In the corporate world, employers are finding ways to support employees who are caregivers because they realize it provides a competitive advantage to attract and retain employees. The need for robust resources, benefits, and policies is apparent: a Harvard Business School study found that “73% of all employees have some type of current caregiving responsibility.” . . .
all selection and hiring practices at all levels. search committees, selection
This week’s article spotlights disability as an axis of diversity. According to this article, 26% of adult Americans have at least one disability, yet data from 2004 suggest that only 4% of faculty members report a disability. Stigmas or biases, inability to fund graduate education while maintaining necessary medical care, lack of role models, and . . .
Candidate assessment rubrics are helpful in conducting objective faculty searches but do not adequately mitigate bias according to two recent studies. One four-year-long study of the searches in an Engineering department evaluated whether hiring rubrics countered biases. The study found that search committees consistently scored women candidates lower than men on rubrics about research although . . .
The Association of Women in Science (AWIS) recently issued this statement in response to a high level director’s resignation from a key government STEM office. Their statement calls out an ongoing pattern (both at the national and local level) of institutional negligence in which organizational leaders have regularly failed to proactively respond to practices of . . .
A strategic and sustainable approach to realizing a more diverse faculty is both overdue and critical to the future of higher education. Two university deans offer timely advice for enacting such an approach. They recommend introducing BIPOC faculty to the university’s unique features and facilities through invited presentations, postdocs, or conferences in order to create . . .
Best practices in inclusive hiring often involve a series of checks and balances. However, postdoctoral positions such as Postdoctoral Researcher, Research Scientist, and Research Engineers are often reviewed only by the Principal Investigator without these checks and balances. A study from Florida International University investigated the presence of bias in postdoctoral application reviews based on . . .
The article below covers some pushback on the recent trend of requiring diversity statements in faculty hiring. What are your thoughts? Tell us in the comments. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/mathematicians-divided-over-faculty-hiring-practices-require-proof-efforts-promote