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4
Recruiting Women Faculty
A t most universities and colleges a doctorate is the minimum
threshold to enter a career in academia. Fortunately, those re-
cruiting faculty are seeing the number of women receiving
Ph.D.'s in science and engineering (S&E) increasing (Figure 4-1).
The figure reveals that by 2001 "females earned 37 percent of S&E and
57 percent of non-S&E doctoral degrees, up from 8 and 18 percent, respec-
tively, in 1966" (NSF, 2004c). By field, women received from about 10
percent (mechanical engineering) to 67 percent (psychology) of the doc-
torate degrees awarded in 2001 (Table 4-1).
A fair amount of these female Ph.D.'s would be expected to choose
academia for their careers. After all, statistics show that women prefer to
work in academia, compared with industry or government employment.
Yet the percentages of women actually in academic jobs suggest that pref-
erence does not predict outcome. Proportionately more women are em-
ployed in academia at two-year and four-year institutions; proportion-
ately fewer are employed at top research institutions (NRC, 2001). A recent
study of female faculty examined the percentage of male and female ten-
ured and tenure-track faculty in several disciplines, including S&E, at the
top 50 U.S. educational institutions, based on research expenditures
(Nelson and Rogers, 2004). The percentage of assistant professors who
were women and the percentage of doctorates received by women were
contrasted with similar percentages for men. The study found that a larger
percentage of Ph.D.'s went to women, while a smaller percentage of assis-
71
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72 TO RECRUIT AND ADVANCE WOMEN STUDENTS AND FACULTY
FIGURE 4-1 Doctoral degrees received, by broad field and gender, 1966-2001.
SOURCE: NSF (2004c).
tant professor positions were held by women; whereas the trend is the
opposite for men (Table 4-2).
This chapter explores the challenges and strategies for recruiting
women into tenure-track, assistant professor positions--a traditional start-
ing point for the academic career. Almost always, associate or full profes-
sors have risen to their positions from that of assistant professor. Al-
though non-tenure-track jobs, such as lecturer or instructor positions and
adjunct positions, are available, these positions do not offer the same
prestige or security potential as tenure-track positions.
CHALLENGES
Two basic challenges confront university and college officials seeking
to recruit additional female faculty. First, the perception is that women
prefer certain types of institutions for employment. Second, women also
perceive that they have less of a chance of being hired than male candi-
dates do, all other things being equal.
Research suggests that female science faculty are more likely to be
employed by community colleges or institutions that do not offer a doc-
toral degree than by large research universities (Schneider, 2000). Thus
"at the country's big research universities, the vast majority of professors
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RECRUITING WOMEN FACULTY 73
are men" (Wilson, 2004b). A 2002 analy-
sis found that 71 percent of full-time fe- It's hard to persuade female
male mathematics faculty were em- graduates that an academic
ployed at institutions that offer no career would be a good
higher than a master's or bachelor's de- thing. We need to be con-
cerned about the pipeline, or
gree. To take one example, women in
we won't have enough future
mathematics make up 29 percent and 31 faculty.
percent, respectively, of the full-time
--Dean, during site visit
faculty at master's- and baccalaureate-
granting institutions, but only about 12
percent of the full-time faculty at the
most prestigious research universities (Kirkman et al., 2003).
Why would women prefer to go into another employment sector or
into research institutions that do not grant doctorates? Perceptions of
working conditions at the major research universities, which are per-
ceived to be more negative for women than for men, may be one reason.
An associate dean for sciences at one of the research universities vis-
ited described presenting a workshop on how to apply for academic posi-
tions. When he asked women students how many were interested in such
positions, only about 10 percent raised their hands. They cited negative
perceptions of the tenure clock and the six to seven years of graduate
work required as reasons. The dean commented: "We're competing with
liberal arts colleges and industry, especially for chemistry, where they
find better working conditions."
Working conditions can be framed in two ways: policies and practices
and departmental or institutional culture. Women may find less support
or less of a welcome in both respects.
