Academic tracks for Clinical/Medical faculty include (Research), Clinician Scholar, Research Scholar, Teaching Scholar Track, and Pre-Track, whereas Biology department faculty are (Research), Lecturer, and Tenure-Track.

Searches

Brown requires an open search to fill most academic faculty positions. To attract a diverse pool of the highest-quality candidates, searches should be nationally advertised, and all searches must include an Equal Employment Opportunity Representative who will take an active role in ensuring that a fair and equitable search process is conducted.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) can suggest ways to expand applicant pools. All open searches are posted on the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium and Interfolio. 

There are several steps to completing a search. Department representatives and search committees should review this information carefully to ensure each step is followed in the correct timeline. 

Pre-selects

On the rare occasion that a position must be filled faster than can be done through a search, departments can recruit academic faculty through the Pre-select process. These candidates are typically at the top of their field and need to be recruited quickly to either fill an immediate need of a recently vacated position or assist the University in achieving its diversity goals.

While this process is faster than a search, it still requires several weeks of document gathering, document and candidate review, and appointment generation. Please plan accordingly.

Senior Appointments

All senior faculty appointments for clinical departments and Biology (Research) must be reviewed and approved by CMFA.

Senior appointments for Biology department Tenure-Track faculty must be reviewed and approved by TPAC. 

Junior faculty can be appointed without a search or pre-select request. Department administrators can submit the required documents for these requests through their department's portal on the BMFA Actions site.

All senior appointments for clinical departments must be reviewed and approved by CMFA.

Biology and Clinical/Medical departments can appoint candidates to affiliate and adjunct positions without a search or pre-select request.

Department administrators can submit the required documents for these requests through their department's portal on the BMFA Actions site.

Searches and Pre-select Requests

Each step of a search and pre-select request is reviewed by the appropriate Senior Associate Dean and ODI.

BMFA's review cycle typically begins Wednesday morning of each week, prioritizing new appointments, searches, and pre-selects. Please have complete request packets submitted to our office by noon on Tuesdays to ensure inclusion in that week's review cycle. 

Appointments

Adjunct, affiliate, clinical, and clinician educator appointments are processed alongside the review of the BMFA appointment letter, allowing for a quick turnaround of 1-2+ weeks, depending on the time of year.

Academic appointments are routed through the search and pre-select process.

As a reminder, all senior faculty appointments must also be reviewed and approved by either CMFA or TPAC, depending on the appointment type. 

Salary

BMFA and BioMed Finance, Planning, and Analytics must conduct a salary review to ensure salary equity across similar titles, tracks, and experiences for all Brown-based appointments. Salary reviews can add additional time to generating the appointment request, so please plan accordingly.

Submit to BMFA:

1. A signed pre-select form
   • (Research) track pre-select appointments in Clinical departments do not require the pre-select request form.
2. A signed Faculty Position Authorization form
   • Department details
   • Appointment terms – date of hire, renewable? 10 or 12-month term
   • Position title and faculty rank
   • Institution that is hiring
   • Funding sources
   • Job description with requirements listed
   • Requested salary
   • Must be signed by Department Chair, CEO, and Division Director/Chief (if applicable)
3. The candidate's CV

BMFA will route the pre-select request through the weekly review cycle as follows:

• Salary Review (if applicable)
• Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs / Senior Associate Dean of Biology
• Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences / Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Strategy and Chief Operating Officer
• Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity

All Pre-select-related materials must be emailed to BMFASearches@brown.edu.

Reminder: All senior appointments must be reviewed and approved by CMFA or TPAC, depending on the appointment type. This requires submitting appointment materials via the CMFA or TPAC dossier instead of submitting the appointment materials below.

Junior Faculty Appointments

Upon receiving all requisite approvals, BMFA will contact you via email for the following documentation:

Submit a Junior Faculty Pre-select Appointment Packet

Opening a Search Process

1. Collect the Search Authorization Request packet documents listed in the table below.
2. Email the complete packet to BMFA via email at BMFAsearches@brown.edu.
   • Please email the documents as a single PDF (not a Portfolio).
   • BMFA will assign an FPA Number to the search request to be used as a reference number when discussing the search request moving forward.
3. BMFA will run the Search Authorization Request through a review cycle:
   • Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs / Senior Associate Dean of Biology
   • Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences / Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Strategy and Chief Operating Officer
   • Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI)
4. BMFA will email the Department Administrator/Manager as soon as the search authorization has been approved
5. The Department Administrator/Manager builds the position in Interfolio and then emails BMFASearches@brown.edu.
   • Strongly Recommended: Add the FPA Number to the title of the position when building the position in Interfolio. This will make it much easier to find the position when searching for it in Interfolio in the future.
6. BMFA will email the search committee members an invitation to the search committee and cc the Department Administrator/Manager.
7. The search is now open, and candidates may submit their applications online.
   • Note: All applications should be submitted via the Interfolio link. If a candidate emails the department or search committee their application materials directly, the candidate should be redirected to the position in Interfolio. The application process through Interfolio collects important demographic information that cannot be completed by the committee or department on behalf of the applicant.

