Increasing Equity in Faculty Searches

1. Increasing Equity
In
Faculty Searches

2. Women as a percentage of full‐time, full professors with
science, engineering, and health doctorates, by employing
institution: 1993–2013
Source: NSF Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2015

3. 15.7%
10.5%
18.4%
23.2%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
All faculty Professor Associate
Professor
Assistant
Professor
Percentage of Women
Engineering Faculty
Source: American Society for Engineering Education, 2016

5. “In a randomized double-blind study (n = 127), science
faculty from research-intensive universities rated the
application materials of a student—who was randomly
assigned either a male or female name—for a laboratory
manager position. Faculty participants rated the male
applicant as significantly more competent and hireable than
the (identical) female applicant. These participants also
selected a higher starting salary and offered more career
mentoring to the male applicant.”
Moss-Racusin et al., 2012, PNAS 109, no. 41.
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16474

6. In a recent study of 1224 recommendation
letters from 54 countries for postdoctoral
fellowships in geosciences between 2007 and
2012, researchers found that female applicants
were only half as likely to receive excellent
letters versus good letters compared with male
applicants.
Dutt et al., Nature Geoscience, published online
3 October 2016
http://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2819.epdf

7. A 1999 study asked 238 academic psychologists to
review the CV of a job candidate and provide
feedback. The CVs were identical except that some
had male names and some had female names. Both
men and women were more likely to hire a male job
applicant than a female job applicant with an
identical record.
- Steinpreis, R.E., Anders, K.A. & Ritzke, D. Sex
Roles (1999) 41: 509.
doi:10.1023/A:1018839203698

8. “…as we become aware of
our hypotheses, we replace
our belief in a just world with
a view of a world in which
bias plays a role. Since this
is a state of affairs we wish
were otherwise, we prefer
not to acknowledge it. But
we can learn.”
- Virginia Valian

9. Strategies to Reduce Bias

10. • Recognize that you are subject to bias

11. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee

12. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool

13. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool
• Develop well-defined evaluation criteria

14. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool
• Develop well-defined evaluation criteria
• Prioritize evaluation criteria prior to review

15. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool
• Develop well-defined evaluation criteria
• Prioritize evaluation criteria prior to review
• Engage in counterstereotype imaging

16. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool
• Develop well-defined evaluation criteria
• Prioritize evaluation criteria prior to review
• Engage in counterstereotype imaging
• Take your time and minimize distractions

17. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool
• Develop well-defined evaluation criteria
• Prioritize evaluation criteria prior to review
• Engage in counterstereotype imaging
• Take your time and minimize distractions
• Focus on each applicant as an individual

18. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool
• Develop well-defined evaluation criteria
• Prioritize evaluation criteria prior to review
• Engage in counterstereotype imaging
• Take your time and minimize distractions
• Focus on each applicant as an individual
• Look for reasons to include rather than exclude

19. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool
• Develop well-defined evaluation criteria
• Prioritize evaluation criteria prior to review
• Engage in counterstereotype imaging
• Take your time and minimize distractions
• Focus on each applicant as an individual
• Look for reasons to include rather than exclude
• Take breaks to evaluate your criteria

20. • Recognize that you are subject to bias
• Increase the diversity of your search committee
• Increase the diversity of your applicant pool
• Develop well-defined evaluation criteria
• Prioritize evaluation criteria prior to review
• Engage in counterstereotype imaging
• Take your time and minimize distractions
• Focus on each applicant as an individual
• Look for reasons to include rather than exclude
• Take breaks to evaluate your criteria
• Be able to defend every decision

21. Reference:
Eve Fine , Jennifer Sheridan , Molly Carnes , Jo
Handelsman , Christine Pribbenow , Julia
Savoy , Amy Wendt (2014), Minimizing the
Influence of Gender Bias on the Faculty Search
Process, in Vasilikie Demos ,Catherine White
Berheide , Marcia Texler Segal (ed.) Gender
Transformation in the Academy (Advances in
Gender Research, Volume 19) Emerald Group
Publishing Limited, pp.267 - 289

22. http://www.genderbiasbingo.com/

23. http://www.toolsforchangeinstem.org/

24. http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/gendertutorial/

25. More Resources
University of Wisconsin WISELI
http://wisely.engr.wisc.edu
ADVANCE Purdue
http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/
advance