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Questions to ask (chairs, deans, provosts, etc.) during a campus visit

In our March "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

I've been on the job market for a few years and I think I've pretty much perfected the "Do you have questions for us?" portion of the zoom interview. But I've been on very few campus visits and there seem to be meetings with deans and chairs where I'm the one who is supposed to be asking questions. Questions that I'm coming up with like "What kind of research budget would I have" feel weird, presumptuous or even off putting.

This is a long way of asking if any readers have advice on what questions to ask during a campus interview?

An excellent question! 😉 I suspect the kinds of questions that one should or shouldn't ask depend a lot on the kind of institution. For example, if you ask about a research budget or course-releases from teaching while visiting a teaching-focused institution, that may run the risk of making you look like a bad fit. Then again, maybe not–so maybe it makes sense to feel out with a department chair during the on-campus which kinds of questions it is good to ask administrators? Given that you're a finalist, I suspect that in most cases, a chair or other department faculty might provide good guidance.

What do you all think? It would be great to hear both from past and present job-candidates, as well as from people on the hiring side of things.

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8 responses to “Questions to ask (chairs, deans, provosts, etc.) during a campus visit”

  1. recent candidate

    fwiw, I think the research budget question is a completely appropriate thing to ask. For deans, you might ask about the tenure/promotion process. Also, maybe ask things like how the dean sees philosophy/humanities fitting in to the institution’s mission, and how humanities faculty can contribute to that mission; how faculty can contribute to recruitment/retention (an ongoing issue for many institutions), etc. In general, I just try to ask questions that indicate a sincere interest in the position/institution, and which show that I’ve done my homework about the place that’s interviewing me.

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  2. answers

    You can also ask the dean about living in the community, especially if it is a bit remote. First, you will find out if the dean lives within 50 miles. Second, they are often in a position to give some valuable information about the opportunities in the community. I actually became close with the dean that hired me at my first TT job. I was involved in some of her initiatives, I even found we socialized with some of the same people. She was a bit of a dying breed – she actually advocated for the Arts and Science faculty.

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  3. Karl

    FWIW, I have sometimes asked about relationships. Does everyone int he department get along. (Careful, this shows congeniality, and is great in a very big department, but can be uncomfortable if there are issues.) Slightly safer: Do people in the department have good relationships, both professional, personal, and research-related, with members of other departments. Or, is it easy to find community in the town where you are interviewing?…

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  4. RJ

    agree with everything recent candidate suggests. also, fwiw: in my experience on both sides of hiring, the dean is not gonna play a serious role in your hiring decision, such that you need to stress about this. a lot of my dean convos as a candidate were just nice discussions of my research with a non-philosopher, followed by an explanation of some procedural stuff like tenure and promotion matters.

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  5. Rosa

    I agree with RJ that you don’t need to worry so much about impressing the dean/provost (although you do need to worry about impressing the department chair!), so treat this as an opportunity to really gather information. The questions suggested before are great, but here are a few more: Are there opportunities/structures for new faculty to connect across disciplines? Are there opportunities for affinity groups, either among faculty or students, and if not, do they think that there would be interest in starting something up? (I’m thinking here about things like shared interests – around, say, gender studies, shared backgrounds – say, being first gen, or shared identities – say, queer folks, people of color, international folks). What is the place of faculty in university governance? All of those should work for basically any kind of university without raising red flags about you as a candidate, and all of those (along with questions suggested by others about what living in the area is like) are really, really helpful for you to know about.

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  6. Questions about questions

    Hello OP here. Thank you all so much, this is so helpful. And whatever way my job market adventure eventually shakes, this blog has been such an incredible resource, thank you to Marcus!

    Reply
  7. skeptical

    Rosa
    I am inclined to think that many deans these days are not so keen on hiring new faculty who are asking questions about faculty governance during an on campus interview. These days governence-keen faculty are often seen as trouble-makers.

    Reply
  8. Lauren

    I’d disagree about the advice above about not worrying about the Dean/provost. At some colleges (including my current university and where I did my PhD),, the Dean officially makes the offer and is who you negotiate with. If the department is divided, the dean may then decide who to offer the job to. It could also be the case that the dean may veto a candidate. Universities are structured so differently that I think there is no “safe” person to not worry about. (FWIW, the department chair where I am has no more power than any other faculty member, but the search chair could definitely sway things more substantially, given how much more contact they have with the candidate.

    Reply

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