(1) Description
Associate Senior Lecturer is a five-year, highly selective, non-renewable, non-tenure-track position for individuals who have demonstrated exceptional ability as teachers, are meeting a recurring, essential curricular need, and have shown exceptional potential for further growth. Appointments to this position are extremely rare. An Associate Senior Lecturer has at least three years of teaching experience as a course head for courses that would otherwise be taught by tenure-track or tenured faculty. Associate Senior Lecturers must meet one of the following sets of criteria. Ordinarily, they have either:
1) Demonstrated that they are exceptional teachers and have taught within the tenure-track (i.e., assistant professor or untenured associate professor) ranks at a peer undergraduate institution, with a commensurate scholarly record. Or,
2) Demonstrated a significant record of innovation in pedagogy, and, in addition, are exceptional teachers. Or:
3) They may be well-established, practicing artists, with an artistic record equivalent to the scholarly achievement of an assistant professor or untenured associate professor, who have also demonstrated excellence in teaching.
Associate Senior Lecturers (with the exception, as appropriate, of appointments in the arts) must ordinarily hold a doctorate. Whether or not an individual is eligible for a possible appointment to Associate Senior Lecturer is contingent on recurring curricular need, position availability, extraordinary performance, and the authorization of the divisional dean/SEAS Dean.
On rare occasions, an appointment as a dependent Associate Senior Lecturer is possible. This is an Associate Senior Lectureship that is held in conjunction with an administrative, research, or curatorial post within the University. The position upon which the Associate Senior Lectureship is dependent must be at least half time. Like non-dependent Associate Senior Lectureships, dependent Associate Senior Lectureships are non-tenure-track positions that are held by individuals who meet all the criteria required for Associate Senior Lecturers as described above. The dependent Associate Senior Lecturer appointment is a five-year term, dependent on the administrative, research, or curatorial post, and subject to review in the last year of the appointment. The title is held only for the term in which the dependent Associate Senior Lecturer is teaching. All Associate Senior Lecturer appointments must be based in a department or degree committee.
(2) Search Flowchart: Associate Senior Lecturer
(3) Steps: Appointment to Associate Senior Lecturer
An appointment to Associate Senior Lecturer is extremely rare. Department chairs/SEAS area chairs interested in appointing an Associate Senior Lecturer should first discuss this matter with their divisional dean/SEAS Dean. (For the Arts and Humanities, Social Science, and Science, this discussion should ordinarily occur at the annual academic planning meeting.) The chair should discuss the department’s/area’s recurring, essential curricular needs and (if applicable) the individual in question. The divisional dean/SEAS Dean will authorize the process only if there is recurring, essential curricular need, position availability, and (if known, e.g., in a targeted external appointment) evidence of extraordinary performance.
Steps | Explanation | |
1 |
The department chair writes to the divisional dean requesting authorization for a search |
The search plan should address:
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2 |
The department advertises the position and makes inquiries at other institutions |
The advertisement should ask all candidates to submit all of these materials with their application, with the exception of the portfolio of creative work that is requested only of the finalist, in art-making fields.
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3 | The department submits a short list of candidates for approval by the divisional dean |
The short list consists of candidates the department has determined are the most qualified for the job in terms of credentials, accomplishments, standing in the field, teaching experience, and field of expertise. To build the strongest pool for the short list, the committee should discuss in early and ongoing conversations how to attract diverse applicants, including women and minorities. The department sends the following to the divisional dean and the assistant dean for the division:
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4 |
If approval is granted, the department invites short-list candidates to campus for interviews |
Candidates meet with members of the department. The visits may include formal seminars, lectures, or master classes, as well as informal meetings with faculty, graduate students, and others. A teaching demonstration is required of all short-list candidates. The assistant dean for the division should be given a list of dates of any seminars, lectures, or master classes. |
5 |
The department selects a final candidate and requests authorization from the divisional dean to solicit evaluation letters. With the request, the department should submit a draft of the letter soliciting evaluations and a recipient list (see Sample Table) |
The candidate’s dossier must include at least five evaluative letters (including recommendation letters). The letter soliciting evaluations should include:
The recipient list (see Sample Table) should be in alphabetical order and include title/current rank, home institution, year of doctorate (if available), a link to the letter-writer’s website (as available), email address, whether the scholar has been the candidate's Ph.D. advisor, postdoctoral advisor, or co-author, and the rationale for including each scholar on the list. It is expected that the list will be diverse, including gender and racial/ethnic diversity. |
6 | The department sends the approved letter to the people on the recipient list, reviews the evaluative letters received, and drafts a case statement for the finalist |
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7 | After reviewing all of the candidate’s materials, members of the department/SEAS area discuss the case and vote |