One way in which the academic environment may be less welcoming
to women occurs when the departmental or institutional culture is more
supportive of male academics. A male department chair at one university
noted that although the majority of departments favor the advancement
of women, "bad stories have to do with the particular culture in certain
units." He expressed frustration that some departments seemed unable to
remove such "cultural baggage." Interviewees at another university noted
lingering male resistance and occasional harassment by male faculty.
Interviewees at a third university posited that a minority of male engi-
neers resist the inclusion of women not only in certain other cultures, but
also in the United States, where women do not fit the engineering image
for some traditional faculty.
Hostile cultures can result in a lack of action to support change, overt
action to undermine or prevent change, or discriminatory action. At one
institution that had created a faculty mentoring program, some people
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74 TO RECRUIT AND ADVANCE WOMEN STUDENTS AND FACULTY
TABLE 4-1 S&E Doctoral Degrees Awarded to Women, by Field,
1994-2001
Number
Field 1994 1995 1996 1997
All S&E fields 7,921 8,287 8,651 8,936
Sciences 7,286 7,591 7,874 8,186
Agricultural sciences 249 228 282 260
Biological sciences 2,109 2,217 2,415 2,495
Computer sciences 137 186 139 150
Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 183 170 172 209
Atmospheric 26 23 22 25
Earth 95 91 88 119
Oceanography 38 28 39 38
Other 24 28 23 27
Mathematics and statistics 236 265 231 263
Physical sciences 828 878 842 852
Astronomy 25 30 41 37
Chemistry 625 661 605 613
Physics 175 182 193 193
Other 3 5 3 9
Psychology 2,101 2,181 2,331 2,365
Social sciences 1,443 1,466 1,462 1,592
Anthropology 225 237 225 261
Area and ethnic studies 65 65 76 52
Economics 249 279 263 266
History of science 10 17 10 13
Linguistics 134 102 113 135
Political science and public administration 282 266 305 298
Sociology 283 294 276 334
Other 195 206 194 233
Engineering 635 696 777 750
Aerospace 11 14 24 16
Chemical 113 109 143 122
Civil 80 76 79 80
Electrical 147 173 169 150
Mechanical 69 64 78 88
Materials 83 95 84 106
Industrial 33 50 51 40
Other 99 115 149 148
SOURCE: NSF (2004c).
even worried that the mentors might be sued by the mentees who failed
to get tenure.
A lack of diversity in the department and among majors also may
deter some women from applying for faculty positions. According to
interviewees at another university, for both potential faculty and students
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RECRUITING WOMEN FACULTY 75
Percent
1998 1999 2000 2001 1994 2001
9,347 9,086 9,384 9,303 30.2 36.5
8,573 8,297 8,547 8,378 35.7 41.9
298 280 274 288 23.1 34.0
2,536 2,394 2,618 2,545 40.5 44.8
159 156 141 155 15.2 18.8
219 210 230 236 22.2 31.5
30 22 33 28 20.2 24.1
127 112 109 115 18.7 29.2
32 45 46 45 30.4 37.8
30 31 42 48 39.3 40.0
297 277 258 276 21.1 27.4
926 831 835 834 20.8 24.6
45 33 40 41 17.4 22.0
695 632 624 628 27.7 31.7
177 160 163 155 11.3 13.0
9 6 8 10 10.7 32.3
2,455 2,453 2,410 2,296 62.2 66.9
1,683 1,696 1,781 1,748 37.0 42.9
262 275 276 262 53.8 58.5
63 59 67 95 53.3 66.0
312 291 293 306 22.6 28.2
19 18 17 8 37.0 20.0
123 148 134 136 60.6 59.4
364 356 365 328 30.3 33.4
317 342 374 337 51.6 58.4
223 207 255 276 36.5 48.1
774 789 837 925 10.9 16.8
15 17 21 28 4.8 13.8
140 123 151 180 15.6 24.8
100 89 88 111 11.7 18.7
156 155 195 203 8.8 12.9
93 96 96 91 6.8 9.5
84 88 83 105 15.4 21.0
40 43 35 44 14.5 21.5
146 178 168 163 13.6 21.8
the lack of a diverse faculty serves as a deterrent to recruitment and to a
rewarding employment experience. A department with a healthy ratio of
female faculty members may find it has reduced the risks of
marginalization or isolation of any single faculty member and quelled the
concerns of a prospective female hire who may be concerned about how
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76 TO RECRUIT AND ADVANCE WOMEN STUDENTS AND FACULTY
TABLE 4-2 Male and Female Tenure-Track Faculty at Top 50 U.S.
