for the Search to meet with the Provost.