Tag: Faculty Diversity and Inclusion

The Benefits of Diversity in Higher Education

Over the last decade, more and more colleges and universities have expressed their intent to increase faculty diversity.

Higher education is focused on this goal because faculty diversity brings many benefits. These benefits include improved support of students from underrepresented groups and increased intercultural competence of all students.

This article looks at these and other benefits while also presenting tips on how to increase faculty diversity.

What is Faculty Diversity?

Faculty diversity means more than just racial, ethnic, and gender diversity. A diverse faculty should also represent a diversity of abilities, social statuses, sexual orientations, religions, viewpoints, and scholarly interests.

The Importance of Faculty Diversity in Higher Education

Having a diverse faculty brings several demonstrated benefits for students, for the institutional community, and for the faculty themselves.

Improved Student Engagement and Retention

Achieving faculty diversity enhances underrepresented students’ educational experience. For example, minority faculty can serve as mentors of students from underrepresented groups. Moreover, students from underrepresented groups may feel more comfortable talking about their challenges to faculty members with whom they share a background or experiences. 

In general, minority faculty provide much needed support and opportunity for growth and development to students from similar groups.

Consistent with these observations, a study found that 96% of minority students say that studying under minority professors has a positive impact on their education.
Not surprisingly, a more supportive and inclusive educational experience results in improved academic performance. In fact, increased faculty diversity leads to better graduation rates for students from underrepresented groups.

Enhanced Learning Environments

When your faculty come from a variety of backgrounds and have varied interests, your institution can offer a greater diversity of programs and research opportunities. Faculty diversity also broadens classroom discussions, with more perspectives shared.

In addition, when you have a diverse faculty, you attract more students from underrepresented groups to your institution, which itself has a host of beneficial effects.
For example, students’ learning outcomes improve when they informally interact with other students from different racial groups. In particular, these students’ outcomes improve in intellectual engagement, self-motivation, and citizenship and cultural engagement. Students’ academic skills in critical thinking, problem solving, and writing also improve from interacting with students from different backgrounds.

Increased Opportunity and Better Preparation for the “Real” World

The skills students develop in interacting with a diverse faculty and student body also prepare them to successfully interact with the diversity of people they encounter in the real world.

Students graduate into a multicultural world, where the majority of work settings will involve interacting with people of different races, faiths, abilities, and viewpoints. To succeed in these settings, students must recognize the value of different experiences and know how to communicate in a way that is sensitive to these differences. 

Students exposed to diversity during their time in higher education are also more engaged citizens as adults.
In short, students that experience diversity in higher education are better prepared for all facets of adult life.

How to Close the Diversity Gap

Given its many benefits, it’s easy to understand why colleges and universities are eager to increase faculty diversity. 

Nevertheless, many institutions have struggled to make significant progress. Improving diversity in higher education requires addressing multiple challenges, including shortcomings in recruitment and promotion practices as well as pipeline problems (that is, an insufficient number of new PhD graduates from underrepresented groups). 

Below we look only at a subset of the responses needed during faculty recruitment and professional evaluation processes to increase faculty diversity:

Recognize and Guard Against Unconscious Bias

One threat to increasing faculty diversity is unconscious bias: social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. 

To combat this threat, institutions should provide staff with needed resources and education. It’s also important that you examine your policies and practices for any potential discriminatory effects. 

Focus on Education

Of course, you should also provide all of your employees with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training. Your training program can include multiple levels, including materials that establish a baseline of knowledge and programs that enable faculty to deepen their understanding of DEI issues. Oregon State University is one model of this multi-level approach.

Rethink Hiring

In addition to targeted training and education on DEI issues, an essential step to increase faculty diversity is to improve your hiring practices and policies. You can find concrete ideas on how to make faculty hiring practices work for your diversity goals — rather than against them — in these Interfolio resources:

Promote Diversity in Higher Education With Interfolio

While improving your hiring practices is one important part of increasing faculty diversity, making progress at your institution also depends upon examining your academic review policies and processes.   

Interfolio can help you with that as well. Universities that hire faculty through Interfolio gain a new level of applicant pool data, equitable committee work, and consistency that enables them to reach diverse academic hiring outcomes. 

And institutions like Emory University and others use Interfolio to track DEI-related faculty activities and account for them in the evaluation process.
You can learn more here about how we can support your institution reach its diversity goals — and enjoy the many benefits that come from faculty diversity.

Achieving a Diverse and Inclusive Faculty Workforce in 2020

Interfolio recently hosted a panel discussion on achieving faculty diversity— a timely and important discussion given the current climate of our nation. As many organizations are loudly proclaiming their intentions and commitments to working against systemic oppression for the betterment of our society, it raises questions on just how they plan to put these proclamations into actionable steps to be more inclusive in their industry. Higher education is no different. So, we wanted to start a dialogue with some institutional leaders to begin to understand not only the importance of diversity and inclusion, but how to begin to truly create and sustain such an environment.

