Information for Dual Career Couples

About Dual Career Services

Having long recognized dual career partner assistance as a crucial element in recruiting and retaining its excellent faculty, the University of Michigan has developed one of the strongest dual career programs in the country. The two-page brochures listed below provide a general overview of the university’s dual career efforts, some of which are limited to the partners of tenure track and tenured faculty.

A Guide for Prospective or Current Faculty & Their Partners

  • An overview of dual career services for partners seeking staff, administrative, or professional opportunities within the university community or the greater Ann Arbor area.

A Guide for Academic Dual Career Couples

  • An overview of dual career services for partners seeking an academic appointment at the University of Michigan or at nearby institutions.

If you are interested in receiving dual career assistance, please visit this link.

Dual Career Guides for Job Search Success

The tip sheets listed below provide guidance on key aspects of the job search.  Their content is based on the years of experience among the dual career professionals at the university.

Michigan Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (MI-HERC)

Developed in 2007, one of the Michigan HERC’s primary goals is to help the spouses and partners of faculty and staff members to secure employment. The MI-HERC’s web-based search engine, which is free and open to everyone, includes faculty and staff job listings at all 27 member institutions.

Information for Administrators

A Note to Administrators about the Dual Career Program

The Office of the Provost has long recognized dual career partner assistance as a crucial element in recruiting and retaining stellar faculty. We take great pride in working collaboratively with the schools and colleges to provide an excellent dual career program and in devoting considerable resources to the success of the program.

If you are a department chair or search committee chair, you should become familiar with your school or college’s procedures for assisting dual career partners.

If you have learned of a dual career partner who needs or will need assistance beyond what you or the department or academic program can offer, you should contact your dean’s office. Most of the schools and colleges have designated responsibility for handling requests for dual career assistance to one or more associate deans. If needed, the designated person will contact the Office of the Provost on your behalf.

The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the Medical School, and the College of Engineering each employ an academic dual career coordinator who is the first point of contact for dual career assistance in these areas and who is the primary link to the Provost’s Office.

We are pleased to work with the Schools and Colleges to help recruit and retain a world-class faculty.

Dual Career Liaisons for Schools and Colleges

  • Medical School and Engineering contact for department chairs, search committee chairs, or other administrators:
    Melissa Dorfman, Director of the Academic Dual Career Program for Medical School/Engineering
    734-615-6417 or 734-647-7015
    [email protected]
  • LSA contact: Unit’s appropriate associate dean (humanities, natural sciences, or social sciences)
  • All other Schools and Colleges contact:
    Alicia Simon, Coordinator of the Dual Career Program in the Provost’s Office
    734-764-0745
    [email protected]
  • Provost’s Faculty Initiatives Program (PFIP)
  • Dual Career Considerations in Faculty Recruitment
    The UM STRIDE program has produced a handbook for faculty recruitment. Section II of the handbook includes a set of dual career considerations. STRIDE is part of the ADVANCE Program, which began as a five-year, NSF-funded project promoting institutional transformation with respect to women faculty in science and engineering fields. With the University’s commitment to continue funding through June 2011, the program is gradually expanding to promote other kinds of diversity among faculty and students in all fields.