Educational Institutions (percent)
Female Male
Ph.D. Ph.D.
Assistant Attainment Assistant Attainment
Professors (%) Professors (%)
Discipline (%) (19932002) (%) (19932002)
Biological sciences 30.2 44.7 69.8 55.2
Chemistry (FY 2003) 21.5 31.3 78.5 68.6
Math 19.6 27.2 80.5 72.7
Computer science 10.8 20.5 89.2 79.2
Astronomy (FY 2004) 22.0 20.6 78.0 79.0
Physics 11.2 13.3 88.8 86.6
Chemical engineering 21.4 22.3 78.7 77.2
Civil engineering 22.3 18.7 77.8 81.3
Electrical engineering 10.9 11.5 89.2 88.5
Mechanical engineering 15.7 10.4 84.4 89.6
Economics 19.0 29.3 81.0 70.5
Political science 36.5 36.6 63.5 63.0
Sociology 52.3 58.9 47.7 41.0
Psychology 45.4 66.1 54.6 33.9
NOTE: Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.
SOURCE: Adapted from Nelson and Rogers (2004).
women in a department with no or only one other current female faculty
member are treated.
A second challenge in recruiting women is that even when they do
apply, they are not selected for the position. One reason is that search
committees do not cast a wide enough net. One specific issue raised dur-
ing the site visits was that a thorough search that tries to include women
and minorities is more difficult and time consuming than older hiring
practices that presumably expended less effort to increase the percentage
of women in the applicant pool. Because "casting the net really wide" and
then securing the approval of the dean and provost take so much time, the
"best" candidates are often gone before an offer can be made. Acknowl-
edgment of this situation is not to suggest that efforts should not be made
to identify female and minority candidates. Rather, it suggests that such
candidates are not currently plugged into the hiring network and that it
takes a long time to find them.
Search committees may evaluate women harder than men. In fact,
there is some evidence that both men and women evaluate women harder
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RECRUITING WOMEN FACULTY 77
than men, and one study even found
that both men and women preferred
We need to convince a lot of
male candidates (Steinpreis et al., 1999). people here that we need
In Why So Slow (2004), a study of the diversity, and that diversity
advancement of women in academia, vs. quality is a false tradeoff.
Valian posits a gender schema, a mental --University president,
framework or construct that conceptu- during site visit
alizes a person or group, can influence
the way that men and women are evalu-
ated. Women have to work much harder
to be evaluated as highly as men--that is, women are undervalued, often
in little ways that build up over time to significant disadvantage (Valian,
1998, 2004). One consequence of faculty holding these schemas is that
hiring decisions are subtly pushed toward favoring male candidates. If
Valian's argument is correct, then some search committees may not be
aware they are acting in a biased fashion. One survey asked a group of
search committee chairs responsible for searches in psychology depart-
ments how important 30 factors were in the job search and departmental
decision process. The results revealed that the applicant's gender had a
mean score of 1.38, with 1 equal to "not at all important" and 2 equal to
"slightly important" on a four-point scale (Landrum and Clump, 2004).
BOX 4-1
Summary of Challenges
Academe is one of several career choices for both men and women. Women,
however, may find major research universities less attractive than other academic
institutions and may be less inclined to seek employment in this sector.
· Perceptions of working conditions are more negative for women than for
men.