Our panel consisted of:

Dr. Genyne Boston, Associate Provost at Florida A&M University

Dr. Christy Pichichero, Associate Professor and Director of Faculty Diversity in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, George Mason University

Dr. Zulema Valdez, Associate Vice Provost for the Faculty and Professor of Sociology at University of California, Merced

To ground the discussion in data, we shared some high-level data points pulled from our Faculty Search module, looking across all positions Interfolio hosted from 2019 to date. Overall, we found that only about 2% of our institutional partners require diversity statements to be submitted with faculty applications. Most institutions are instead prioritizing confidential letters of recommendation, even above teaching and research statements. However, we did discover that in terms of EEO statements which appear in the job postings, over 60% of our partners personalize their statements rather than utilizing the standard government-mandated statement. Read more about how Interfolio’s platform supports diversity.

We then moved into a structured question-and-answer discussion with our panelists.

Thinking about your time working professionally in higher education, have you seen progress or improvement when it comes to building a diverse and inclusive faculty body? Is the Institution a more inclusive place for professors than it used to be?

Dr. Boston expressed that during her tenure, the needle for inclusivity has jumped more for gender diversity, with more women climbing the ranks of academia in recent years. The panelists agreed that while there has been some progress, certainly there is more work to be done in regard to persons with diverse backgrounds and ethnicities. Dr. Pichichero expanded on that point, adding that “although we have seen progress, it depends on what metrics you are using to measure.” When taking into account promotion rates, tenured positions, contingent positions, and factors such as invisible labor, we find that we are still on the steep end of change. Dr. Pichichero cited the necessity to focus on faculty recruitment as a way to measure and push progress and to develop strategic practices to support and retain faculty of color. She highlighted the issue of pipeline and the educational system, as “systemic anti-black and anti-indigenous racism, as well as intersectional racism with gender, social class, and sexuality, create profoundly different challenges and trajectories for people in our country.”

Dr. Valdez shared that the “women in STEM” effort at UC Merced has led to their math department being 50% women—a shocking number considering the numbers from most institutions. Dr. Valdez reiterated that progress overall has been incremental and agrees there is still a lot of work needing to be done. She discussed the need for strong commitment from faculty to push diversity initiatives forward and the need for progress to begin with diverse search committees. “I do think you have to put it on the faculty a little bit. I think that’s where it belongs, and I think that’s where change can really happen,” stated Dr. Valdez.

What role do faculty information management and transparency around data play in the effort to improve diverse representation and create an inclusive work environment for faculty members? 

What are some particularly significant kinds of faculty data to focus on today?

Dr. Pichichero shared that “data is a linchpin to fostering institutional change, because used correctly and transparently, it creates accountability,” noting that using data to identify which groups are actually underrepresented can help search committees prior to starting their search. From there, data around hiring, retention, promotion, and tenure can create a full and complete picture to ensure diversity initiatives are being met with sufficient action. Dr. Pichichero also mentioned that diverse student bodies are not being mirrored in the faculty, which is an issue as well. Data allows us to focus faculty recruitment efforts to better represent the demographics of the student body. 

Building on this commentary Dr. Valdez noted that additional data must be considered around the climate at institutions. Are faculty feeling valued at their institution? Institutions can get a sense of inclusivity by using data from exit interviews, analyzing who is choosing to leave, and carefully listening to what they say about why they are leaving. Dr. Valdez also called for more attention on the issue of pay gaps, citing that there is “inequality baked into the income scale” that most are unaware of. “We need to feel valued” was a powerful statement from Dr. Valdez wherein she discussed faculty not feeling supported. It naturally follows that they will begin to consider what their incentive is to stay with an institution. 

To round out this part of the discussion, Dr. Boston stressed the importance of analyzing the data around who is transitioning into leadership roles. When thinking about faculty impressions of disparity between promotions and time of hire, look at the leaders of those departments. Those in leadership are the decision makers. “There needs to be a certain level of diversity and inclusion in the area of leadership, because that will inform, to some extent, what a search committee will look like and what will happen with an endowed chair,” cited Dr. Boston.

Thinking beyond data collection/reporting, are there other ways that you’ve seen modern technology (whether Interfolio or other technologies you use) better enabling higher education leaders to build a more inclusive and more diversely represented academic workforce?

Dr. Valdez shared that COVID-19 has allowed her staff to see the impact of technology and how it can help them conduct searches. And, because of this, she recommends getting creative when it comes to fostering  inclusivity with respect to technology. Dr. Valdez highlighted that technology presents an opportunity to deepen applicant pools as it is inexpensive to conduct additional interviews and bring in more candidates, since all are virtual. Using technology can be a means to build community, helping to make faculty feel connected. Realizing that new faculty can at times feel isolated, her institution has implemented virtual coffee check-ins as a means to combat this. Dr. Boston agreed, mentioning that zoom enables search committees to interface with candidates in a more cost-effective and timely manner. To build community, she mentioned that her institution has pivoted to utilize their LMS as a way for faculty, including recipients of the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE grants, to share their research and foster connections, especially as scholars prepare for review and promotion. Dr. Pichichero added that institutions must consider how to support the online research activities related to their individual disciplines that may not be directly tied to their university. As leaders continue to think through ways to engage online via different technologies, they take into account how to best support faculty.

