ABSTRACT: 2014 ELATE Institutional Action Project Poster Symposium
Project Title: Dual Career Program with Enhanced Effectiveness for Faculty Recruitment and
Retention
Name and Institution: Dan Jiao, Purdue University
Collaborators: Michelle Jansen, Director of Concierge Program; Klod Kokini, Associate Dean of
Engineering; Leah Jamieson, Dean of Engineering; Faculty and staff in College of Engineering
Background, Challenge or Opportunity: In recent years, more and more faculty members who are hired by Purdue have dual-career issues. For example, for the incoming class of the new faculty at Purdue College of Engineering, approximately 80% of the faculty have dual-career needs. We have lost some talented candidates to other universities because their dual-career needs are better satisfied in those places. In addition, there are faculty members who departed because of the same issue. The situation is even more critical for women faculty because many of them have a dual-career family. The problem is challenging to solve because of multiple reasons. Purdue is the only major employer in the local area. The job opportunities outside
Purdue are scarce, and what is available on campus is also very limited. In view of the increased significance of the dual-career issue, very recently Purdue has started programs to help better solve this problem in a systematic way such as the Concierge Program in the College of
Engineering, and the Office of Faculty Recruitment and Retention which is part of the Office of the Vice President for Human Resources. These efforts are rarely seen in other places. Since this is a relatively new effort at Purdue, many unknowns need to be studied, upon which better solutions can be developed to increase the effectiveness of the dual-career program at Purdue.
Purpose/Objectives: The objective of this project is to enhance the effectiveness of the dualcareer program at Purdue to attract and retain talented faculty, which in turn contributes to the long-term success of the University.
Methods/Approach: In the first step, I spent two months to better understand the problem. I met with our Director of Concierge Program and also interviewed a group of stakeholders from
Provost to Dean to Department head to faculty and staff who have had this dual career issue. It helped me get to know the current state of the art of the problem: how many faculty members have dual-career needs? What resources are available for helping faculty members who have dual-career needs? How the dual-career issues are solved now? What is successful and what is not? From faculty’s perspectives, what is the best solution to their problem? From university administrators’ perspectives, what are the bottlenecks that prevent a satisfactory solution to the problem? How this problem is solved in other places? In the second step, based on the understanding I developed in Step 1, I have conceived some approaches that have not been investigated before. These approaches will be discussed with stakeholders to examine their feasibility in my university. The details are being refined. I plan to narrow down to a few action plans that can be implemented as a pilot program.
Outcomes and Evaluation: A status report of the problem, a working plan to enrich current program, assessment metric will be developed to evaluate the success.

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Dual career issue at Purdue has been a longstanding problem
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This problem has become even more critical in recent years
• Approximately 80% of the incoming faculty have dual-career needs
• Faculty candidates lost to other universities because their dual-career needs are or perceived to be better satisfied elsewhere
• Current faculty who left for the same reason
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Purdue is the only major employer in the local area
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Job opportunities on campus are limited
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There are no or very few suitable positions
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Collaborations between colleges are difficult
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Bridge funding has been provided, but temporary
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Visa sponsorship
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The need for addressing dual-career problem now has been widely acknowledged across the campus
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Interview a large number of stakeholders to understand the problem
• Provost, Deans, Department Heads
• Concierge Program Director
• Dual-career faculty
• Dual-career candidates
• Hiring managers
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Collect and analyze data
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Inform stakeholders with a status report
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Develop missing links in current processes
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Develop new solutions for better problem solving
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Obtain stakeholders’ feedback
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Implement, follow up, and assessment
Data analysis, Knowledge building,
Policy making
Case registration
Client interview for dual career needs
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Both new and current faculty have increased success during the search for local employments for their partners
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Faculty choose to join Purdue, and to stay because of this program
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Purdue becomes more competitive in hiring and retention as compared to other institutions
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Local community benefits from a network of talented professionals brought to the area by dualcareer partners
Presented at the 2015
ELATE ® Leaders Forum
“When we recruit faculty and they build successful careers at Purdue, they do it with people in their lives who are important to them. We want our faculty and their loved ones to be successful and happy”
Kokini, associate dean of Purdue
College of Engineering
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New programs have been recently started
• Concierge Program in the College of Engineering
• Office of Faculty Recruitment and Retention (HR)
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Enhance the effectiveness of the dual-career program to attract and retain talented faculty, which in turn contributes to the long-term success of the University
Career counseling and
Professional assistance
Pre-interview: identifying job opportunities, reaching out to partners
Post-interview: following up with hiring organizations to obtain feedback
Y
Successful?
N
Exit interview
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Collaborators
• Michelle Jansen, Director of Concierge Program, COE
• Klod Kokini, Associate Dean of Engineering
• Leah Jamieson, Dean of Engineering
• Ragu Balakrishnan, Head of School of ECE
• Faculty and staff in College of Engineering
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Acknowledgement
College of Engineering, ECE, Apple Pi LC