Recruiting a More Diverse
Faculty…
Role of Search
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
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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
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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
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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; but
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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

Example: Recommendation Focus
(Trix & Psenka 2003 Study)
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letters for women were shorter
letters for men focused on different skills
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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
 Consistency of opportunity (time, formatting, space,
technology, attendees)
 Ask uniform interview questions
 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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Job Offer
 Must be enthusiastic
 Make Quality Offer (Avoid low balls)
 Provide good resources (office, lab,
equipment)
 Avoid burdening with service obligations
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Job Offer
 Make sure candidates know salary range and
progression
 Discuss departmental/institutional benefits
and resources that can be made available to
improve “quality” of professional and
personal/family life
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National Recruitment Trends
 Establish pool of qualified minority faculty
applicants
 Attend Disciplinary conferences.
 Attend Conferences for minority doctoral
students.
 Involve HEI Diversity Office
 Contact Multicultural Associations
 Contact Department Chairs at HBCUs to
Identity Potential Applicants
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National Recruitment Trends
 Review Scholarly Journals & Conference
Programs to Identify Potential Applicants
 Host a Future Faculty Career Exploration
Program to Attract Applicants.
 Educate deans, department chairs and
faculty members on diversity recruitment
goals.
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Post-Hire Retention Issues
 Support new hire
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welcoming environment (office ready, paper work
ready, introductions)
maintain contact-listen well, make adjustments
follow-up regularly (tackle problems early)
identify collegial networks
identify informal faculty mentors
recognize potential overload from mentoring minority
students and adjust service expectations
 Clearly state standards and procedures for
advancement/tenure
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Q&A
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Acknowledgement
 This presentation includes ideas, suggestions
and materials provided by my colleagues at
the City University of New York (CUNY) or
publically available at CUNY institutions or
other public higher education institutions.
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