Though innovation is a key point in Higher ed, Higher ed seems slow to change in many ways which also affects diversity. How do you approach this challenge?

“There’s no easy fix… the culture of universities, as they’ve been constructed as donor-based and on capitalist models, creates a lot of rigidities,” stated Dr. Pichichero. However, there is now an opportunity to speak more frankly than before. Dr. Pichichero says implicit bias training is passé, as peoples’ implicit biases are explicit. These biases are all impacting how people are weeded out of search processes and promotions. She concludes that “it’s time to listen to people more, to use the words that we know and that we have, and to build coalitions across administration and faculty….”  Dr. Boston added that there are opportunities now to have more informal dialogues where individuals won’t be so guarded around issues of diversity and inclusion, which will allow for more authentic conversations. She believes there should be more intentional training around best practices based on institution type. Dr. Valdez shared that faculty don’t realize how much power they have to communicate to administrators and to start these conversations. It is important to keep in mind that undergraduates and the communities served by these institutions also value this work. Administrators and tenured-faculty, in some cases, represent junior or early career faculty, and they want and need these changes. She concluded, “we have the opportunity to leverage this power and force a change,” and at UC Merced, they are actively having these conversations.

Four Faculty Technology Insights from the 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit

The 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit made clearer than ever that a digital transformation around online faculty affairs, academic work, and research impact is well under way—everywhere.

The July 2020 virtual event, held over four days, drew over 830 registrants from 369 higher education institutions and research organizations across the globe.

Here’s a look at four compelling themes around modern higher education faculty and technology that emerged:

  • The digital Faculty Information System as modern necessity
  • Diversity and inclusion in the faculty professional landscape
  • Teaching and digital faculty data
  • Online faculty work (and flexibility) in higher education

1. The digital Faculty Information System as modern necessity

It was clear from the 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit that faculty affairs professionals today are paying a great deal of attention to the proper role of modern technology in faculty information, workflows, and impact tracking.

“It used to be you spent all available energy just trying to figure out how many faculty there were in the biology department,” said Emory University’s Paul Welty in the opening panel. “Well, now we can answer that question in 30 seconds—and all the rest of that energy can be spent on interesting things… We’re freed from all the tedious work.” 

In this kickoff session (“Establishing the Faculty Information System”) the conversation between Nina Seppala, Deputy Director at University College London School of Management; Charlton McIlwain, Vice Provost for Faculty Engagement & Development at New York University; and Paul Welty, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation and Faculty Affairs at Emory University focused emphatically on how transitioning to a modern online Faculty Information System has contributed to institutional success.

The critical role of the dedicated Faculty Information System was further evident from the lively attendance at the 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit’s many “how-to” sessions.

We heard how Interfolio has meant a digital transformation of faculty affairs at Tulane University in Louisiana.

From “Innovative Uses of Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure” with Alysia Loshbaugh of Tulane University, to “Configuring & Understanding Your University Data” presented by Arizona State University’s Susan Barrett, Lily Roggenkamp, and Katherine Sackman, to many others, it was largely professionals at Interfolio institutions who led these sessions.

Read more on our blog about why Gartner listed Faculty Information Systems as one of the “Top 10 Strategic Technologies Impacting Higher Education in 2020.”

2. Diversity and inclusion in the faculty professional landscape

Across the board, 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit participants affirmed that inclusivity, diversity, and resistance to patterns of unequal treatment are of pressing concern for the higher education faculty affairs community. 

A highlight of the entire virtual event was the panel discussion on “Achieving a Diverse and Inclusive Faculty Workforce in the 2020s.” (Watch it here)

Interfolio staff moderators Max Swagler and Shawniece Disney highlighted some concrete data on faculty recruitment that is run through the Interfolio hiring module.

The 2020 Interfolio Summit session “Achieving a Diverse and Inclusive Faculty Workforce in the 2020s" includes some data on faculty hiring through Interfolio's technology.

The panel produced a nuanced and open conversation between Genyne H. Boston, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University; Christy Pichichero, Associate Professor of French and History and Director of Faculty Diversity for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at George Mason University, and Zulema Valdez, Associate Vice Provost for the Faculty and Professor at University of California, Merced, about the past, present, and future of diversity and inclusion in U.S. higher education.

You can watch the recording of this session here. And for more information about how Interfolio helps, check out our recent post, 3 Practical Resources for a Diverse and Inclusive Faculty Workplace.

3. Teaching and digital faculty data

Faculty teaching responsibilities was another main theme that emerged during these discussions about where academic affairs and modern technologies intersect. 

It became evident that when faculty activity data is more systematically tracked and more fully considered, the institution is substantially more equipped to support faculty in their instructional role. 

