RFP from SOM: Partnership Hires Recruiting Initiative

The School of Medicine requests proposals for a program that provides resources for the recruitment of outstanding tenure track faculty members who are jointly recruited by centers/institutes and departments, or by two or more departments within the School. This program, which is now in its fourth year, is funded at the Dean's discretion through reserves. The purpose of the Partnership Hires initiative is to encourage strategic interdisciplinary recruitment of the very highest caliber faculty members. These are expected to be extraordinary individuals who have the ability to make significant short-term and long-term contributions to interdisciplinary research in the School of Medicine. [box]Matt Hirschey, Dennis Ko, John Rawls and Lawrence David are previous partnership hires in the Department of Medicine.[/box] Application Process Joint proposals should be submitted by the interested chair(s) and director(s). The program was initiated with the intent of facilitating approximately two hires per year and to date we have been able to support nine partnership hire appointments. Depending on the scope of the top applications received, we anticipate supporting up to five positions this year. Proposals should include a narrative describing the expected impact of the position on the participating departments and centers/institutes and the School of Medicine. This may involve integrating with existing programs of strength and/or new opportunities. The proposal should also include the following:

• Search plan or justification for a directed hire of someone external to Duke who has already been identified
• 5 year financial pro forma (a template is attached)
• Memorandum of Understanding between the partnering unites, including the provision of space and administrative services for the new recruit. Expectations of effort (teaching, admin, research, service) should be described, with the general expectation that all faculty recruited under this program should allocate their time between the department(s) and/or the center/institute.
• Mentoring plan (for junior recruits)
• Space plan to accommodate the proposed research program

Successful proposals must be truly interdisciplinary and require a match of 50% or less from the school, with other resources provided by the partners. Funding Mechanism for start-up The start-up costs identified in the proposal (moving, recruiting costs, equipment, staff needs, 3 years of salary funding) will be a joint funding responsibility of the Dean’s Office and the participating departments/centers/institutes. Because each situation will be unique, and the resources available to the sponsoring academic units will vary, resource contributions will be determined on a case-by-case basis and described in a Memorandum of Understanding. A pro forma should be included (template attached). Annual budget impact and long-term salary backstop related to tenure As noted above, each situation will be defined by the MOU, taking into account differences in current funding methodologies between types of departments, centers and institutes. Decision process Proposals will be reviewed by the Dean, in consultation with the Vice Deans. Faculty advisors may be consulted on an ad hoc basis as appropriate for the submitted proposals. Initial evaluation will include an assessment of the space and resource needs, to determine if the requirements are reasonably within range of the available resources. Final decisions will be based on the anticipated impact of the described recruitment on the recruiting units and the broader SOM, the expected synergies with current faculty, and the degree to which the collaborating units can articulate the interest/enthusiasm for the proposed area of recruitment. For candidates to be identified in FY 2015, proposals must be submitted by 5 PM on May 26, 2014. It is helpful, but not necessary, to submit a brief letter of intent prior to submitting the full application. Funding decisions will be announced in June 2014. Please submit proposals by email to Carolyn Mackman (carolyn.mackman@duke.edu) with the subject line SCHOOL OF MEDICINE PARTNERSHIP HIRE PROPOSAL.