Chairs wield a considerable amount of influence over students, staff, and faculty colleagues within their departments. By encouraging inclusive and equitable hiring practices, chairs can create significant change in their departments. Inclusive and equitable hiring practices, for example, can be achieved through understanding and mitigating the influence of implicit biases in decision-making, using strategic hiring plans, and developing equity-checks in the hiring process.
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 Office of Academic Affairs will also be making available the Guidebook for Inclusive Academic Appointments at IUPUI this fall. This guidebook, along with modules related to equitable hiring processes (also forthcoming), and support from the director of equity education, Dr. Teresa Sosa, are part of a concerted, integrated approach to supporting unit leadership in achieving inclusive hiring practices.
Other useful resource includes the manual from WISELI, “Searching for Excellence & Diversity”. 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 small, incremental strategic changes to hiring procedures is necessary for creating a more equitable and vibrant campus community.