The 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit session “Tracking Faculty Accomplishments to Improve Teaching" addressed how activity data can lead to higher education classroom improvement.

Because of the traditionally major role that publishing research plays in a professor’s job security and advancement, and because of the immediate and more marketable connection between high-profile research and revenue, much development in faculty activity reporting has historically been biased toward research.

Yet, in 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit sessions like “Tracking Faculty Accomplishments to Improve Teaching,” from Andy Goodman of the University of Missouri, attendees expressed great interest in the connection between investment in faculty resources and the institution’s ultimate capacity to deliver quality instruction. Goodman’s session walked users through how to make use of the Interfolio Faculty Activity Reporting module to support faculty professional development around teaching.

Get our free white paper on Data in Faculty Affairs here.

4. Online faculty work (and flexibility) in higher education

The fourth and final major theme we’ll note here from the 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit was that of agility.

Across the board, it was clear that the pandemic circumstances have produced very different outcomes depending upon how fully an institution is set up to conduct online faculty affairs, and how they manage change.

In best practices sessions on using the Interfolio Faculty Information System, our Professional Services team addressed approaches to digital transformation around higher education technology.

In a number of sessions, including “Enterprise-wide Change Management: Creating Engagement & Buy-in” with UCLA’s Erika Chau, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel, and Penn’s Rob Nelson, Executive Director for Academic Technology & Planning, attendees heard specifically what role various Interfolio modules played in COVID-19 business continuity.

Many higher education academic affairs professionals related how Interfolio has been critical for business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In “Fostering Success in Decentralized Environments”—featuring Penn’s Julie Orts, Senior Business Systems Analyst, and Michelle Kenney Shears, Associate Director of Faculty Affairs, as well as Yale’s Audrey Bribiescas, Faculty Services Manager and Pam Bosward, Assistant Director of Faculty Affairs—we heard more about how to check in and remain nimble around technology usage throughout the year.

Speakers from UCLA and University of Pennsylvania addressed "Enterprise-wide Change Management" around faculty technology in a 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit session.

And in “Best Practices for Communicating, Training, and Supporting Your Campus,” Doris Ng of University of Washington School of Medicine addressed both the conceptual importance of thoughtful user support on campus, and the nitty-gritty tactics like which email templates to create.

Speakers from University of Washington School of Medicine and other higher education institutions discussed best practices for transitioning to remote faculty work.

To learn more about Interfolio’s recommendations for making a rapid transition to online faculty evaluations, download our free eBook here.

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We’re very grateful to our presenters for their valuable insights and to the thoughtful participation of our hundreds of attendees. Ask us about the 2020 Interfolio Virtual Summit here, and keep an eye out for our 2021 Summit next summer!

3 Practical Resources for a Diverse and Inclusive Faculty Workplace

Higher education leaders have known for many years which gaps need to be closed to create a more diverse and inclusive faculty body. So what are your peer institutions doing successfully? What methods and tools are they using?

If you are involved in ensuring an inclusive environment for faculty at your institution, here are some practical resources you can consult to understand what seems to be working today.

1. How to create transparency around applicant pool data—during the faculty hiring process

It is critical to build as much data as possible about the demographics of faculty job applicants. At some innovative institutions, such as the University of Maryland—Baltimore County or the University of Notre Dame, an appropriate administrative professional such as an associate provost or a chief diversity officer can view the aggregate, anonymized self-reported EEO data for a search, in real time. Then they can compare the search to field-wide data, such as the National Survey of Earned Doctorates. Knowing where the pool falls below national rates of demographic representation can inform the search chair and/or the dean so they can take appropriate action.

Get an overview of how your peers are improving diversity and inclusion in faculty recruitment in our recent white paper, The Modern Faculty Recruitment Playbook.

2. How to make faculty professional review processes transparent, and centrally viewable

One major factor in why inequitable patterns of faculty advancement persist—both in the US and internationally—is inconsistent documentation and communication around actual professional reviews of faculty members.

More and more modern higher education institutions (from Dartmouth College to Haverford College to Tulane University to the majority of California State Universities) are recognizing the transformative value of successfully managing faculty review workflows in a centralized way that both:

  • Defines the official steps and requirements for everyone involved
  • Tracks what actually happened in the decision process along the way

This type of digital transformation goes far beyond efficiency and business necessity. It is about clarity, transparency, and the humanity of the scholars.

Get an overview of how your peers are making faculty tenure, promotion, and professional reviews more equitable in our Best Practices Checklist for Promotion and Tenure Reviews.

3. How to build a reliable source of information about faculty responsibilities and advancement patterns

Finally, a key factor that leaders in higher education faculty affairs are increasingly addressing is the historic invisibility of faculty workload distribution. By strategically approaching how information is gathered and shared—or even simply making the move to treat faculty information as its own need, especially around employment agreements and expectations for success in their role—the college or university eliminates a historic cloud that obscured persistent inequalities.

