Academic Affairs Department Chair Notes - Message #9

By encouraging inclusive and equitable hiring practices, chairs can create significant change in their departments. Whether hiring this season or in the near future, it is important to learn more about hiring practices designed to yield a more diverse candidate pool. As chair, you wield a considerable amount of influence over students, staff, and faculty colleagues within your departments. Please do not miss this opportunity to bring about positive change in your department.

Multiple campus resources are available to inform you and potential search and screen committee members of strategies that can be used to introduce changes in your typical hiring processes and practices. The manual from WISELI, “Searching for Excellence & Diversity,” is particularly useful. Another recommendation is the online resource “Hiring for Diversity: A Primer for Department Chairs” offered by The Chronicle of Higher Education’s store. This resource contains a recorded webinar, inclusive of search scenarios, as well as several readings to deepen your knowledge and ability to contribute to effecting change in your department’s hiring process.

We also offer dual career hiring services. After an offer is made to a faculty candidate, staff in the offices of Academic Affairs, Community Engagement, and Human Resources can work collaboratively with a candidate’s partner, to connect them to available opportunities and resources.

Finally, IUPUI is a member of the Greater Chicago Midwest HERC (Higher Education Recruitment Consortium), a national, non-profit association dedicated to assisting over 700 colleges and universities with the recruitment of highly talented and diverse faculty and staff.

Introducing even a small change to hiring procedures is a strategic way to build upon the strengths of our existing faculty while creating a more equitable and vibrant campus community.

Are you and your department committed to diversifying your faculty? What are the challenges you face as you pursue this commitment?

Please email feedback to nosugreF eigraM.

Proposals for the Faculty Inclusive Excellence Grants are being accepted on a rolling basis during the 2021-22 academic year, as funds are available.

The Faculty Inclusive Excellence Grants initiative, sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, will award up to 10 grants of up to $1,000 in support of faculty-engaged activities that advance the objectives of IUPUI’s Strategic Goal 9: Promoting an Inclusive Campus Climate.

Full-time faculty of any rank who have completed at least one year of employment at IUPUI are eligible to apply. Application and other information is available on the grant web page.

Questions can be directed to Gina Sanchez Gibau at ude[dot]iupui[at]zehcnasg.

For the past 12 years, IUPUI has been an institutional member with the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity, an independent faculty development center dedicated to helping academics make successful transitions throughout their careers.

As an institutional member, faculty have access to the following resources at no cost:

• Weekly Monday motivator.
• Monthly core curriculum webinars.
• Monthly guest expert webinars.
• Access to multiweek courses.
• A private discussion forum for peer-mentoring and problem-solving.
• Monthly accountability buddy matches.
• Moderated writing challenges.
• Access to the member library that includes past webinar materials, referrals and readings.
  

The opportunity to participate in the center’s unique form of mentoring and career development is available to IUPUI’s faculty, postdocs and graduate students. Once you complete the registration process and receive the “welcome email” from the center, you can register for an upcoming training like the 14-Day Writing Challenge or a webinar on “The Art of Saying No.”

For questions or comments about the membership, contact Gina Sanchez Gibau, associate vice chancellor for faculty diversity and inclusion, at ude[dot]iupui[at]zehcnasg. For technical questions, email the center at gro[dot]ytisreviDytlucaF[at]pihsrebmeM.

• Next month, we will discuss managing graduate/professional and post-doc appointments..

Reminders

• Fall Promotion and Tenure Workshops
  
• October 8: Fall Break – No Classes
• October 15: Nominations Close for University Honors and Awards
• October 18: Nominations Open for IUPUI Campus Awards
• November 1: IUPUI Last Lecture

• Faculty Affairs Guidance materials shared via IU Office 365: A repository of helpful information including how-to’s, when-to’s, and where-to’s.
  
• New Faculty Notes: Just-in-time monthly guidance to new faculty who cycle through New Faculty Orientation each year.
  
• Hiring Best Practices
  
• The Forum Network: An integrated coordinating structure that supports faculty collaboration and creativity.
  
• Faculty Crossing: A technology-rich collaboration space for faculty and teaching staff of all appointments. Part workroom, part café, the space provides a welcoming environment that promotes creativity and innovation. This space will reopen in the fall.
  
• Review the official long-term calendar for refresher on holidays and breaks for AY 2021-2022