· A lack of diversity in the department and among majors may deter some
women from applying.
Women with similar qualifications have less probability of being hired than male
candidates.
· Search committees do not cast a wide net.
· Search committees evaluate women more rigidly than men.
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78 TO RECRUIT AND ADVANCE WOMEN STUDENTS AND FACULTY
STRATEGIES
In hiring female faculty, two general issues arise: how to get more
women to apply and how to increase the percentage of women selected.
Universities have directed much of their attention toward the first issue.
However, both challenges can be addressed by motivated universities.
A professor at one university said that the department as a whole
must be enthusiastic about new hires. The best solution is the most diffi-
cult: raising the consciousness of search committees and persuading them
to work the phones and keep looking--even when qualified candidates
are already apparent--in order to include women in the short list of can-
didates to be interviewed.
As noted earlier, at the universities visited, the percentage of women
faculty recruited has increased, indicating the success of the programs
and changes that these institutions have put into place. Most of the pro-
grams involved efforts to increase the percentage of women in applicant
pools or to improve the climate for women faculty on campus. Many of
these programs, such as child care, potentially benefit all faculty.
BOX 4-2
Strategies for Recruiting Women Faculty
Have the institution signal the importance of female faculty by making pos-
itive declarative statements, establishing a committee on women, exercising over-
sight over the hiring process, and devoting resources to hiring women.
Modify and expand faculty recruiting programs by creating special faculty
lines, diversifying search committees, encouraging intervention by deans, and as-
sessing past hiring efforts.
Improve institutional policies and practices such as the tenure clock, child
care, leave, spousal hiring, and training to combat harassment.
Improve the success rate of women candidates by means of career advis-
ing, networking, and enhancing qualifications.
Signaling the Importance of Female Faculty
At the institutions visited, top administrators very publicly supported
the goal of advancing women and acted on those statements. Interviewees
at one university felt that the dean and provost were critical to building
women faculty participation from the top, because they can influence
new hiring and provide funding. General approaches are implemented
by an institution, but often the committee found that the impetus for the
change originated with an individual, usually an individual with the
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RECRUITING WOMEN FACULTY 79
power at the institution to lead, set, and enforce policy. For example,
interviewees attributed recent progress at one university to many differ-
ent forces and individuals over two decades, but also to the fact that the
current provost had professed his determination to hire more women.
The levels of power varied; some were deans, some were provosts, some
were department chairs. At each level, actions were taken that spurred
changes. The actions taken, and the policies set and adhered to, conveyed
the message that these initiatives, programs, and efforts were not cos-
metic, but represented commitment by the individuals and the institu-
tions to bringing about change.
It was noted, however, that such "inspired" individuals were present
on all of these campuses; they were not unique. Such an individual was
seen as an insider, one who really understood the institution, but who
may have absorbed the concepts and ideas elsewhere or outside the insti-
tution. For example, at one institution a sabbatical spent at a federal
agency led one dean to institute the new policies he had encountered
elsewhere.
Institutional signaling also can be carried out by adding a diversity
component to an institution's strategic plan either at the level of the insti-
tution or, in the case of one school visited, at the college or school level. By
incorporating the women's advancement initiative into its strategic plan,
this institution ensured that the goals would be institutionalized into the
infrastructure of the university. As suggested by the college of
engineering's strategic plan, various areas could be profitably addressed
in such a document--that is, it could include statements on improving the
climate by making it fairer or more equitable; crafting a clear and trans-
parent hiring policy, one that also promotes the idea of inclusiveness; or
making administrative officials responsible for departmental progress in
diversifying faculty.