Required Search Authorization Request Packet Materials

Submit a Search Authorization Request

The Interim Pool Report must be submitted before the department and search committee wishes to begin scheduling interviews and must be approved before any interviews are scheduled.

The report will be reviewed by the relevant Senior Associate Dean and the Vice President for Institutional Diversity. BMFA will notify the appropriate Department Administrator as soon as the Interim Pool Report is approved.

When to Complete the Form

Compliance Report

Once a search committee has identified a candidate*, they must submit a Compliance Report to BMFASearches@brown.edu for review and approval. This report must be approved before a verbal or written offer can be extended to the candidate. 

* Please submit a Compliance Report for each candidate if recruiting more than one.

Report Review Routing

BMFA will route the report for required approvals as follows:

• Salary Review (if applicable)
• Relevant Senior Associate Dean
• Vice President of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion
  • Please note: ODI approvals can take up to 2 weeks, so please plan accordingly

After Approval

BMFA will email the Department Administrator/Manager or search committee chair to notify the committee that the Compliance Report has been approved or if the reviewers have provided any feedback. This email will also include the next steps of recruitment such as requesting the appointment materials, connecting the committee with CMFA or TPAC, and information on how to close the search in Interfolio.

If this is a Brown-based appointment, BMFA will also start the discussion for the hire term sheet building process.

Reminder: All senior appointments must be reviewed and approved by CMFA or TPAC, depending on the appointment type. This requires submitting appointment materials via the CMFA or TPAC dossier guidelines instead of submitting the appointment materials below.

Junior Faculty Appointments

Upon receiving all requisite approvals, BMFA will contact you via email for the following documentation:

Closing a Search in Interfolio

To close out your position on the Interfolio platform:

1. Update each applicant's “Applicant Status” in the job posting - tutorial
   • This is required for future reporting purposes.
2. Close the position in two places:
   • Update the position "status" to "position closed" - tutorial
   • Close the position and indicate an outcome - tutorial

Please contact BioMed Faculty Administration at BMFAsearches@brown.edu for information on how to set up an Interfolio account. 

Start by selecting "Add a Position."  As you work your way through the position creation process, consult the Interfolio help page if you have any problems. For further assistance, please contact Interfolio's help center at (877) 997-8807 or help@interfolio.com.

There are four different types of users in ByCommittee Faculty Search: Administrators, Committee Managers, Evaluators, and EEO Officers. A user's role determines their capabilities in the program.

Evaluators are the ByCommittee users with the least access in the system. As members of a review committee, their role is generally limited to reviewing applicants and comes with no administrative capabilities. Evaluators can view applications, add tags to applicants, and—if given access—rate and comment on applications. All Evaluators are assigned to one or more search committees by an Administrator or Committee Manager.

Committee Managers supervise searches at the department level, therefore they have some administrative privileges. Committee Managers can edit settings and statuses, view reports, communicate with applicants, and evaluate applications.

Administrators have the most capabilities in ByCommittee Faculty Search, but their role is still limited by the organizational level to which they are attached. If a user is an Administrator on the college level, for instance, they can create, manage, and monitor searches at that college—the same goes for Administrators at a department. Institutional Administrators can control settings and view positions, applications, and reports across an entire institution.

The fourth category of user in ByCommittee Faculty Search is an EEO Officers. Generally, EEO Officers are staff from Human Resources, Institutional Diversity, or another campus office who are responsible for EEO standards and practices at your institution. EEO officers monitor and run EEO reports on open positions to which they have access. They also flag positions that may not meet an institution's diversity requirements.

In some cases, Administrators may also be granted EEO access, which allows them to perform some duties of an EEO Officer, such as viewing EEO reports and flagging positions.

Search Committee Evaluators

• Evaluators are assigned to one or more search committees by a Committee Manager or Administrator
• Evaluators can view, add tags, and—if this feature is activated—rate and comment on applications  

Committee Managers

• Committee Managers supervise searches at the departmental level
• Committee Managers can edit settings and statuses, view reports, communicate with candidates, and evaluate applications

Administrators

• Administrators create, manage, and monitor searches at the organizational level to which they have access
• Institutional Administrators can control settings and view positions, applications, and reports across an entire institution. Departmental Administrators perform similar functions at the level of a department, school, or college within a larger institutional system
• Administrators may also be granted EEO access, which allows them to perform some duties of an EEO Officer such as viewing EEO reports and flagging positions

EEO Officers

• Equal Employment Opportunity Officers are generally staff from Human Resources, Institutional Diversity, or another campus office responsible for EEO standards and practices
• EEO officers monitor and run EEO reporting on open positions to which they have access. They also flag positions that may not meet an institution's diversity requirements

Welcome to ByCommittee Faculty Search! ByCommittee allows you to both collect applicant materials and make collaborative, committee-based decisions with your colleagues, all in one secure and easy location. You can easily adapt your existing hiring process into ByCommittee Faculty Search to make the experience more efficient and paperless for yourself, your colleagues, and your applicants.

