Recruitment/Search Process for Academic Professional & Faculty Positions

As your department prepares to fill an Academic Professional or Faculty position, we would like to provide information to ensure an equitable search.

  • The Supervisor/Unit Head sends documentation/request to Assistant Dean who will submit to Budget Group for review.
  • Once the position is approved to move forward, the Supervisor/Unit Head and Search Coordinator will receive notification.
  • EC appoints members to serve on Faculty and AP search committees. The Search Coordinator will grant the selected search committee members access to the Search Toolbox.
  • Assistant to the Dean arranges a kick-off meeting with Dean of Libraries, EEO Officer, Search Coordinator and Search Committee.
  • Search Committees need to do three things with regards to diversity:
    • Recruitment: key in ensuing a large and diverse pool. Library HR will post position announcements on standard library diversity sites (via ALA and ACRL). Search committees are strongly encouraged to post to “specialty” sites relating to the position, especially listservs with diverse memberships. Direct contacting of candidates, via phone, email, etc., is strongly encouraged. The Dean is willing to contact prospective candidates.
    • DiversityEdu: The Office of Diversity, Equality, and Access (ODEA) requires all Search Committee members to complete the online “DiversityEdu” program at least once every other year. DRIVE (Diversity Realized at Illinois through Visioning Excellence) has asked ODEA to approve only searches for which ALL search committee members have completed the DiversityEdu course.Link: https://canvas.illinois.edu/

      Please note that it works best with IE and Google Chrome. This 30-minute training can be stopped and restarted, and offers a certificate of completion, bibliography and a document entitled “Ground Rules + Guidelines for Diversity Competent Faculty Searches” which provides a useful summary of diverse issues relating to job searches

    • Diversity Advocate: According to the Office for Access and Equity, each Search Committee must appoint a “Diversity Advocate” who will pay particularly close attention to diversity matters during the search. Please remember that all search committee members need to be aware of diversity issues.  The Diversity Advocate may receive additional instructions from Library Human Resources.
  • The Search Committee reviews the Position Description at the kick-off meeting. After it’s reviewed, the chair submits the Position Description to EC for final approval. The EEO officer will forward the approved position description to the Search Coordinator and Chair with instructions to move forward with the search. The Search Coordinator submits the position description in JDXpert for approval to post.

For any questions, contact the Faculty and Academic Professional Search Coordinator (currently Aneitre Johnson atjohnsn@illinois.edu)