Learn which concrete challenges to tackle, and how officially tracking faculty employment expectations serves equity, in our free eBook, Mapping Scholar Careers.

What can you do to recruit and retain diverse faculty?

Higher education is a hub for creativity, innovation and, of course, knowledge. With so many qualified educators hailing from different regions and academic institutions, it’s no wonder universities are known for cutting-edge research and top-notch education. Key to the institutions’ success is diversity in staff, faculty, and the student body.

There are compelling benefits of improving diversity in all fields, but particularly in higher education. In our complex, multidimensional world, it is essential that administrators provide their students with faculty and staff voices that originate from different backgrounds. Additionally, the more distinct voices and opinions a university has, the more opportunity the institution has to incubate creativity, innovation, and outside-the-box thinking. Most important of all, universities should take it upon themselves to recruit and retain diverse faculty and staff members to create a more equitable, socially responsible environment for learners and educators alike.

Recruiting diverse faculty members requires thoughtful action and engagement from a variety of stakeholders.. When you’d like to attract a more diverse applicant pool to your higher education institution, consider implementing specific strategies to put your diversity initiatives into action. To improve your recruiting and retention strategies so they accommodate diverse staff and faculty, think about transforming institutional leaders into advocates for change who thoroughly and consistently follow up and incorporate data-based strategies into their efforts.

Get the leaders onboard

For a university’s diversity initiative to reach its full potential, it is essential that executive leaders actively support the plan. These individuals should make themselves accountable for advancing the institution’s diversity, beginning with recruiting and retaining diverse faculty and eventually creating an institution-wide culture of inclusion. However, when it comes to setting an example for the rest of the staff and faculty to follow, speaking about diversity isn’t enough. To affect change on a large-scale level, leaders must turn their vocal support into concrete action. Rather than just speaking of the imbalances at a societal and institutional level, executive leaders should develop diversity plans of action and make sure colleagues, students, and members of the community are aware of these inequities and the action that needs to be taken to resolve them.

Follow through with ongoing efforts across the university

Developing a strategy for diversity isn’t enough; for it to be truly impactful, administrators and institutional leaders must follow through in creating a culture of diversity and inclusion. By making diversity an ongoing priority, universities are creating a culture that welcomes differences and embraces change. This, in turn, produces an environment in which diverse faculty and staff will be more likely to stay for years to come.

Develop data-driven recruitment strategies

Without a transparent view of diversity statistics for current staff, university leaders may not even know that their institutions are in need of more diverse employees and applicants. When administrators and department heads have access to comprehensive data on their faculty and staff, they are able to study employee demographics. They can share this information with academic affairs leaders and other professionals in charge of advancing diversity across the university. Equipped with up-to-date data and statistics, these professionals can develop impactful plans and strategize how best to use university resources to enact change.


Interfolio Faculty Search is a transparent recruiting platform that allows university leaders to view insights into all stages of the application process. One piece of information they can access is applicant diversity statistics, which are essential in the practice of equitable hiring. Find out more about advancing recruitment and retainment by developing an environment of diversity and inclusion.

Takeaways from Interfolio’s workshop on academic diversity

We recently partnered with King’s College London to bring together experts in equality, diversity, and inclusion (‘EDI’) to discuss how technology can play a role.

What was the purpose of the workshop?

We gathered 17 inspirational diversity and inclusion advocates from 9 different institutions to hear their challenges and share ideas about how technology might provide solutions to address their own diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives. It was a passionate group, and a great opportunity to delve deep, explore ideas, and ignite conversations.

We’ve gathered our biggest takeaways, including the three recurring themes that emerged:

Takeaway 1: How do we enable the appropriate level of involvement from executive leadership downwards?

Executive support for driving diversity and inclusion efforts is vital. Does the representation at the top match the representation of the student population? Attracting and retaining university leaders from different backgrounds is imperative, and they should feel empowered to make authoritative decisions that help move EDI initiatives forward.

Executive leadership must demonstrate not only accountability and a strong commitment to EDI but should turn vocal support into action to address the imbalances at all levels of the institution. Leadership should have the proven skills, knowledge, and experience to endorse change and to align diversity and inclusion initiatives with institutional goals. EDI initiatives will thrive only when leadership steps up to own diversity and inclusion, encourage participation institution-wide, and make others aware of the consequences of inaction.

Takeaway 2: How do we ensure that we are starting with an EDI “lens” in the capture and use of data, rather than it being an afterthought?

Measuring success of EDI initiatives appears to be an area where higher education is still finding its way. Data collection is an important component in identifying inequality, initiating activity, and evaluating progress as required to meet legislation. With frequent misunderstandings around data legislations such as GDPR, knowing what to collect and how to be compliant can often be confusing.

Furthermore, equality monitoring can be a sensitive issue for staff and students. Low return rates can also diminish the quality and validity of data. Another issue is the lack of benchmarking data among universities, which makes it difficult to identify areas of underrepresentation or disadvantage. To drive trust in data collection, it’s essential to provide a statement explaining why the institution is collecting the data and the benefits, as well as communicating the positive impacts that quantitative and qualitative data collection produces.