Yet another form of institutional signaling is to create an organiza-
tional mechanism for oversight into departmental hiring practices. At a
minimum, deans and provosts can remind faculty search committees that
one component of the search is a diversity element. The engineering de-
partment at one university recognized that search committees are not
usually trained for their jobs. It therefore put together a training program
and "faculty hiring toolkit." The dean had input into the process, requir-
ing that each search list include women and minorities. Today, each search
committee must be approved by the dean and provost. During the report-
ing process, the dean's office ensures that, even if the committee does not
recommend a woman or minority candidate, it did cast its net widely. The
dean receives the curriculum vitae of all finalists, including those not
hired, and the dean and provost either approve the process or order the
search extended.
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80 TO RECRUIT AND ADVANCE WOMEN STUDENTS AND FACULTY
Another signal is to create a com-
It's important for everyone to mittee on the status of women or assign
know they're not lowering a powerful administrator oversight on
the bar in hiring women. the issue of diversity at the institution.
--Faculty member, Some institutions appointed dedicated
during site visit senior administrative personnel to ad-
dress faculty diversity, such as a vice
provost or dean. Others placed women
on advisory boards and university com-
mittees that wielded significant power on the campus. A similar step was
taken recently at Princeton, where a position of special assistant to the
dean of the faculty was created to oversee gender equity issues (Wilson,
2003).
A significant indicator that an administration is committed to ad-
vancing women is the appointment of staff to an initiative, rather than the
appointment of an ad hoc committee, or the request that a faculty member
lead the initiative as part of his or her service duties to the institution. For
example, when the president of one university decided that gender and
racial inclusiveness would be one of the university's highest priorities, he
created a diversity advisory council, which he chaired. The council stud-
ied the situation and issued a statement acknowledging that the univer-
sity was not doing well in this area. Each of five working groups made
recommendations, which the council then began to implement. They col-
lected best practices, so that colleagues would know what practices
worked in one department or college. The president hoped that the suc-
cess of women undergraduates would be noted and given high priority
by other departments. The council also discussed making diversity a com-
ponent of the performance evaluation of deans.
Finally, signaling can take the form of offering special incentives or
resources for hiring female faculty. Institutions have also established tar-
geted hiring initiatives or faculty recruiting programs and incentives to
support them.1 For example, one university adopted a hiring initiative to
respond to strategic opportunities for increasing hires of women and tar-
geted minorities. The program also included spousal hiring. Each school
or college developed an internal process for implementing the program.
Over a four-year time period, about 27 percent of faculty hired in the
biological and physical sciences were women.
1In at least one case, the institution (University of Nebraska) was directed by the state to
increase the percentage of women and minority faculty members (Anonymous, 2003).
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RECRUITING WOMEN FACULTY 81
Modifying or Expanding Faculty Recruitment Programs
Some institutions have chosen to tackle the problem of how to hire
more female faculty by modifying or expanding their faculty recruitment
programs.2 Universities have taken such steps as
· Engaging in focused faculty recruiting. Institutions made recruiting
for women and minorities a priority for some positions in addition to the
normal availability of faculty positions.
· Providing incentive grants. One institution visited provided funds
targeted for new women faculty hires. This institution found, however,
that because no departmental investment was built into these grants, the
impact of this initiative was not lasting. The institution required the de-
partment to provide some matching funds, ensuring departmental invest-
ment in ensuring the success of the faculty member. Similar steps were
taken at Duke University, whose president recently announced that the
university would "spend $1 million per year, indefinitely, to `enhance the
strategic hiring of women and minorities'" (Wilson, 2003).
· Taking steps to diversify search committees. It may be helpful if a
search committee presents a more diverse face to the candidates and it
strengthens a university's claim for striving for diversity. Such a strategy
also broadens the network to scout potential candidates.
· Casting a broader net to identify candidates. Some institutions required
search committees to delve more deeply into the pool of candidates be-
fore going forward with invitations for job talks. At one of the private
universities, no search was permitted to go forward unless a qualified,
credible female or minority candidate was included in the short list and
invited to give a job talk. According to the members of this institution,
this policy had positive effects. One was that the search committee con-
ducted a much more thorough search than it might have otherwise. Usu-
ally, in addition to considering the applicants for an announced position,
search committees relied on personal networks with colleagues at other
institutions. To find additional candidates, search committee members
asked whether colleagues making recommendations could also suggest
women or minority candidates. This request usually resulted in the emer-
gence of several qualified candidates. However, it was noted that these
names came forth only when search members specifically requested such
candidates.
