Lessons Learned from Conducting a Diversity-Focused Faculty Cluster Hire at a Predominantly White Institution

Abstract

There is growing consensus regarding the need for more inclusive practices for faculty recruitment and hiring. Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have gained little ground in representation on research-university faculty. This lack of representation remains even as the student bodies at those same institutions have diversified significantly. Reasons for this gap include hiring criteria and procedures that may reduce-implicitly or explicitly-the likelihood that outstanding new academics from historically marginalized populations are offered positions on Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) faculties. We present a descriptive case study that recounts a recent cluster faculty hire at the University of Colorado Boulder. The study is designed to share processes used at our institution that were, in part, based on work previously shared by other institutions embarking on similar efforts to improve the inclusivity of their faculty search processes. We discuss the complex and controversial issues that arose while searching for tenure-track faculty and explain how we navigated those challenges to meet our institution's goals. We also discuss the institutional, college, and department-level support systems that were deemed crucial for recruiting faculty, with their long-term success and retention in mind. We share what worked well, the challenges we faced ranging from simple logistics to significant philosophical differences among and between committee members and others, and a summary of what we will change in the future. This work adds to both research and praxis by providing an example of an inclusive faculty search process to leaders at other institutions who may wish to implement this type of search.