Faculty Searches - Policy

Eligibility

• Departments are authorized by the Dean’s Office to conduct searches for faculty.
• A formal written invitation is mandatory for each candidate per University policy. Travel expenses of spouses accompanying prospective employees are also allowed to the extent authorized in the invitation.
• Cost matching is limited to the specific types of expenses listed below.

Policy

• The Dean’s Office will cost match 50% of three sets of trips for a given search.

1. The faculty search committee members may fly to conferences to conduct interviews of the candidates (1st set of trips);
2. The search committee may fly candidates to Stanford for a more formal interview process (2nd set of trips);
3. The search committee will invite the best candidate accompanied with spouse or domestic partner to Stanford for a house-hunting trip (3rd trip). 

• The Dean’s Office will cost share 50% of interview expenses associated with these 3 sets of trips.  Interview expenses include:

• Round-trip airfare;
• Transportation to and from the airport;
• Lodging;
• Meals, including a lunch with graduate students and a dinner with the search committee within H&S (see Notes) and University guidelines.

• The cost matching will be funded from the Dean’s Office recruitment budget.

• Cost matching of search expenses beyond these parameters requires the prior approval of the Senior Associate Dean of the relevant cluster.
• From time to time the Senior Associate Dean may agree to additional funding, especially if the department has an unusually high number of searches being conducted in the current year.  These expenses will be funded from the Senior Associate Dean via special commitment.

Procedures

• Departments are responsible for arranging all transportation and other activities relating to the search, including the collection of original invoices and passenger receipts. Stanford employees hosting or planning events should be aware of the maximum per person guidelines for meals as noted in the Administrative Guide and on Fingate.
• All expenses should be processed through the standard reimbursement request systems using the most efficient method possible.  All business purposes for travel require names, dates, destination or origin place, and a short purpose.
• Departments should each have a Faculty Search project as part of their operating budget and charge expenses for searches to that project.  Multiple tasks can be set up to track multiple searches in years where more than one is authorized.
• Charge 50% of the interview expenses to the School PTA, 1096105-1-AABBP, and the other 50% to the departmental Faculty Search operating project.
• Use expenditure types:
  • 52230 (Employee Recruitment Allowable) or
  • 52235 (Employee Recruitment Unallowable)
    • Use for all faculty search costs, and other expenses where an unallowable expense type is appropriate per business expense policy. E.g. travel expense that exceeds Stanford guidelines or meals with alcohol.
• Include sufficient documentation to support the business purpose. Attach a copy of the letter of invitation and/or the itinerary schedule in your backup documentation for each transaction.
• Route first to your Department Administrator for review and approval, then to your Finance liaison. Exceptions to the standard per person limit for dinners will also need to be routed for approval to Ellie Fischbacher Maldonado (ellief [at] stanford.edu) after approval by your Department Administrator. 
• Submit all original receipts and back-up materials directly to Travel & Reimbursement

University Travel Expense policy is available in the Administrative Guide:

https://adminguide.stanford.edu/chapter-5/subchapter-4/policy-5-4-2