Procedure 3.32.2

Chapter 3 - Educational Policies

3.32.2 Procedure Faculty Hiring

Minnesota West Community & Technical College will adhere to the procedure for hiring faculty as defined below. Minnesota West Community  & Technical College will follow Minnesota State board policy 3.32 in hiring qualified faculty.

Requests to fill permanent full-time and permanent part-time instructional positions will be brought forth by the College Provost for approval by the College President.

  1. Once faculty positions are approved to be filled a committee chair will be appointed by the College Provost. The committee chair will facilitate the formation of a search committee. The Chair will contact bargaining unit representatives for their committee selection, but may also solicit committee members if necessary. The Human Resources office is available to help in the committee formation if requested. All members of the committee will be voting members. The committee membership should reflect the diversity of the College community. The committee will include a minimum of five to seven members and whenever possible should be comprised of:
    1. Campus Administrator or Appropriate Administrator.
    2. Two to Three faculty – with at least one being from the same credentialed field.
    3. Constituents (one student and one non-faculty staff).
  2. The committee chair will work with the Chief Human Resource Officer or designee to prepare the vacancy notice and advertisement. The Human Resource Officer will place the advertisement in local and national publications, Minnesota State Employment Opportunities, social media, protected group agencies/publications, college graduate placement offices and/or other sources as needed or requested.
  3. All applicants for full-time and part-time positions will be required to submit copies of their transcripts with their application materials. Official transcripts will be required for all new faculty hires.
  4. The Human Resources office will maintain the online application files of all applications received and develop a process for search committee review.
  5. The Affirmative Action Officer will determine wether the applicant pool is sufficiently diverse, he/she authorizes the continuation of the hiring process. If the Affirmative Action Officer determines that the pool is not sufficiently diverse, he/she will discuss the next course of action with the President.
  6. The Affirmative Action Officer will make a determination of whether to continue with the hiring process or suspend it while attempts are made to enhance the diversity of the applicant pool.
  7. The Human Resource Office will alert the committee to any internal unlimited part-time or unlimited full-time applicants. In accordance with the faculty contracts, all such applicants must be interviewed and considered.
  8. Once the Affirmative Action Officer approves the applicant pool, the search committee will review all applications and select applicants to be interviewed. No arrangements to interview any applicant will be made until the Affirmative Action Officer has approved the list of applicants to be interviewed.
  9. Human Resource Office will communicate with the semi-finalists to set up an interview date and time. The Human Resource Office will provide notification to committee members of interview dates and times, and will assist in facilitating the interview process.
  10. If an applicant with a disability inquires about reasonable accommodation, the Human Resources Office should be notified immediately. The Chief Human Resource Officer will work to provide necessary accommodations.
  11. The search advisory committee will develop job related interview questions to learn about abilities and job related qualifications. The Human Resource Officer is available to help the committee with creating the questions, if requested.
  12. Interviewing Guidelines: Federal and state laws, regulations and court decisions in the area of equal opportunity all support the necessity for employment interviews which are job related, standardized, and objective.
    1. The search committee will develop criteria, procedures and interview questions for the evaluation of applicants. The Affirmative Action Officer will review this material to protect against possible bias. The Chief Human Resource Officer will review the questions for appropriateness. It is important to remember that everything should be the same, as much as possible, for each candidate.
    2. The committee may also incorporate additional components into the interview process that will assist the committee in assessing a candidate's abilities, skills and/or knowledge. For example, it is common for applicants for faculty positions to perform a teaching demonstration.
    3. The committee chair/designee will conduct reference checks on each of the finalists after the submission of the committee’s recommendation. The committee chair/designee will communicate strengths and weaknesses of the selected candidates and should submit written assessments of the candidates along with the results of reference checks when a hiring recommendation is made.
    4. The College Provost/designee will submit the recommendations of the search committee to the President. A minimum of two final candidates should be recommended.
    5. The President will select the person to fill the position. The Human Resource Office will extend the offer.
    6. After the employment offer has been accepted, the Human Resources Office will be responsible for notifying all other applicants.
    7. All search committee materials, i.e. ratings, any other notes, and all applicant files will be returned immediately to the Human Resource Officer after an employment offer has been accepted.
    8. The Human Resources Office will maintain records/documents of the search process for a minimum of three years.

Approved by: Ron Wood, President
Date: July 1, 2003
History & Revision:

Approved by:  Terry Gaalswyk, President
Date: May 11, 2016
History & Revision:  Wording update
Revised: July 25, 2017 Minnesota State