When it comes to looking at technology, there is a historic lack of investment in systems to store crucial EDI data from multiple sources and to display metrics in user-friendly formats. The unreliability of this data means that institutions lack clear key performance indicators (KPIs) and tangible evidence to measure the effectiveness of EDI initiatives.

At many institutions, there is not budget for a full-time data specialist, so it can take weeks to gather and pull the data to measure EDI efforts, by which time the reports may be out of date. The available technologies are often fragmented and and stand-alone, without the ability to integrate with other systems. Data analysis thus becomes a manual and time-consuming process.

Ideally, a technology solution that integrates with the student information and HR systems would help to improve EDI data capture and enable teams to easily create and view reports. Valuable capabilities would include dashboards to understand over- and underrepresented areas and tools to benchmark cultural attitudes over time. With this insight, institutions could assess how the EDI initiatives are affecting overall composition, and develop new strategies if the current are not obtaining the desired results.

Takeaway 3: How do we change the mindset around diversity and inclusion initiatives?

We heard that one of the biggest challenges is the perception that EDI is already being done ‘well enough’. We also discovered that EDI is relatively new as a priority, and as such, there can be resistance, similar to any new initiative and process. Although it may seem that people care about EDI, the amount of action doesn’t always match that enthusiasm. There is also unequal representation of minorities in university leadership resulting in varying levels of commitment to EDI amongst the higher education community and a lack of clarity over roles and responsibilities.

Higher education is often in a state of perpetual change, resulting in “change fatigue” for academic staff members and leaders. There is often an entrenched culture surrounding diversity, which can bring a lack of knowledge, prioritisation, accountability and awareness of these initiatives, as well as active resistance given these initiatives often challenge long-standing norms of the institution. For others, EDI initiatives may not even be on the agenda.

Institutions must ensure that EDI is everyone’s responsibility and make clear why it is important beyond the moral imperative. Leaders must support the transition from the current state to the future state, investigating the issues and gaps, and make EDI a core component of recruitment, not an add-on. Of course, success requires the correct systems, processes, and resources; not only technological or financial investment, but also internal resources (or outside expertise, in some cases) needed to deliver the change. EDI is often reliant on a few people (often volunteers) and good faith, yet it should be embedded in every role, every process, and across faculties, each with KPIs which can be measured.

The workshop provided a valuable opportunity to discuss the challenges facing UK higher education institutions and their EDI initiatives, with the aim to positively impact student success, improve the student and academic experience, and ultimately drive institutional performance.

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Interested in learning how The University of Maryland, Baltimore County used Interfolio to track EDI initiatives? Read the report.

Read our research on what’s keeping U.S. based colleges and universities from making real progress on faculty diversity.

DEI in Higher Education with Sarah Guerra

Sarah Guerra, Director of King’s College London’s Diversity & Inclusion, spearheads the College’s strategic vision and implementation of diversity, equality and inclusion for the whole campus community.

Her leadership serves as a catalyst for organisational cultural innovation and generates activity that delivers against King’s ambitions to provide an extraordinary staff and student experience. We spoke with her to discuss the state of equality, diversity & inclusivity in UK higher education.

Why is diversity and inclusivity more important than ever in higher education today?

For me, diversity is a way of describing each person’s unique ability to participate. We know from so many studies and our own personal experience that different people have different levels of opportunity to do this. That, combined with the fact that we live in a complex, increasingly interconnected world with continually developing challenges—political, environmental, economic—means we need every bit of creativity, talent, and insight that we as a human race have to offer. We cannot afford to let any of it go to waste. The research higher education carries out is one of the ways we can meet these global challenges, as well as the education we provide developing the leaders and thinkers of the future. Ensuring that anyone with the talent and drive to become an academic can do so is vital to tackling global challenges.

What role do you believe academic staff composition has on the student experience?

Some may feel it is a cliché to say you can’t be what you can’t see! A colleague refined it recently to: you can’t be what you can’t imagine. Academic staff composition plays so many roles in the student experience, research quality, and global impact. Who you learn from becoming your role models and the people who help set and grow your aspirations. How much you connect with those around you plays into your self-belief, and self-belief has a direct impact on how “good” you are on any given day. So, the make-up of all university staff impacts the ability for students to feel empathized with and to feel related to, and these things influence students’ creativity, effort, confidence—which all feed into their achievement. Looking from a research angle the wider the variety of perspectives and inputs into research the more creative, informed and tested it is to find new answers or ways of solving the multiplicity of challenges in the world today.

What can institutions do to proactively hire a more diverse academic staff?

Where do I start? There is so much that we can do!

We need to make equality, diversity, and inclusion business-critical—like finance, like health and safety—and appoint Chief Diversity Officers and set KPI’s akin to any other key business measure. We must name the problem— and have good data that tells us exactly where we are.

