The Importance of Institutional and Advisor Characteristics in STEM Faculty Hiring

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Ten
  In Roundtable Session: Researcher, Instructor, and Advisor Partnerships to Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM (Table 11)

Abstract

The lack of racial diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is perhaps one of the most challenging issues in the U.S. higher education system. The issue is not only concerning diverse students, but also diverse faculty members. One important contributing factor is the faculty hiring process. To make progress in hiring decisions, it is necessary to better understand how applicants are considered and evaluated. In this paper, we describe our study based on a survey of current STEM faculty that examined the importance of institutional and advisor characteristics in STEM faculty hiring decisions. Our results reveal the distinct evaluation criteria between tenure-track and non-tenure-track hiring and indicate biases exist in faculty hiring that contribute to inequities.

Authors

• Jue Wu, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• Canek Moises Luna Phillips, Rice University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Torrie Cropps, University of Texas at Dallas
  Presenting Author

• Samara Rose Boyle, Rice University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yvette E. Pearson, University of Texas - Dallas
  Presenting Author