Diversity HERC Roleof Search Commin Recruitingamore Diverse Faculty Powerpoint

Recruiting a More Diverse
Role
of
Search
Faculty…

Committee

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John T. Rose

April 14, 2010


Recruiting Diverse Faculty Requires:
 Leadership from the President, Provost and Dean
 Support from the Academic Community
 Pro Active Sourcing
 Allocating and investing resources to get ahead

of the curve.
 Clear evaluation criteria and checkpoints
 On-going CDO advice and guidance

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CDO Role
 Educator
 Collaborator/Persuader

 Facilitator
 Catalyst

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Dispelling Myths
 Diversity
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Not about hiring quotas, or showing preference to
particular groups
Allows the best use of talent
Removing barriers and providing equal access
and equal opportunity
 Sometimes those barriers are subtle or
subconscious

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Institutional Goals
 Faculty should represent the availability of qualified

candidates from each protected group
 Use federally-mandated data, on PhD’s in each

discipline

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Myths About Hiring And
Faculty Diversity
 “Relatively few qualified minority candidates

are available, and these are highly sought-after,
so we are unlikely to recruit them.”
 “We are doing everything we can, so the
situation is already the best it can be.”
 Although availabilities differ, in most cases HEI’s
are not hiring faculty anywhere close to the
proportion that are available
 Data suggest that minorities are not sought-after

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Myths About Hiring And Faculty
Diversity
 We only use quality as a criterion for hiring. Adding

diversity will therefore compromise quality.
 Quality can be hard to define, and can be applied
differently to different groups
 Unconscious biases influence our evaluations
 Example: Name Bias

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Key Steps of Recruiting Process
Sourcing Candidates: The Position Description
 Defining the Position
 Determining Rank
 Determining Qualifications
 Advertisement Language

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Position Description (Defining)
 Job descriptions Should Have Broad Description of

Commitment to Scholarship, Experience and
Disciplinary Background.
 Should Label Qualifications as “Preferred”, instead
of “Required” and use “should” instead of “must”
 Where possible, Years of Experience Should be
Flexible.
 For example, in some disciplines Academic
Credentials plus experience as a corporate or
NGO executive might add more value than
instructional experience alone
 Open Rank Provides Flexibility

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Position Description (Advertising Signals)
 The type of language used in the position description

may be important to attracting Diverse Candidates.
 For Example, Some Colleges Use Phrases Such As:

 “We are seeking candidates who have a strong

commitment to teaching undergraduate and graduate
students from diverse cultural backgrounds”
 “We are strongly committed to achieving excellence
through cultural diversity”

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Position Description (Advertising signals)
 “Demonstrated Success In Working With Diverse

Populations”.
 “Experience Interacting With Diverse Populations or

Students of Color”.
 “Academic Experiences With Culturally Diverse

Populations”.
 “Interest In Developing and Implementing Curricula Related

to Culturally Diverse Populations”.

 “Experience With a Variety of Teaching Methods”.

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The Search Committee
 Composition
 Charging & Orienting Search Committee
 Developing a timeline
 Developing selection criteria
 Generating a diverse candidate pool

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Search Committee (Selection Criteria)
 Develop search screening protocol to assure

fairness, consistency and uniformity
 Consider Departmental/Institutional needs broadly
 value research and creative endeavors that reflect
diversity
 recognize importance of diverse mentors as role
models for student
 value experience and instructional approaches
which will promote cultural competence

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The Search Plan
 Cast a wide net
 Broaden Pool
 Use multiple, simultaneous recruitment strategies.
 Use M/W Journals, Publications, Assocs
 Move from Traditional to Active Recruiting.

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Search Plan-Active vs. Passive
 Beyond reliance on postings (Passive) Search

Committee should actively engage in networking
and other outreach efforts to generate a pool of
diverse candidates, including:
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Mailings to academic discipline minority caucus and to other special interest
groups
Phone contacts with leadership of diverse professional association, academic
discipline minority caucus or other minority organization

Personal approach to potential applicants at academic conferences or
professional meetings to encourage applications
Consultation with minority faculty on Campus about effective outreach strategies
Identify possible candidates in the academic discipline through MWMD Directory
and other resources
Personal letters inviting candidates to apply and/or to refer others
Recruiting trips to University that have high minority PhD graduates
Identify those in your discipline who maintain diverse networks
(“Gatekeepers”) and ask for referrals
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Candidate Evaluation- Making
the Short List
 Determining short list criteria
 Developing short list candidates
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Use of multiple short lists

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Making the Short List
 Screen for relevancy, fairness and consistency;
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but don’t overlook non-traditional experience
Create clear criteria in advance for discussing
candidates
Be aware of potential bias towards candidate with
degrees from Ivy/Elite schools
Look beyond publication record to other measures
of academic merit—teaching excellence, work
experience, service and outreach
Create “short’ list for each selection criteria and
consider developing “medium” list, if necessary
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Search Committee- Mistakes to
Avoid
 Assuming there are no Diverse Candidates in
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the Pipeline for your discipline
Failure to spend time analyzing factors that
determine why Diverse Candidates do not apply.
Not soliciting the experiences and perceptions
of Diverse Faculty that have been hired
Greater scrutiny of Diverse applicant credentials

- Credentials must be from Elite or Ivy League
Universities
“King of the Hill” and “Queen Bee” Syndrome
Unconscious Bias - desire to hire people “who
are like us”.
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Quality is Subjective: The
Myth of Pure Merit (Cont’d)
 Unconscious biases influence our evaluations
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Example: Recommendation Focus
& Psenka 2003 Study)
 letters for women were shorter
 letters for men focused on different skills

(Trix

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Gender Differences In Faculty
Recommendations

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Gender Differences In Faculty

Recommendations

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Letters of Recommendation:
Differences By Gender
 Most common phrases for women:
 Her training
 Her teaching
 Her application
 Most common phrases for men:
 His research
 His skills and abilities
 His career
 By this measure, men are portrayed more as
researchers and professionals.

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Candidate Evaluation
Handling the Campus Visit and Evaluating Finalists
 Consider Communications 2-Way
 Determine evaluation criteria in advance
 Arrange interviews, demos and job talks
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Consistency of opportunity (time, formatting, space,
technology, attendees)

 Ask uniform interview questions
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Follow-up may be different

 Gather equivalent info on all candidates
 Seek feed back on specific issues or facets of

candidate’s performance/potential
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Candidate Evaluation (Consistency)
 Make sure uniform questions properly examine

knowledge, skills, experience and temperament in a
variety of settings
 Provide template or evaluation forms so Search
Committee can rate each candidate both on answers to
Q’s and overall
 Be aware of potential hidden bias
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Ivy/Elite Education
candidate thinks “like us”
candidate “looks” like a fit or “won’t be happy here”

 Think carefully about what constitutes excellence in a

candidate
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value of non-traditional career paths
non-traditional research interests or publications
record of or willingness to engage in community service with diverse populations
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Candidate Evaluation (Campus Visit)
 Demonstrate Sincere Interest In Candidate.
 Allow candidate to understand Departmental research,
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teaching and service expectations.
Identify Diverse and Majority Faculty who have similar
scholarly interests so candidate may follow-up
Provide an itinerary that allows candidate to get a feel
for College’s Diverse Campus and College Community
(Faculty/Students)
Anticipate areas of likely inquiry (culture/climate,

service/governance responsibilities/opportunities,
departmental relations) to marshal thoughtful response
Provide contextual information so candidate can make
informed decision as to “fit”
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