· Valian (2004:217) offers several strategies for broadening the net.
First, even though top-tier institutions "do not want to hire people from
lower-tier institutions," more women are located in lower-tier institu-
2See, for example, the practical steps suggested by the University of Wisconsin
ADVANCE Program (2005).
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82 TO RECRUIT AND ADVANCE WOMEN STUDENTS AND FACULTY
tions, and because productivity and location may be related, candidates
from low-tier institutions may be even better than they look, especially if
they are outperforming typical productivity for their location. Second,
institutions should go out of their way to attract underrepresented fac-
ulty, which may be as simple as faculty at the hiring institution personally
contacting peers at institutions. Third, universities can write job descrip-
tions in a way that encourages women, among others, to apply.
· Having institutional executives intervene. If the current approach to
hiring faculty is not producing increases in diversity, then that approach
could be modified by, perhaps, calling for greater oversight by deans.
· Collecting statistics on hiring processes and outcomes to aid in assess-
ments. Departments could collect data on each search by gender. Such
data could include the number of candidates, number of candidates inter-
viewed, number of offers, and number of hires. In addition, departments
could collect data on the composition of their search committees, which
could then be aggregated to the level of the school. The University of
Pennsylvania's 2003 report, "Gender Equity: Penn's Second Annual Re-
port," is an example of such data (University of Pennsylvania, 2003).3
Improving Institutional Policies and Practices
Institutions could adopt various policies and practices that would
make them more attractive to prospective candidates of either gender
(Sullivan et al., 2004).4 These policies and practices include the following:
· Extending the tenure clock. One associate dean noted that childbirth
used to be a "big impediment" in the careers of women, who were dis-
couraged from taking time off. Now, however, faculty policies specify
that any faculty member who wants an extension of the tenure clock to
allow time off after childbirth may request it directly from the provost,
and approval is expected. Extensions are not limited by the number of
children or the gender of the parent. Obtaining a tenure clock extension
for any other reason is said to be very difficult. Extension of the tenure
clock is discussed more fully in Chapter 5.
· Establishing parental leave policies and child care. The dean at one
university established a parental leave rule that allows either parent to
take paid leave for one quarter. Another university examined the status of
3For links to this report and other research university gender equity reports, see http://
www7.nationalacademies.org/cwse/gender_faculty_links.html. Accessed April 28, 2005.
4See Ward and Wolf-Wendel (2004) for a discussion of some reasons why it is difficult to
establish or use such policies. See Quinn et al. (2004) for a list of recommendations of how
to overcome the problems that often result from family-friendly policies.
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RECRUITING WOMEN FACULTY 83
child care through the joint efforts of a
university committee and an office on
I'm proud to say we have
child care. transformed the two-body
· Creating spousal hiring programs. problem into a two-body
A large number of faculty members are opportunity. You find out
married to other professionals, many of that smart professional peo-
ple marry smart professional
whom are also academics. Wolf-Wendel
people.
et al. (2003:163) suggest six broad ap-
proaches to helping the spouses and --Provost, during site visit
partners of faculty members find suit-
able jobs: offering relocation assistance,
hiring a spouse or partner into an ad-
ministrative position, hiring a spouse or partner into a non-tenure-track
position, creating a shared position, creating a joint position with a nearby
institution, or creating a tenure-track position for the spouse or partner.5
This kind of program was being used by the university not located in a
large metropolitan area because the lower percentage of potential em-
ployers reduced employment prospects for the spouse or partner. Of
course, efforts to hire both spouses or partners depend to some extent on
what each one does professionally. It is possible to offer a shared position
to two physicists. Hiring two faculty in two different departments re-
quires coordinating the efforts of those departments or of two different
institutions.