We must invest in everyone we put in a management or leadership position: first recruit them specifically testing their inclusive capability, then continue to develop them to maintain it.

We must be clear about how important diversity (in all its forms) is in every manifestation of our universities. In all our policies, processes, documents, marketing—in writing, in imagery, at events—in all we say and do.
We must invest in great HR professionals and those with diversity and inclusion expertise, as well as review all our recruitment and selection processes—starting with what we currently define to be talent or merit and then reviewing all job descriptions and working patterns. Any time anyone is thinking about something new that needs doing, they have the opportunity to think about how to innovate and get a different kind of person in—rather than following our same, old patterns. We need to understand whether candidates are applying and if so what is happening them through the recruitment and selection journey; and, alongside this, we need to train all those who are doing selection to do it as inclusively and lacking in bias as possible.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

How do you think institutions can address the student achievement gap? What recommendations would you give?

Much of what I said for academic representation can be translated to students too; addressing academic representation is a big part of how we impact the student experience and achievement. One of the factors crucial to student achievement is students feeling like they belong—feeling that they are valued and respected – that everyone around them at their institution expects and wants them to do their best. This sets conditions that enable all students to thrive: people who feel comfortable in their learning environment will be able to access the resources they need, feel able to ask for help and take risks—all of which will lead them to be the best they can be. A key area that is emerging more and more is around how to ensure campuses are harassment-free and good quality, lawful dialogue, and debate enabled without shutting out voices or creating hostile environments. Universities need to attend to what this means in practice to help students develop but also ensure they feel safe.

And, by the way, don’t forget about professional services staff —they are just as important to the functioning of a university and the student experience as academics!

If you could wave a magic wand and fix one diversity and inclusion-focused practice or process that you think higher education could do better, what would it be?

If I had a magic wand, I would change how siloed universities are. I’d find a magic way of creating connections and helping people see how many different angles and facets most issues have. Then, people at the university would realize the need to address issues in a more coordinated way and see that if we access the breadth of our resources and talents we will make much more satisfying, sustainable and swift progress.

What role do you think technology can play to increase diversity and inclusion in higher education?

It plays such an important role. There is the obvious in terms of supporting the collection, monitoring and analyzing of data and insight, as well as how it supports recruitment, onboarding, training, and development. But I think there is so much more potential even than this—universities are massively complex and each internal component needs to link up and function in synchronicity with other parts, a bit like a human body. I believe technology can really help with this if we invest in understanding what it can do and are willing to open up our minds to how to work differently.

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Follow Sarah Guerra on social media: @equalitywarrior or find her on LinkedIn

International hiring with London Business School

How did London Business School implement an international faculty recruitment and hiring system that is optimal for both applicants and administrators?

London Business School had been using a manual process that slowed down their academic recruiting and hiring efforts. We met with Sian Smith, Assistant Director, Faculty, to discuss London Business School’s adoption of Interfolio and hear how their experience led them to become the first international school with a full faculty information system.

Watch the free webinar here—featuring our presentation with Sian, and a demonstration of Interfolio for academic hiring.

Improving the administrative processes created a better experience for their applicants

When asked about initial challenges, Smith cited manual workflows, endless spreadsheets for tracking candidates, and inconsistent submission of application materials. Originally, in 2014, they were looking for a system that could work for both administrative staff and faculty—but quickly realized that they needed a separate, more specialized system for academic staff.

Smith, part of the central office for faculty affairs, collaborates closely with London Business School’s seven departments for faculty hiring. With Interfolio, both Smith and her counterparts have drastically reduced the time spent on paperwork–making the process more efficient and transparent. Says Smith, “I used to receive a massive pack of all the documents in the internal mail, which was very time-consuming for the different subject areas. Now I just hop on the system, and I can download the CV it if I want and take a look before I go into the interview.”

Interfolio webinar with London Business School showing academic hiring product
The free webinar discusses how London Business School has benefited from using Interfolio for academic hiring since 2014.

Before Interfolio, faculty candidates were confused about what documents were required for their application. This lack of clarity resulted in incomplete applications and “email attachments flying around the place,” as hiring committee members had to track down documents, with much back and forth, causing extra time to be spent on the application process.

After implementing Interfolio for faculty hiring, the candidate experience is a smoother one, and the candidates’ documents are more accessible to committee members now that they are in a centralized, online location. When asked about the submission of required documents, Smith responded, “Now applicants can’t move forward in the process without doing those things. […] The experience of the applicant is really straightforward and clear.” As importantly, Smith mentions that the system is intuitive for staff to use as well.

Addressing faculty diversity and reporting

“We use it for hiring, annual review, and the performance review process, and we also use it for promotion to tenure and full professor and for PhD recruiting,” states Smith. London Business School adopted Interfolio’s Review, Promotion and Tenure module shortly after they implemented Interfolio’s Faculty Search. In 2019, they began implementation for Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting module to become the first institution with a full faculty information system outside of the United States.

