Three factors I consider in hiring faculty members.

Yes, I am finally done with hiring faculty members today.  Just in time before classes begin on Monday.  

In hiring faculty members, these are the three major factors that I consider:

1.  Qualifications.  In the academic industry,  the vertical alignment of degrees is ultimately necessary.  So the applicant must have aligned degrees from bachelor's to master's and doctorate, if any.  However, the bachelor's degree and the master's degree must be aligned so that the new hires can begin with a good rank and good salary so to speak.

2.  Teaching demo rating.  The applicant must have outstanding teaching demonstration evaluation.  He or she should apply teaching strategies that are student-centered and interactive. I don't really appreciate teachers who think and believe that they are the only ones who know what they are talking about.  But gone are those days when teachers seem to have monopoly of knowledge.  With the advent of information and communication technology, teachers today must learn how to be interactive, just like the video games that our students love to play.

3.  Attitude.  Among all others, attitude is the most important for me.  Sometimes even if the qualifications are not super aligned (meaning to say his or her master's degree is on the related field only) and the teaching demo is just average, but if the attitude is positive, I always consider the applicant for the position.  I can always train for teaching strategies and can encourage the faculty member to work on his degrees, but if the person has no positive attitude towards life there can be no progress.

There you go.  I'm done with hiring all faculty members I need for SY2011-12, and all teaching loads are given, so it's time for me to go on vacation.  See you all on June 6!