· Instituting sexual harassment sensitivity programs. During the site vis-
its, many people pointed out that within each discipline certain academic
departments have reputations for being receptive or not receptive to
women. To improve the climate of a department for current faculty and to
aid in recruiting women faculty, some institutions have taken steps to
combat sexual harassment. At each institution the committee raised the
issue of sexual harassment. Most institutions responded that they have in
place policies against sexual harassment and programs designed to edu-
cate employees. At some institutions the policies were buttressed by per-
sonal meetings with a dean or other member of the administration. Some
institutions also have implemented pay equity reviews and conducted
periodic salary equity studies to determine the comparability of compen-
sation among faculty.
Improving the Positions of Candidates
Doctorate-producing institutions must assume some of the burden
for enhancing the recruitment of female faculty. They need to do the best
5For a discussion of the problem and possible solutions, also see McNeil and Sher (1999).
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84 TO RECRUIT AND ADVANCE WOMEN STUDENTS AND FACULTY
job they can to outfit their graduates as candidates with high-quality
credentials and recommendations. Actions that doctorate-granting insti-
tutions have taken to improve their own graduates include
· improving doctoral/postdoctoral training, including on conduct-
ing individual research and grant writing;
· ensuring that doctorates and postdoctorates are included in pub-
lished research endeavors;
· directing women toward career resources provided by the institu-
tion, professional associations, and other entities;
· offering career advising and mentoring; and
· encouraging networking, because during a hiring season access to
informal knowledge is often as important as finding job announcements.6
CONCLUSION
Many women have the prerequisites to be successful faculty. Of those
who seek employment in academia, as opposed to employment in indus-
try or the government, many have ambitions to be at the top institutions.
One problem facing such women is that some of the challenges of achiev-
ing academic employment hit the average female doctorate and potential
job candidate harder than the average male doctorate.
The challenges include negative reinforcement during graduate
school, negative perceptions about the quality and likelihood of success-
ful academic employment, and a tougher time in the hiring process. Those
challenges, combined with the many more male applicants for positions,
have resulted in fewer women in top academic institutions, despite the
fact that so many women have the necessary credentials.
6One starting point is NETWORKING--Why You Need to Know People Who Know People by
Patricia Rankin and Joyce Nielsen (2004).
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RECRUITING WOMEN FACULTY 85
BOX 4-3
Summary of Strategies for Recruiting Women Faculty
What faculty can do:
· Offer career advice and mentoring to doctoral and postdoctoral students.
· Assist doctoral and postdoctoral students in compiling a strong application
package.
What department chairs can do:
· Create an image of the department as female friendly.
· Communicate with faculty about the importance of diversity in recruiting.
· Make departmental policies and practices transparent.
· Encourage faculty to work with doctoral and postdoctoral students for ca-
reer placement and support their efforts.
· Diversify search committees.
· Evaluate and broaden efforts to publicize position openings.
· Identify ways to limit service requirements for junior faculty.
What deans and provosts can do:
· Communicate with department chairs about the importance of diversity in
recruiting.
· Review policies on tenure clock, child care, leave, and spousal hiring. Pol-
icies could be made transparent.
· Conduct an assessment of recent hiring efforts and outcomes.
· Get involved in departmental searches.
· Institute human resources programs on sexual and racial discrimination.
· Evaluate recent departmental job offers for fairness in allocation of resourc-
es and salary.
· Consider the feasibility of special hiring slots for female faculty.
· Offer incentives to departments that are more inclusive.
What presidents can do:
· Publicly state the institution's commitment to diversity and inclusiveness
whenever possible.
· Create an institutional structure, such as a standing committee, to address
diversity issues within the faculty. Charge that committee with monitoring diversity
across the institution and with making recommendations to increase diversity.
· Demonstrate the institution's commitment by meeting with faculty, encour-
aging the use of resources to enhance hiring strategies, and examining the institu-
tion's policies and practices on faculty issues.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
female faculty
