Identifying appropriate candidates who would add diversity requires more than standard announcement and recruitment practices. Search committees are expected to engage in outreach efforts that will attract applications from women, minorities, and others who would add diversity. The search committee should give careful attention to these candidates in the evaluation and selection processes.
Outreach efforts – looking in the right places
1. Consult with Stanford faculty colleagues (particularly women and minorities) for advice on effective outreach strategies and on potential candidates.
2. The diversity officer or the chair of the search committee is encouraged to contact the Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity, Rania Sanford (498-0350) for strategies to develop a diverse applicant pool.
3. Advertise in specialty journals, organizations and job posting websites such as those targeted to women and minorities. VPFDD maintains a database of job posting websites, searchable by discipline. VPFDD can post advertisement at no charge for all faculty searches through nationwide networks that are concerned with the academic pipeline and preparation of faculty from diverse backgrounds, such as the NSF AGEP network; provide the position announcement to the Assistant Vice Provost.
4. Consult relevant candidate databases (such as minority graduate and postdoctoral fellowship holders) to identify potential candidates. VPFDD maintains and regularly updates a database of candidates, searchable by discipline.
5. Contact colleagues elsewhere for suggestions of promising minority, women and other candidates. Committee chairs may also want to send letters to chairs of departments in the relevant field inviting them to forward the position announcement to their colleagues and to advanced graduate students and postdocs. When contacting colleagues, make sure you invite suggestions of candidates who are underrepresented in your field. Check sample letters here.
6. Contact your department’s former women and minority students and postdocs as potential candidates or for suggestions of other potential candidates. Consider candidates who could be competitive for your search but may be at less-ranked or different types of institutions.
7. Approach women or minority colleagues even if you think they are unavailable, perhaps due to family constraints or a partner’s employment. Assumptions should be verified through direct inquiry, and these potential candidates should be informed that Stanford offers programs designed to aid in recruiting such faculty members.
Analyzing the applicant pool
National availability pool data in the appropriate field should be reviewed and compared against the applicant pool for the faculty position to determine whether additional outreach and advertising efforts may be needed. This information is available at the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity Office. While the diversity of the applicant pool may be difficult to assess during a search, all search committees should review their availability and applicant pools and consider additional efforts to encourage applications from diverse candidates.
Search committee members should familiarize themselves with the common pitfalls and myths associated with recruiting a diverse faculty. Rick Reis, Consulting Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford, offers this invaluable perspective summarizing key issues and research findings on the Barriers to Faculty Diversity (2552 words)
Reading applications and selecting the short list
1. The search committee should discuss and define selection criteria before reviewing applications as well as how the meetings will be conducted, including how disagreements will be handled, in advance of commencing the committee work. It may be appropriate for the department chair to participate in this discussion.
2. Committee members should familiarize themselves with the key findings in recent literature about unconscious bias in academic hiring before reading applications. See also webinar by Joan C. Williams, UC Hastings College of Law, on interpersonal dynamics and practical steps to interrupt bias in action.
3. All applications should be read by more than one person to help ensure that the same criteria are applied consistently to all applicants and to minimize the possibility that qualified candidates might be overlooked.
4. Candidates’ applications must be objectively reviewed and evaluated based on the candidate’s record. Committee chairs should expect all members to back-up their opinions about the candidates with fact and evidence. Search committee members and others who evaluate a candidate’s file should be sensitive to unconscious bias and other influences that are not related to the applicants’ qualifications, but that may, as recent research has shown, affect how applications and curricula vitae are read.
5. To increase the diversity of the interview (“short”) list, consider inviting one or two additional candidates to interview who would add diversity. Consult with the dean’s office or the Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity about obtaining resources to cover the expenses of inviting these additional interviewees.
6. The search committee diversity officer and the department chair should monitor diversity-related efforts throughout the process and review the demographic profile of the applicant pool. While applicant demographic information is confidentially held and may not be made available to search committees, applications from women, minorities or others who would add diversity in the applicant pool but who have not made it to the short list should be reviewed again to ensure they were given full and thoughtful consideration based on the criteria for the position and the applicants’ academic qualifications. Identifying those applicants may be done by the department chair or the school dean/cognizant associate dean who, by request to VPFDD, may obtain detailed information about the applicants to facilitate improving the representation of the short list.
7. In reviewing the short list, the dean or associate dean should to ensure that qualified candidates who would bring diversity have been appropriately considered.
Interviewing candidates
- The department chair (or dean) should arrange for an experienced staff person to be responsible for scheduling the visit and all arrangements so that interviewees have a positive experience.
- All search committee members and as many as practicable of the other faculty who will vote on the appointment should read the candidates’ applications, attend their job talks, and meet with the candidates.
- All interviewers should be familiar with legal guidelines regarding what questions should be avoided during an interview. See the section on basic interview guidelines under federal law. Consult with the Office of the General Counsel (723-8122) if questions arise.
- Make sure the candidate spends time with undergraduate and graduate students.
Selection of the candidate by the search committee and the department faculty
- Each applicant should be evaluated based on the criteria established when the faculty position was created.
- If the department has a candidate evaluation form, be sure it is completed by everyone who interviewed the candidate.
- If a candidate who would bring diversity to the department, (such as a woman or minority candidate) is identified and is qualified for the position and would be a good addition to the department but may not have been the top candidate, the department chair should explore with the dean the possibility of recruiting this individual as well as the top candidate, perhaps with the assistance of the Faculty Incentive Fund.
