Work-Life Liaisons

Work-Life Liaisons support the faculty recruitment efforts in each college by meeting individually with candidates to discuss Virginia Tech’s dual career resources, extend-the-tenure-clock policies, modified duties policies, commitment to diversity, community resources, and to refer candidates to appropriate resources for additional information. These meetings are confidential and separate from the formal search process.

The role of the Liaison is designed to meet the unique needs of each college. In some colleges, in addition to meeting with candidates, the Work-Life Liaison may also help shape search processes, and answer questions from search committee members.

Work-Life Liaison Contacts

Contact your college's Work-Life Liaison directly to schedule their meeting with your candidate.

Suggested Meeting Language

Suggested language for referring to the work-life liaison meeting on your candidate’s itinerary:

Meeting with Dr. Jane Doe, VT Work-Life Policies             
A confidential 30-minute conversation to discuss Virginia Tech’s dual career resources, extend-the-tenure-clock policies, modified duties policies, commitment to diversity, community resources, etc.

Suggestion for Faculty Search Itinerary

When building the on-campus itinerary for candidates, it may be helpful to create opportunities for the candidate to meet with faculty members or other groups outside the evaluation process (e.g. the caucuses) who can provide relevant information to candidates. The meeting with the Work-Life Liaison provides one such opportunity, but another best practice is to set aside a block of time (approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour) and ask the candidate if there is any particular group that they wish to meet with during that time.

The administrator of the search may help set up that meeting, or the candidate may feel more comfortable doing it themselves. Below is sample language of how this could be communicated to the candidate:

“There is a 30-minute block held on the 2nd interview day for your request. If there is an individual or group you don’t see present on the schedule with whom you would like to meet to talk about campus or community culture, please let me know and I will do my best to get that scheduled, or you may arrange a meeting for yourself during that time if you would prefer.”

VTx News

Additional News

Inside Higher Ed: Ask Us Anything

EAB: Use the faculty interview to demonstrate an institutional commitment to diversity