A. Search Procedure for Professors, Full Time, Without Limit of Time (WLT) or Of Indefinite Duration (OID) and Associate Professors, Full Time, Without Limit of Time (WLT) (Permanent appointments at the Associate Professor level are an exception. Usually Associate Professors have a term appointment of five years.)

1. Search Initiation

a. Department head or representative of the affiliated institution on behalf of the Board of Trustees, after consultation with the Dean (as appropriate), prepares a letter initiating the appointment. When a preclinical department head is to be sought, the Dean alone will prepare a letter. The letter should include the following items.

1) Nature of the job and the criteria by which the final candidates should be judged with regard to:

a) Research needs
b) Teaching needs
c) Role in affiliated institution (if any)
d) Administrative responsibilities (if any)

2) Qualifications needed

3) Composition, strengths, and weaknesses of the area and of the department

4) Implication of the appointment for the parent department, related departments, the institution, and the Medical School

5) Resources available (financial, space, human)

6) Plans for the search

7) List of individuals regarded by the department as suitable candidates for the position may be appended. Ordinarily, no action on the part of the department should be taken to establish the credentials of these individuals.

b. For appointees in an affiliated institution a representative, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, prepares a separate letter to the Dean documenting whether or not tenure is to be granted.

c. Dean reviews the proposal from the perspective of academic, institutional, and financial needs.

d. Dean submits the proposal, after his approval, to the Preclinical Council (for proposals from preclinical departments), the Council of Social Science Departments (for proposals from social science departments), or the Council of Academic Deans (for proposals from clinical departments).

1) Council reviews the proposal with particular consideration of academic needs, institutional needs, and the job description.
2) Council recommends appropriate action.
3) Council suggests members for the search committee.

e. Notice of all actions by the appropriate council is mailed to members of the Committee of Professors.

2. Search Process

a. Search committee is named by the Dean after consultation with the Preclinical Council, Council of Social Science Departments, or Council of Academic Deans, as noted above, the department head, the institution director/president, and others.

1) Chairperson of the ad hoc committee is selected by the Dean; for affiliated-institution-based positions the selection is made with the institution director/president/academic dean.

2) Search committee members include:

a) Persons from the field in which the search will occur; may include persons outside the Medical School and Harvard University. If there is a strong internal candidate from the department for which the search is being conducted, neither the head nor a member of that department shall chair the search committee.
b) Persons from related fields
c) Director/president/trustee and/or academic dean of the affiliated institution (as appropriate)
d) Master of the academic society responsible for the teaching program in the field under consideration (if a department head search)

3) Up to half of the membership shall be recommended by the representative of the affiliated institution (if appropriate). No one likely to be a candidate should be a member of the search committee.

b. Search committee holds initial meeting to:

1) Review the strengths and weaknesses of the field within the discipline, within the Medical School, and within the affiliated institution
2) Review the present composition of the department
3) Review the description of the position to be filled
4) Develop an advertisement for the position to submit to professional or specialty journal(s) (as appropriate)
5) Hear witnesses from inside and outside the department as necessary
6) Develop a list of persons in the field to be consulted about names of potential candidates, including women and minorities
7) Develop a list of names of potential women and minority candidates in the field
8) Consider the department head's nominations of candidates from inside or outside Harvard Medical School
9) Collect the names of candidates developed from all these sources and create a long list of potential candidates

c. Search committee reconvenes to consider the pool of candidates generated from these sources.

1) Long list is narrowed to an intermediate list or a short list of candidates from whom C.V.'s are requested.
2) Candidates may be invited to meet with the committee and the appropriate department, the affiliated institution, and school representatives.

d. Search committee compares and ranks candidates based on the following information.

1) Final candidate(s) are invited to visit the department and/or the affiliated institution and to meet with the search committee.
2) Additional information may be solicited about any of the final candidates.
3)Letters are sent to outside experts in the field asking them to compare the leading candidates with respect to their strengths and weaknesses in their areas of expertise.

e. Dean and the department head (also the director/president if an affiliated institution appointment) negotiate with the top-ranked candidates and determine interest in the position.

f. Search committee prepares a final report documenting the above process and submits it to the Dean. A clear description of the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the final candidates (with careful attention to any women or minorities) and an explanation of the final ranking are required.

3. Review Process

a. Dean reviews the material from the search committee and may confer with the department head, other senior members of the department or other advisors as needed, and the affiliated institution representative (for appointees in clinical departments). After consideration of the evidence, a decision is made whether or not to proceed to a review.

b. Ad hoc review committee members are named by the Dean. These include:

1) Dean or the Dean for Clinical and Academic Programs, as the chairperson
2) Member of the Subcommittee of Professors as the reporter
3) Two to three members of the Committee of Professors in the field or a related field
4) One outside reviewer in the field or a related field
5) Chairperson of the board of trustees or the president and/or the academic dean of the affiliated institution (if appropriate)

c. Dean, or dean for clinical and academic programs convenes and chairs the ad hoc review committee to ascertain the thoroughness of the search and the adequacy of the short list of candidates, and to make a recommendation as to whether or not the qualifications of the final candidate best serve the institutions' needs. Each member of the review committee is supplied with the initiating letter, the report of the search committee (including all letters received), copies of the final candidate's ten best publications and descriptions of each that include the candidate's roles in the genesis and execution of the work and its importance in the field. A complete report of the ad hoc review committee is prepared by the reporter, assisted by a member of the Dean's Office.

4. Final consideration

a. Reporter of the ad hoc review committee presents a summary of the committee's deliberations to the Subcommittee of Professors. The chair of the ad hoc search committee is also present to provide information. The subcommittee reviews the reports of the ad hoc search and review committees and recommends appropriate action to the Dean.

b. Report of the subcommittee action, when approved by the Dean, is mailed to the Committee of Professors. Any member of the Committee of Professors may review the report in the Dean's Office. If a petition with signatures of ten members of the Committee of Professors is received within two weeks of the announcement of the subcommittee action, a meeting of the full committee will be called to review the recommendation.

c. Dean makes a final recommendation and transmits it to the President of Harvard University in a summary letter appended to the documentation of the search.

d. Recommendation is considered by the President and the Provost on behalf of the Governing Boards of Harvard University. Final approval is rendered by the President and Provost.