Example: Faculty Search Committee Chair Final Report

Department of Harry Potter Studies

The Harry Potter Studies Department search committee unanimously recommends that Dr. Melina Cordova should be offered the faculty position at USF. Dr. Cordova is highly qualified, enthusiastic about USF, and would be an excellent colleague. Dr. Susan Landau is also well qualified. We concluded that Dr. Martin Underwood would not be acceptable. Below please find our analysis of each candidate with the corresponding votes of each faculty search committee member in parenthesis (1=highly recommended, 2=recommended, x=not acceptable).

Melina Cordova (1, 1, 1, 1, 1)

Very enthusiastic and excited, easy to get along with, very personable, transparent, warm personality, quickly established a connection with our staff. Dr. Cordova has a broad interest in many areas of H. Potter Studies, based on a strong background in the history of magic, and was able to easily converse with the members of our department about their research areas. She would be able to teach a variety of classes at both the lower division and upper division level. Her teaching talk was excellent; she explained a difficult Potteristic concept in a way that not only answered student questions but also provided insight to the faculty. The students had a very positive experience with her at lunch and were quite enthusiastic. She has an active, exciting research program and had excellent suggestions for how to engage our students. She was very excited about USF's mission and would very much like to come here.

SUSAN Landau (2, 1, 2, 2, 2)

Dr. Landau was very personable and friendly; we very much enjoyed talking with her and think she would be an excellent colleague. She gave a very nice teaching talk with excellent slides and examples. Her research trajectory is a little unclear - most of her Potter-related research has been done in large teams, and there was some doubt about her ability to effectively conduct research on her own. If she is hired, the department will have to carefully mentor her. She is also very excited about USF, but has other offers in hand.

martin underwood (x, x, x, x, x)

Dr. Underwood's interview was very disappointing. His research talk was shallow, and contained elementary errors about the history and philosophy of Harry Potter. He came across as arrogant and aloof and was difficult to connect with. The committee had a hard time getting him to elaborate on his future research plans, and it seemed that he had not done much homework about USF. His teaching talk was decent, but not inspiring. The students also found Dr. Underwood hard to talk with, and complained that he showed little interest in them.