The George Washington University Medical Center

Guidelines for the Establishment and Responsibilities of a Search Committee for Chairperson of a Department

Nothing is so central to and essential in the life and renewal of an academic institution as the selection of its academic leadership. Yet leadership in modern medical center departments is challenging and requires multifaceted skills. We fully support the wisdom of peer Searches, and submit the following, to describe how this institution will proceed with such searches. As a given: members of the Search Committee should include nationally recognized and diverse faculty so that we seek people who can make singular contributions, and have those people visiting GW comfortable with the faculty they meet in their first contact with our institution. We demand that the committee be committed to excellence and to diversity in seeking our future leadership.

The following is a description of a process that explicitly moves away from rigid rules, and describes processes that will allow faculty and administration to work collaboratively to identify outstandingly talented departmental leaders for our future.

I.    Announcing a Search

When a vacancy occurs or is in prospect for the chairperson of a department, the Dean for Academic Affairs (DAA), in consultation with the Vice President for Medical Affairs (VPMA) shall notify the Executive Committee.

II.    Inviting Participation in the Search Committee

To enhance selection of members of a Search Committee from a large group of appropriate candidates, the Secretary of the Executive Committee will announce initiation of a search and invite nominations and expressions of interest from:

1. Chairmen of all departments in the Medical Center;
2. Full-time faculty of the School of Medicine;
3. The faculty of the Department being searched (see below);
4. The Office of the Vice President for Medical Affairs, including the Director of the MFA and the Hospital CEO for clinical searches;
5. Other appropriate organizations, such as the Attending Physicians Association and the Basic Science Faculty Assembly.

III.    The Search Committee

A.    Composition

1.    The Committee size will vary according to the task and scope of the search.  In general, a Committee would rarely, if ever, consist of fewer than six people, or more than twelve members.

2.    A majority of members will be regular service faculty, but searches in clinical departments will also include representation of appropriate limited service (voluntary) GWU faculty members.  Student (MD and graduate) and resident participation on the committee—or involvement in interviewing candidates and making their recommendations to the Committee—will always be an option.

3.    Usually at least one member of the Committee shall be a regular active status GW faculty member whose primary appointment is in the department being searched.  As noted above, the full-service faculty of the searched department, after appropriate departmental meetings, will be invited to recommend participants. (In developing a slate [see below], the administration and faculty will grant due consideration to these candidates; however, the final selection is determined as described below.)

 B.    Selection of Slate

 1.    The Dean for Academic Affairs and the Chair of the Executive Committee will discuss the composition of the Committee with a variety of constituents and review all nominations and expressions of interest received from the above described announcement.  After these separate considerations, the two will develop a slate of members for the Search Committee from people who have expressed a willingness to serve.

2.    No less than one week before a scheduled meeting of the Executive Committee, the list of all the names received from the announcement, and the proposed slate will be furnished to the Executive Committee. The VPMA will identify his/her choice for Chair, and that name will be supplied to the Committee simultaneously.

3.    The role of the Executive Committee on behalf of the faculty, is to review the potential participants and the proposed slate, and to provide advice and consent. Thus selection of the Search Committee and its chair will be achieved by collaboration between the Executive Committee and the VPMA and DAA.

 IV.    Responsibilities of the Search Committee

A.    The VPMA shall charge the Search Committee and define the opportunities and constraints under which they must function. The goals of academic and professional excellence and cultural and gender diversity, will be stressed.

B.    Development of Status Report

The Committee is encouraged to consult with the VPMA, the Deans for Academic Affairs and Research, and other members of the Administration, the searched department, the student body, other members of the Medical Center and University Community, and with outside experts (and under certain circumstances, consultants), to develop a concise status report of the department. The Committee shall then discuss their review of the department with the Office of the Vice President for Medical Affairs (through the VPMA) to achieve consensus on the strategies for the search.

C.    The Process of the Search

1.    The Committee should not meet without a good representation of its voting membership.  In the case of smaller committees, a quorum shall be sought. The final recommendations of the Search Committee shall be supported by a consensus of the entire Search Committee.

2.    The Committee shall utilize the criteria established by the Medical Center Faculty Senate Standing Committee on Appointments, Promotion and Tenure, for appointment to the rank of full professor with tenure in their examination of candidates, and shall assume responsibility for the recommendation of faculty rank and tenure for nominees for the chairperson.

3.    The Committee shall develop, in consultation with the DAA, a procedure for the search which meets the requirements for Equal Employment Opportunity, and which when approved, must be followed in spirit and in letter.

4.    The Search Committee shall proceed in its activities with deliberate speed; its deliberations should not exceed one year. The Committee shall during the course of its search, report at regular intervals to the Executive Committee and to the Senate on its progress.

5.    The DAA shall establish a budget for the Search, in negotiation with the chairman of the Search Committee.

6.    The Committee shall maintain close contact with the views and opinions of the concerned faculty and other groups in regard to the acceptability of the candidates and shall offer appropriate candidates every possible opportunity to acquire the information necessary to their decision making.

7.    The VPMA should generally meet with candidates on their first visit. Other academic administrative officers should meet with them no later than the second visit.  The chairmen of the Medical School departments and other key Medical Center leaders should have an opportunity to meet prospective chairpersons prior to the submission of candidates' names to the Vice President for Medical Affairs.

V.    Conclusion of the Search

The Search Committee shall make formal recommendation to the Vice President for Medical Affairs of the two to five candidates considered most fitting for appointment.