Effective Faculty Searches Vincent Price Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Lubna Mian Associate...

Effective Faculty Searches

Vincent PriceAssociate Provost for Faculty Affairs

Lubna MianAssociate Director of Faculty Affairs

October, 2008

Effective Faculty Searches | # 2

Our Goals

• Excellence

• Diversity

• Strategic development

• Interdisciplinary scholarship

Why Diversity?

• Increased talent pool

• Student support

• Better teamwork

• Equity

Effective Faculty Searches | # 3

Achieving our Goals

• Large and diverse applicant pools

• Careful and unbiased evaluations

• Thorough interviewing processes

• Intelligent collective decision making

Effective Faculty Searches | # 4

A Diverse Pool

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent

Asian Black Hispanic White

Race/Ethnicity

U.S. Population 2005

5.2%

12.7% 13.8%

68%

Effective Faculty Searches | # 5

A Diverse Pool

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent

Asian Black Hispanic White

Race/Ethnicity

Population

Ph.D. Pool

U.S. Ph.D. Recipients 1995-2005

21.1%

4.8% 4.6%

61.8%

Effective Faculty Searches | # 6

A Diverse Pool

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent

Asian Black Hispanic White

Race/Ethnicity

Population

Ph.D. Pool

Penn Faculty

Penn Standing Faculty 2006

10.8%3.2% 2.5%

83.4%

Effective Faculty Searches | # 7

A Diverse Pool

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent

Female Male

Gender

U.S. Population 2005

50.7% 49.3%

Effective Faculty Searches | # 8

A Diverse Pool

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent

Female Male

Gender

Population

Ph.D. Pool

U.S. Ph.D. Recipients 1995-2005

43%

57%

Effective Faculty Searches | # 9

A Diverse Pool

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent

Female Male

Gender

Population

Ph.D. Pool

Penn Faculty

Penn Standing Faculty 2006

27.1%

72.9%

Effective Faculty Searches | # 10

Comparison to peers

Data reflect only tenured and tenure-track faculty

Comparison Peers: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Northwestern, Princeton, Rice, Stanford, Chicago, Rochester, Washington University, Yale

Source: Data Reported to the U.S. Department of Education

Effective Faculty Searches | # 11

Asian Black Hispanic Women

Penn’s Rank Among Peers 12 / 18 4 / 18 16 / 18 3 / 10

Low to High Range Among Peers

5.1 - 13.2%(8.1 points)

1.6 - 4.1%(2.5 points)

0.8 - 3.2%(2.4 points)

21 - 34%(13 points)

Faculty Turnover

2003-2006

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

Departures Hires

-4 -3 -4

13

5 3

-64

61

Arts & Sciences

Asian

Black

Hispanic

White

Effective Faculty Searches | # 12

Grooming Large and Diverse Pools

Active Searches

•Know the obstacles

•Network before opening search

•Use targeted outreach

•Use word of mouth

•Avoid undue narrowcasting

Effective Faculty Searches | # 13

Careful and Unbiased Evaluation

Harder than you think!

•Diffusion of responsibility

•Short cuts

•Unconscious bias

Effective Faculty Searches | # 14

Unconscious Schemas

Natural part of perception and evaluation

• Beliefs about people

• Beliefs about how people “ought” to be

Contributing factors• Ambiguity

• Stress from competing tasks

• Time pressure

• Lack of critical mass

Effective Faculty Searches | # 15

Fiske (2002). Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 123-128.

Unconscious Schemas

Low High

High

Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu (2002). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 878-902.

Effective Faculty Searches | # 16

LowHispanics

Competence

Warmth

Blacks

Whites

Asians

Men

Women

From University of Michigan STRIDE program (http://sitemaker.umich.edu/advance/stride)

Evaluating C.V.s

University psychology professors preferred “Brian” over “Karen” by 2:1

Brian

Steinpreis, Anders, & Ritzke (1999) Sex Roles, 41, 509.

Effective Faculty Searches | # 18

Karen

Callbacks

Black-sounding names (“Jamal”): 15 resumes = callback

White-sounding names (“Greg”):10 resumes = callbackEquivalent to 8 extra years experience

Bertrand & Mullainathan (2004) Poverty Action Lab, 3, 1-27.

Effective Faculty Searches | # 19

Letters of Recommendation

Trix & Psenka (2003) Discourse & Society, 14(2), 191-220.

Effective Faculty Searches | # 20

Letters for women

• Shorter

• Fewer references to c.v.

• Twice as many gender references

• More references to personal life

• Fewer standout references (“excellent”) and more “grindstone” references (“hardworking”)

• Twice as many hedges and irrelevancies (“It’s amazing how much she’s accomplished”)

Influences on Advancement

Martell, Lane, & Emrich (1996) American Psychologist, 51, 157-158.

Effective Faculty Searches | # 21

Simulated organizational hierarchy

• Start with 50-50 gender mix

• Assume 1 percent bias in promotions

After eight promotion cycles:• Highest management level 65% male

Reducing Bias

• Reducing ambiguity

• Avoiding “solo” presence in pool

• Taking time to review applications

• Focusing on positive exemplars

Effective Faculty Searches | # 22

Dovidio & Gaertner (2000). Psychological Science, 11, 315-319.

Fiske (2002). Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 123-128.

Martell (1991). Journal of Applied Soc Psychol, 21, 1939-1960.

Dasgupta & Greenwald (2001). Journal of Pers & Soc Psych, 81, 800-814.

Careful and Unbiased Evaluation

Thoughtfulness and accountability

• Supportive, diverse committee

• Familiarity with research on bias

• Structured, evidence-based review• Apply consistent, objective criteria

• Evaluate entire application

• Treat recommendations with care

• Avoid over-reliance on prestige

Effective Faculty Searches | # 23

Effective Visits

• Show enthusiasm• Offer dual-career and family-friendly policy

information• Identify colleagues who can discuss climate

for women and minorities

• Introduce the city and region

• Stay in contact• Be even-handed and transparent in

negotiatingEffective Faculty Searches | # 24

Have Academic Partner

39%

Have Employed (non-Academic)

Partner37%

Have Stay-at-Home Partner

12%

Are Single13%

Dual-Career Couples

Effective Faculty Searches | # 25

Dual Hires: Hired as a couple

8%

Independent Hires: Each replied to separate

advertisements for position, or met after they were hired.

20%

Solo Hires: Only one partner in the

couple is currently employed in academia.

9%

Joint: Recruited by university as a couple.

2.5%

Sequential: One partner hired first, then

negotiates for the “second hire.” 5.5%

Clayman Institute Survey of Penn Faculty N= 949 (34% response rate)

• Faculty Opportunity Fund

• Benefits and Retirements Brochures

• Online Application System

• HERC

• Accompanying Spouse-Partner Program

• Relocation Assistance

• Child Care

Some Resources

Effective Faculty Searches | # 26

Discussion

Effective Faculty Searches | # 27

provost-fac@upenn.edu