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Recommendations to Chairs for
Facilitating Dual Career Hires

ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change
University of Washington
Updated November 2006

I. TO BEGIN

1. As soon as you understand there is a partner who will need a position, this information needs to be communicated quickly. If the partner is in the same college, contact your dean or divisional dean. If the partner is in the other college, ask Matt O'Donnell or Werner Stuetzle to get in touch with the dean or divisional dean of the other college. Let the dean contact the appropriate chair of the partner's department. CC everyone and get the CV from the partner to circulate to all. Think hard about all possible departments where the partner might fit. Be sure to pursue opportunities at UW Bothell and UW Tacoma. Their job postings are listed on the UW faculty employment page.
2. If you decide to make a regular tenure-track offer to one member of the couple, work with the partner's department to contact the Provost's office about temporary funding for the partner. As an example of what might be possible, the Provost's office might be willing to share 1-2 years of temporary funding, but you should be thinking about what will happen once the Provost's temporary funding ends.
3. Keep your interview process with the candidate moving forward even if the partner is not suited for UW (i.e., do not discriminate against good people because of the fear of the dual career issue). Sometimes people will wind up coming to UW even without a faculty job for their partner.
4. Recognize that dual career successes require thought and planning on the part of the chair, and often, a great deal of effort.
5. View hiring a dual career couple as a great way to retain both faculty members. (It's not a bug, it's a feature!)

II. ADDITIONAL STRATEGIES

1. Put notice of the University of Washington's dual career policy in your job announcements. Following the University of California, Irvine, sample wording would be: "The University of Washington is responsive to the needs of dual career couples." This will encourage your candidates to reveal their dual career status earlier, rather than later in the interview process.
2. The College of Engineering Corporate and Foundation Relations can help with corporate hires.
3. See if your faculty members have contacts for local jobs in industry.

III. IF YOU HIRE THE PARTNER INTO A NON-TENURE TRACK POSITION

1. Make sure that the partner is given an offer in writing. If he/she is also going to be doing some instruction, it may be worth considering a WOT appointment.
2. If the partner is hired as a research professor, be sure to set him/her up to succeed. This includes providing the person with proper lab equipment/space; helping make contacts with collaborators in the department and at UW; and involving the person fully within the department.
3. Introduce the new research professor to the department with as much care as would be given for a regular tenure-track faculty member. Consider inviting him or her to give a research seminar to the department to help integrate him or her into the department, even if the person already gave a seminar as part of the hiring process.

Last Updated: March 4, 2008

advance@engr.washington.edu

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