As a Committee Manager, you have many more responsibilities and privileges in the product than the average committee member; at the same time, you are slightly limited within your organization when it comes to certain aspects of the product, such as creating institutional settings. The following articles will assist you in your role by showing how you cover every step of your workflow in ByCommittee, from creating a search committee, to creating and managing a new position, and communicating with your applicants. And remember: every action within ByCommittee Faculty Search is documented with a step-by-step guide in our online help center.

Useful Articles for Getting Started

Basics

• Committee Manager's Guide to ByCommittee Faculty Search

Creating a Search Committee

• Add or Remove Members to/from a Search Committee
• Add or Change a User's Role

Creating Positions

• Create a Position
• Establish Ratings Criteria

Managing Positions

• Edit an Existing Position
• Enable or Disable Reviewer Comments and Labels
• Close a Position

Statuses

• Position and Application Statuses
• Create a Position Status
• Create an Application Status

Managing Applications

• Add Documents on Behalf of an Applicant
• Create an Application on Behalf of an Applicant
• Archive or Unarchive an Application

Communicating

• Email Applicants
• Set Up Automated Email Notifications

When a letter for recommendation is requested from you, you will receive an email notifying you of the request. It is no longer necessary to have a Letter Writer account to upload letters of recommendation to Interfolio, though you may choose to create an account to organize, store, and send all of your recommendation and evaluation requests.

Note: Often, letters of recommendation must be signed. Please check to make sure your letter is signed if the requester has indicated that a signature is required. You can choose to sign and scan your letter, or use our digital signature tool to create and add a digital signature to your document before uploading it.

The first stop for questions about Interfolio is the Interfolio help page.  If you are still having trouble setting up your search or viewing applications, please contact BioMed Faculty Administration.

A few things to be careful of as you work through the process:

• Remember that comments made on a computerized system are on the record forever; while the administration will not read your comments, they are nonetheless a permanent record of search practices.

• It is worth reminding search committee members that they can view application materials online by selecting any relevant applicants and clicking the "read" button.  This will reduce the number of sensitive documents downloaded to faculty computers.

• You are requested to regularly update applicants' statuses.  These can be set so that applicants are not aware of status changes, but a log of status changes is an important part of Brown's federal diversity reporting requirements.

• How to sign in to Interfolio
• Recover a lost or forgotten password

Note: Faculty have to sign in with the email address that they were added as users with. For example, if you set up a new user and use their hospital address, they will need to sign in to Faculty Search using their hospital email address.

There are a number of ways to proceed with open-rank searches. The easiest is to clearly identify how to apply as a junior and a senior candidate in the "application instructions" section of your landing page, including specific instructions that junior rank candidates should submit three letters of reference and senior candidates should submit a list of five referees.  

When you choose your required documents, do not make letters of reference required. Instead, ask candidates to use the "additional documents" fields to upload their confidential letters or their list of referees as appropriate. 

You can also make three letters required, then manually change all senior candidates' files to "completed" once they have provided everything except letters of recommendation.

All staff should be assigned a "committee manager" role.  Faculty should be assigned either an "evaluator" role or a "committee manager role."  The committee manager will have a more complicated interface and some abilities irrelevant to faculty members, but will also be able to send bulk messages and run reports, which some faculty members may wish to do.  If you would like to control permissions so that the search committee chair has additional access to comments and evaluations, use the "set evaluators" section of the setup page.

You should be able to add any Brown faculty members to your search committee as evaluators, regardless of their home department.

BioMed Faculty Administration and the Office of the Associate Provost for Academic Development and Diversity are committed to maintaining the autonomy and confidentiality that departments currently expect during the search process.

Both offices have agreed that they will not read the comments or the rankings that evaluators attach to applications, that rankings and comments will be treated as confidential departmental discussions, and that the administration will not use these the rankings or comments in any way during the search process. 

Yes, but they can now be filed electronically and uploaded to your Interfolio search. Just edit your search and choose the "internal notes" section.  Hit "edit," then "add attachment."  When they are uploaded, email BMFAsearches@brown.edu to let us know that they are ready for review.