Dean of the Faculty

Searches & Hiring

Searches & Hiring

The strength of Brown is its people. Learn how to launch a national faculty search, attract a diverse pool of applicants and more.

Brown requires departments and other academic units to conduct open searches to fill most faculty positions. In order to attract a robust pool of the highest quality candidates, searches should be advertised nationally, and all searches must include a EEO Representative. The Dean of the Faculty's office posts all open searches on the website of the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium.

More details on the hiring process are available in chapter five of the Handbook of Academic Administration. In addition, Brown's Office of Diversity and Inclusion offers a guide to equitable hiring practices and may be able to suggest other ways to expand applicant pools.

Please note that students serving on faculty search committees should never have access to confidential letters of recommendation.

Types of Hires

The process for identifying candidates and conducting a search, including search authorization, varies depending on the nature of the faculty position. The pages below provide guidance for the four categories of faculty searches. For additional information on setting up a search, consult the instructions on using Interfolio for faculty hiring.

Term Faculty Search

Term faculty is a broad category that includes postdocs, visitors, adjuncts, professors of the practice, fellows, and others who do not hold an appointment as a tenure or teaching track faculty member at Brown University.

Term Faculty Search Waiver

Under exceptional circumstances, a department or another academic unit may propose to the appropriate Dean the appointment of a faculty member without the usual search process.

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