2.4. Executive Committee Voting Membership

Section 2 Table of Contents

Executive Committees are composed of appointing department heads from across the hospitals and play an essential role in the appointments and promotion process in addition to addressing issues relevant to the specialty across HMS and the wider community.

For the purpose of advancing senior candidates, each Executive Committee should formalize a decision based on input from its voting members. The Executive Committee should retain a record of the votes, and when the outcome is positive, make a formal recommendation in writing to the dean of the faculty of medicine supporting the candidate’s promotion. If there is dissent or abstention, the letter provides the reasons for any dissent or abstention.

Voting members of each HMS Clinical Department Executive Committee are to be endorsed or appointed by the dean. In addition to appointing department heads, whom the dean endorses at the time of their HMS administrative leadership appointments, additional qualified faculty appointed within each department may be nominated to serve as voting members. These prospective members may be nominated as deputy (alternate) representatives of the appointing department heads or as at-large members of the Executive Committee.

Current committee practices for evaluating Assistant Professor and Associate Professor candidates need not change as a result of these new processes. Executive Committees may also invite other qualified HMS faculty participants to join their meetings as non-voting members as determined by departmental interests and to support diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Nominating materials:

The nomination of qualified deputy and at-large candidates as voting members of an Executive Committee should be systematic and rigorous as well as consistent with the School’s and affiliates’ interest in promoting equitable access to leadership positions. Nomination materials must include a letter and the candidate’s Harvard Faculty of Medicine CV.The letter template is structured to facilitate the inclusion of details about the rationale for the nomination and relevant credentials of the nominee, as well as information about steps taken to identify qualified candidates for this role and to select the candidate put forward. 

Nomination process:

• Appointing department heads: Appointing department heads typically have been endorsed by the dean as part of their search and appointment; in those cases, the voting membership on the Executive Committee requires no further action.
  
• Deputy representatives of appointing department heads: When an enterprise1 department head will not serve as a representative for one or both appointing departments, they may nominate a deputy (or two deputies) as an alternate or alternates to represent the appointing departments as voting members. In rare circumstances, other department heads may nominate a deputy; this would require clear justification in the request.
  • The department head, in consultation with the corresponding Executive Committee, submits nominating materials for each candidate to the HMS OFA for review by the Council of Academic Deans (CAD) for the Faculty of Medicine, including:
    • Templated nominating letter detailing qualifications to serve in this capacity, co-signed by the appointing department head and by the chair of the corresponding Executive Committee
    • Candidate’s current CV
  • The CAD reviews the nominating materials and advises the dean
  • The dean makes a decision regarding appointment for a 2-year term
    
• At-large members: CAD representatives (i.e., faculty dean for academic programs or chief academic officers serving on the CAD) may propose nominees or facilitate nominations of at-large members to serve a term as a voting member of an Executive Committee for the purpose of enhancing representation and/or serving other School or departmental interests.
  • The CAD reviews the nomination and makes a recommendation whether or not to proceed; if the former applies, the process continues as outlined below
  • The CAD representative, in consultation with the corresponding Executive Committee, submits nominating materials for an at-large member to the OFA for review by the CAD
    • Templated nominating letter detailing qualifications to serve in this capacity, co-signed by the nominating CAD representative and by the chair of the corresponding Executive Committee
    • Candidate’s current CV
  • The CAD reviews the nominating materials and advises the dean
  • The dean makes a decision regarding appointment for a 2-year term

Last updated June 2023