When asked the benefits beyond hiring, Smith responded, “We struggled to do diversity reporting before Interfolio. We had paper-based monitoring forms that we then transferred into a spreadsheet and created tables. Now we just download a spreadsheet of that data and adjust it into the template needed for the Equality & Human Rights Commission annual reporting.”

London Business School also plans to use faculty activity data for streamlining the accreditation process in a similar way. States Smith, “It’s very helpful for accreditation. Reporting for AACSB can be confusing. Now, we can run reports at the touch of a button versus doing manual spreadsheets.”

With the faculty information system being implemented shortly at London Business School, Smith is optimistic for the strategic results their institution can realize now that “we have everything we need in one place.”

Siân Smith is the Assistant Director, Faculty HR at London Business School. 

To learn more about London Business School’s success with Interfolio for academic hiring, promotion, and data, watch the free webinar here.

Tips for Faculty Search Committees

This post continues our series, The Smart Scholar.

One of the hallmarks of being a higher education professional is leading and serving on hiring committees. While this work is important to university life, how do you decide if you should serve on a hiring committee? What should your strategy be on selecting members to serve on a hiring committee when you are leading a search? These questions can be difficult to answer as they are nuances based on the position. However, I believe there are some things you should consider when leading and being asked to serve on a hiring committee. While this post does not capture the depth and nuance of hiring committees, below are my more topical tips and suggestions.

Be prepared for a significant time commitment

After serving on several hiring committees and having conversations with colleagues in the field, I have come to the conclusion that serving as the chair of a search committee is a significant time commitment. Not only are you responsible for selecting search committee members, you are also responsible for:

  • Serving as main contact for potential candidates with questions
  • Coordinating phone/Skype interview times for candidates and committee members
  • Coordinating travel for finalist interviews
  • Managing personalities of the search committee during candidate deliberations

With the above responsibilities in mind, it is critical to understand and embrace the significant time commitment before agreeing to serve as the leader of a search committee.

I have often been approached to lead and serve on committees unexpectedly. At the beginning of my career, I would often say yes on the spot. However, I was provided sage advice from mentors who explained the benefit of not saying yes right away. The advice given to me (which I pass along to you) is that when offered the opportunity to serve on a hiring committee, communicate to the requestor that you need time to review your schedule to ensure you will have ample time to commit to the search. Taking this approach will buy you a little time to evaluate the time commitment and value-add of serving on a hiring committee.

Establish a diverse hiring committee

Many higher education scholars have pointed out that who serves on search committees determines who is ultimately hired. In many examples, scholars point to the fact that higher education hires do not often reflect the diversity of the country—and this is due to search committees lacking diversity, specifically racial diversity. Thus, when thinking about establishing a search committee, it is important to ensure committee members come from various backgrounds, so your search develops a heterogeneous pool of candidates. Moreover, candidates from different backgrounds can use their networks to get the word out about the search.

Ensure positions are advertised widely

Part of the work of the search committee should be to advertise the position in a way that  creates a diverse hiring pool. Search committees do not often get diverse candidates because they do not advertise positions in places where those candidates fellowship. For instance, does your human resource office use the university’s Instagram and Facebook pages to target their hiring advertisements to spaces where diverse candidates spend their time online? Is your search committee reaching out directly to scholars of color to apply for positions? I would argue that institutions search far and wide for athletes, and I believe the same approach should be taken when recruiting higher education professionals. While there are several places to find higher education jobs (which I’ve discussed in a previous Smart Scholar series post), it is critical to find candidates in the spaces they frequent most.

Ensure the search process is ethical

It is important to ensure that the search process is approached ethically, for example adhering to a search process committee where members maintain confidentiality throughout. This prevents candidates who have personal or professional relationships with the search committee members from gaining an advantage in the job search. Moreover, in situations where there are internal candidates applying for a position, this is even more important, as having an ethical process will prevent external candidates from seeking legal action against the institution for a discriminatory hiring process. In response to instances of discrimination and racism on campus, institutions have developed equity and inclusion offices. I would suggest if your institution has such an office, have them talk to the search committee about ensuring an equitable hiring process. If your institution does not have an equity and inclusion office, there are some best practices in the text Diversifying the Faculty: A Guidebook for Search Committees by Dr. Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner.

What have your experiences been on leading and serving on search committees? Feel free to tweet me @ramongoings with your suggestions!

Interfolio’s Dossier enables scholars to collect, curate, polish and send out their materials at all stages throughout their academic professional path. Learn more about Dossier here.

Author Bio: Dr. Ramon B. Goings is an assistant professor of educational leadership at Loyola University Maryland. His research examines gifted/high-achieving Black male academic success PreK-PhD, diversifying the teacher and school leader workforce, and the student experience and contributions of historically Black colleges and universities to the higher education landscape. As a writing coach and editor, Dr. Goings enjoys supporting the scholarly development of doctoral students and professors in higher education. For more information about Dr. Goings, please visit his website www.ramongoings.com and follow him on Twitter (@ramongoings).