Dual Career

This policy pertains to a candidate for a professorial faculty position (called "primary faculty position") who requests at any time in the hiring process that his or her spouse or domestic partner be considered for a faculty position at Wright State University (called "secondary faculty position" or "dual-career faculty position"). The presence of this policy does not restrict the spouse or partner from applying for any open position at the university.

In this policy, "faculty" refers to full-time instructional employees with the rank of "Instructor," "Lecturer," "Senior Lecturer," "Clinical Instructor," "Clinical Assistant Professor," "Assistant Professor," "Associate Professor," "Visiting Professor" (any rank) or "Professor" in any Wright State University college or school. "Professorial faculty" refers to tenure-eligible or continuing contracted "Assistant Professor," "Associate Professor," or "Professor" in any Wright State University college or school.

This policy applies only to primary faculty positions for which the university uses a national search process. Where possible, a dual-career hire should contribute positively to the university's affirmative action goals. At the very least, no dual-career hire should jeopardize current or prospective affirmative action searches/lines intended for the goal of increasing diversity or otherwise meeting the university's affirmative action goals.

1. A request for a dual-career faculty position may be initiated by the candidate for the primary faculty position at any time during the hiring process. The request may be directed to the primary department chair, college dean or search committee chair.
2. With written approval of his or her dean, the appropriate hiring authority for the primary department interested in pursuing a dual-career position described below submits a proposal to the Associate Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs. The proposal must include:
   • a description of the secondary faculty position desired, including the rank, academic discipline, job duties and required qualifications;
   • an explanation of how the primary and secondary faculty positions will advance the college and university's strategic plan as well as strategic goals and needs within the primary and secondary departments;
   • a projection of the anticipated economic impact from the successful dual career hires;
   • a summary of the secondary department faculty's recommendation of the secondary candidate:a plan for covering expenses related to the secondary faculty position including secondary department/college support for the hire during and after the dual career support period;
   • the secondary candidate's curriculum vitae;
   • a statement from the secondary department chair and college dean outlining how the secondary candidate's qualifications make the individual a strong candidate for the secondary faculty position; and
   • a completed Strategic Hire form.
3. The Associate Provost's Office forwards a copy of the proposal to the Office of Equity and Inclusion for review and recommendation.
4. After receiving the recommendation from the Office of Equity and Inclusion and conferring with the Provost, the Associate Provost notifies both departments whether or not they are approved to proceed with the offers.
5. When the secondary faculty position is filled the Associate Provost notifies AAUP-WSU in a timely manner if the individual is a Bargaining Unit Faculty position.

A secondary faculty position for the primary candidate's spouse or partner may be created in one of the following ways:

1. A professorial faculty position can be created.
2. A non-tenure track (NTE) faculty position can be created.
3. A limited term NTE faculty position can be created which, after the one to three year limited term, may be converted by the university to a professorial faculty position. The university has no obligation to make the conversion, and the Dual-Career hire must be the successful candidate in a national search in order to continue on the faculty.
4. A research faculty position can be created.
5. The primary faculty position can be converted into a shared faculty position (shared positions employ funds from the primary position to support some or all of the secondary position), if the dual-career faculty hire is in the same discipline as the candidate for the primary faculty position.

A dual-career faculty hire will not be offered any faculty position until the faculty of the academic unit in which the new position is created are given an opportunity to review the candidate's credentials, interview the candidate, and vote by secret ballot whether to recommend the appointment. A professorial position will be voted on by all TET faculty in the academic unit. All other faculty positions will be voted on by faculty in the academic unit. The funding for the secondary faculty position must be assured (if it is filled by the dual-career hire) without sacrificing previously approved funding for any other fulltime faculty position in the department; and in an academic unit for which startup funding for professorial faculty is customary, the dual-career faculty hire must receive standard startup funding upon appointment to a professorial faculty position.

The funds supporting the Dual-Career secondary faculty position will be as outlined in Table 1. These funds cover only salary and benefits. Proposals deviating from the table below must provide rationale for an alternative funding scheme.

If the Individual supported by the fund leaves the university (or becomes less than ful-time) any future funding committed to the employment of the individual will revert to the Office of the Provost.

Provost funding will be appropriated from the Strategic Hiring and Investment pool, subject to availability and in accordance with the respective procedures and guidelines. Funds will be processed through the Provost's office, will be transferred to the appropriate college budget at the time of Dual-Career faculty is hired and annually thereafter based on the negotiated support.

The Provost's Office and the Office of Inclusion and Equity will review this program annually to assess its impact on diversifying Wright State University's faculty as well as fiscal implications.

• Giving special consideration to the primary candidate's spouse or partner as a candidate in a faculty search. The types of special consideration provided will be based on institutional priorities and need.
• Providing assistance to the primary candidate's spouse or partner through WSU's affiliation in the OH/Western PA/West Virginia Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC). Additionally we will provide networking for locating employment opportunities in the region.