General

 

1. For all the search committees referred to in this policy, the election of faculty will be conducted in accordance with the procedures for electing faculty to Senate; the election of staff will be conducted in accordance with the procedures for electing a staff member to the Board of Governors; voting eligibility for part-time faculty and staff shall be determined by reference to Senate paper S98-71, motions 1 and 3.
   
   
2. The incumbent of a position being searched under this policy is ineligible to serve on the search committee.
   
   
3. "Dean" includes the Dean of Libraries & University Librarian.
   
   
4. While appropriate gender representation will be expected to vary, search committees should have at least 20% of their members from each gender.
    

1. Search Committees for Vice-Presidents

MEMBERS	CONDITIONS
President (or designate)	Chair
One Vice-President	Selected by the Vice-Presidents
Two Deans (one of whom must be a Faculty Dean) or Three Deans (two of whom must be Faculty Deans) (in searches for Vice-Presidents, Academic and Research)	Selected by the Deans
Two Faculty Members or One Faculty Member from each Faculty (in searches for Vice-Presidents, Academic and Research)	Elected by Faculty members jointly Elected by and from the respective Faculties
President of the Faculty Association (or designate)
One of: the President of the SFSS, the Co-ordinating & External Relations Officer of the Graduate Sudent Society, or their designate	As jointly agreed upon by the Societies.
Two members of the Support Staff	Elected by and from the Support Staff of the units reporting within the Vice-President's portfolio
Up to three additional members	Selected by the President, to mitigate under-representation from the equity-designated groups and/or to provide better representation of the portfolio.  These individuals may be members of any part of the university community except for the senior administration.

 

Search Committees for Associate Vice-Presidents¹

MEMBERS	CONDITIONS
President or Vice-President (or designate)	Chair
Two Deans (one of whom must be a Faculty Dean)	Selected by the Deans
Two Faculty Members	Elected by the Faculty members jointly
President of the Faculty Association (or designate)
One of: the President of the SFSS, the Co-ordinating & External Relations Officerof the Graduate Student Society, or their designate	As jointly agreed upon by the Societies.
One member of the Support Staff	Elected by and from the Support Staff of the units reporting within the Associate Vice-President's portfolio.
Up to three additional members	Selected by the Vice-President to mitigate under-representation from the equity-designated groups and/or to provide better representation of the portfolio.  These individuals may be members of any part of the university community except for the senior administration.

Search Committee Procedures


In these procedures, reference to a vice-president shall include associate vice-presidents.



1. General
   
   
   1. The search procedure shall usually begin no later than 12 months prior to the expected date of the appointment.
      
   2. The Registrar shall be responsible for conducting elections for Search committees.
      
   3. A quorum shall be 60% of the membership of the committee.
      
   4. All members of a Search Committee are expected to maintain in confidence the information discussed by the Committee, except where the Committee subsequently agrees otherwise.
      
   5. If a member of the Search Committee, by invitation of the Committee, becomes a candidate for the position being searched, s/he shall resign from the Committee.
      
   6. In the event of a perceived conflict of interest that could compromise or be seen to compromise the member's judgment of the candidate(s), s/he shall disclose the nature of that conflict to the Committee in sufficient detail to enable the Committee to determine whether the member should resign from the Committee.
      
   7. If a member of a Search Committee leaves the Committee, the chair may appoint a replacement.

    

2. Terms of Reference
   
   
   1. Where the Vice-President has a term appointment, the Chair shall first decide, following appropriate consultation, whether s/he is willing to consider re-appointment of the incumbent and then determine whether the incumbent is willing to consider re-appointment. An incumbent is a person who was originally appointed in accordance with the procedures set out in this policy.
      
      If the response to either of these questions is in the negative, the search process will begin without delay.  If the response to both questions is positive, the Search Committee shall review the incumbent's performance. The review will include meeting with the incumbent and broad consultation across the University including the Deans and Vice-Presidents, and appropriate external constituents. If the Committee is satisfied with the results of the review, it may recommend re-appointment.
      
      
   2. Where there is no incumbent seeking re-appointment or where the incumbent has not been recommended for re-appointment, the responsibilities of the Search Committee for a Vice-President shall include:
      
      
      1. inviting the University community to an open meeting to present their views to the Committee on what qualities the Committee should look for in a candidate;
      2. calling for nominations and applications and determining whether or not to advertise the position and include in the search process persons from outside Simon Fraser University;
      3. encouraging applications from the equity designated groups;
      4. keeping a record of the search process;
      5. drawing up a shortlist and interviewing the top-ranked candidates;
      6. establishing such further operational procedures as it may require, including open meetings for short-listed candidates for Vice-President, Academic, Vice-President, Research and Associate Vice-President, Academic, and others where appropriate;
      7. bringing to the President within a reasonable period of time one or more recommendations for appointment to the position.

      The Search Committee is advisory to the President.

   3. If the President does not find it possible to recommend to the Board of Governors the appointment of a candidate recommended by the Committee, the President shall so inform the Committee, and shall supply an explanation of the decision. In such an event the Search Committee shall again undertake the responsibilities outlined above.
       
3. Appointment
   
   
   1. The appointment of a Vice-President requires the approval of the Board of Governors.
   2. Where an external candidate is appointed to an academic administrative position, an academic appointment will also be required for the person being appointed.
   3. The normal term of office for academic administrative appointments is five years, and normally, this term may be renewed only once.  Some senior administrative appointments may have a different term, or may have no term.
   4. In the event that a Vice-Presidential vacancy occurs at short notice, the President may recommend an interim appointment of an Acting Vice-President which would normally not exceed 12 months.

       

Endnote:

¹Search procedures for an associate vice-president shall also apply to the search for the Registrar.
(Approved by Senate on March 6, 2006 and by the Board on March 23, 2006)

Revision Approved by Senate: February 6, 2006
Revision Approved by the Board: February 10, 2006