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8 | After a favorable vote, the case statement is finalized by the department chair |
The finalized case statement, prepared and signed by the department chair and the chair of the search committee, should include the following:
Note: The finalized case statement should be made available to the faculty in the department involved in the review. |
9 | The candidate’s dossier is prepared by the department and sent to the assistant dean for the division |
Note: The department should secure from applicants at the short-list stage (or from the finalist, if the department’s process does not include a short-list stage) a draft course title, course description, and syllabus for the course(s) that the candidate(s) intend to teach during their first semester, for approval. This information will be included in the finalist’s dossier. (Obtaining this information is not necessary for candidates who would be teaching established courses such as certain language or mathematics courses, etc.) Please securely send one electronic copy of the dossier to the assistant dean. Please follow HUIT’s recommended practices for secure document transfer (e.g., Accellion Kiteworks, encryption, etc.), which can vary by user platform. For a full checklist of what the dossier should include, please see the Dossier Checklist. Note: The divisional dean/SEAS Dean and/or their designee and the Dean for Faculty Affairs and Planning can ask for changes to the dossier at any time. |
10 | The divisional dean, with a CAP subcommittee, reviews the dossier, and the divisional dean decides whether to approve the appointment | In some cases, the full Committee on Appointments and Promotions may be asked to review individual dossiers. |
11 | If the decision is favorable, the offer letter is issued by the divisional dean |
Once approval for the appointment has been granted, the department should ask the individual during the hiring process to confirm the department’s understanding of what the course title, description, and syllabus are. The offer letter (drafted in consultation with the divisional dean by the Office for Faculty Development) contains information on title, appointment, salary, responsibilities, etc. The Office for Faculty Development makes any revisions to the offer letter. The candidate's acceptance of the offer must be made in writing to the divisional dean. |
12 | If the offer is accepted, the appointment is processed in the Aurora system by the Office for Faculty Affairs | OFD submits all documentation for processing, with the exception of the original I-9 form and any necessary payroll documents, which the FAS financial administrator or the department administrator delivers to Central Payroll. The department administrator will remind the faculty member to sign electronically the Harvard University Participation Agreement by the start of their appointment. |
Note: In the extremely rare instance that the divisional dean/SEAS Dean authorizes a targeted external search for an Associate Senior Lecturer, the department should follow Step 1 in the appointment process above; gather materials from the candidate as described in Step 2 (the department does not need to advertise the position); proceed to Step 5 and follow the rest of the appointment process from Step 5 onward. In Step 8, the case statement will not include discussion of the Departmental EEO Report or compare the finalist to other candidates.
(4) Dossier Checklist: Associate Senior Lecturer
Please securely send an electronic copy of the preliminary dossier to the assistant dean for the division (AD). Please follow HUIT’s recommended practices for secure document transfer (e.g., Accellion Kiteworks, encryption, etc.), which can vary by user platform. To facilitate storing and sharing of files, please name the file as follows: a) alpha-numeric characters only (no dashes, commas, slashes, etc.). b) [Last Name] [First Name] [Department Name] Associate Sr Lecturer dossier [Month, Date, and Year of dossier submission, expressed numerically: XX YY ZZ]. E.g., Smith John Psychology Sr Lecturer dossier 1 4 15. c) If a dossier is revised and resubmitted, please repeat the original title, followed by “rev” and [Month of resubmission] [Date of resubmission] [Year of resubmission]. E.g., Smith John Psychology Sr Lecturer dossier 1 4 15 rev 1 15 15. Departments should retain documents according to practices recommended by Harvard Archives at https://grs.harvard.edu/ (please log in).
______1. Case statement (including department/SEAS area vote by name).
______2. The Departmental EEO Report displaying aggregate demographic data from the search, available through ARIeS.
______3. The department’s request for authorization to search and the divisional dean’s letter approving the request.
______4. Candidate’s curriculum vitae.
______5. Summary teaching chart and teaching materials (e.g., teaching awards, list of undergraduates for whom the candidate has primary advising responsibility, representative course syllabi, and teaching evaluations).
______6. A teaching statement describing philosophy and practices related to undergraduate teaching and advising.
______7. Course title, course description, and syllabus for the course(s) the candidate intends to teach during their first semester.
______8. As applicable, either a research statement, or else a statement about demonstrated significant record of innovation in pedagogy, or else a statement describing the candidate's artistic achievement.
______9. Statement describing efforts to encourage diversity, inclusion, and belonging, including past, current, and anticipated future contributions in these areas.
_____10. A copy of the letter soliciting external evaluations and the recipient list (see Sample Table), indicating who did and did not reply.
_____11. At least five evaluative letters.
_____12. In art-making fields, a portfolio of creative work.
Note: The candidate should not solicit student letters, and any unsolicited student letters will not be included in the dossier.
(5) Reviews of Associate Senior Lecturers
- In years where there is no scheduled first-year review, departments will assess teaching and performance of the associate senior lecturer on an at least annual basis and provide feedback to the associate senior lecturer, following departmental protocols.