In response to the keen competition in university recruiting and hiring and the increasing demands of dual career couples, Cornell is enhancing the services it provides to help with the many challenges involved in dual career placements, Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources, told department chairs last week.
Draft guidelines also are being considered to aid in the recruitment and retention of faculty members and senior administrators, Robert L. Harris Jr., vice provost for diversity and faculty development and associate professor of African-American history, told the chairs at the Feb. 7 session in Clark Hall. Approximately 65 department chairs, deans and administrators attended the session on "Faculty Searches, Recruitment and Retention." It was the third in a new universitywide series of workshops established to help orient department chairs.
Francille Firebaugh, director of special projects, President's Office, facilitated the workshop. The agenda included discussion sessions on "Dual Career Issues with Nonacademic Appointments"; "Searches for the Faculty of the Future," including "Innovative Strategies for Interdisciplinary Appointments," "Innovative Strategies for Disciplinary Appointments" and "Innovative Strategies for Minority Faculty Appointments"; and a session on "Retention of Current Faculty," including "Mentoring of Junior Faculty" and "Dual Career -- Academic."
Opperman said the university wants "to provide a warm and welcoming environment for spouses and partners who accompany new recruits to Cornell. We want them to know that both partners are welcome and that we want both partners to succeed."
She said the purpose of the new services, which she hopes to have operating by next fall, will be to serve as a central point of contact for spousal partners, to maintain a database of spousal partners and of potential jobs and to serve as a point of referral. Currently, she said, her office has to "crank up the process" each time the issue of a spouse or partner occurs in the recruiting process.
Harris stressed that the draft guidelines for the recruitment of dual-career academic couples are under consideration, and he would like feedback on the need for such guidelines. But, he said, regardless of whether the guidelines are formalized, "we've already decided that we need to be more concerted, much more coordinated, much more up front in what we do." The issue of spousal partners now occurs in approximately 50 percent of all academic appointments, he added.
Harris said he is asking that the colleges notify his office if a dual career issue arises in an appointment, so he can work with the college to help to resolve it. For example, his office will maintain a database of ongoing searches. In addition, he said, the Provost's Office may be able to provide limited-term financial support, or bridge funding, for positions in such cases.
On the issue of faculty appointments, Provost Biddy Martin said, "searching and appointing is the most important step at Cornell." At the same time, she said, "one of the major issues for the future is how to satisfy the need for collaboration across disciplines without endless numbers of centers and institutes -- which cost energy and resources."
To do that, Martin said, "we need to develop more flexible department structures so faculty can participate in multidisciplinary projects without necessarily having to create new entities."
She added that she believes joint appointments can work, but all parties must be absolutely clear about their expectations of the appointee and how best to foster the career of the faculty member.
Martin drew laughter when she concluded, "as usual what I'm suggesting is that there is no simple solution."
In discussing minority faculty recruitment, Harris said he wanted to disabuse faculty of the idea that "there are not that many women and underrepresented candidates out there for Cornell, that there's a limited supply. That's not true. There's an ample supply." But, he said, proactive scouting and networking are very important.
Harris said a study at New York University showed that the most effective ways to recruit minorities and women were through professional journals, newsletters and listservs and by writing to individuals directly, asking them to apply or to recommend someone. He also suggested making phone calls to dissertation advisers.
On the mentoring of junior faculty, Michael Kelley, associate dean for professional development in the College of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering, said people are not born knowing how to be a professor. He added that it usually takes about five years for a new faculty member to reach full effectiveness.
For that reason, he said, "things need to be done to fuse mentoring more deeply into the faculty." That includes a formal mentoring program with an orientation and frequent conversations between mentor and protégé, Kelley said.
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