Performance: The Hidden Evaluation on Teaching Demonstrations, Job Talks, and Informal Interactions

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 1:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Faculty Issues 3 (Table 35)

Abstract

Faculty hiring can be described as an opaque process fraught with biases and unclear evaluative standards that require close attention. Therefore, we focus on search committees’ evaluation of candidates’ performance related to job talks, teaching demonstrations, and informal interactions of faculty hiring. Through interviews with 33 faculty members from various academic disciplines and diverse backgrounds, we found the following themes: (a) the coded language about candidates’ performance (b) hidden public speaking skills, and (c) the “fit” of candidates’ personality. There are hidden aspects of performance evaluation on faculty hiring—physical appearance abiding by Western and whiteness beauty standards, parenthood being rejected in academia, and valuing gender norms.

Authors

• Jesenia Rosales, Michigan State University

• Leslie D. Gonzales, University of Arizona

• Naseeb Kaur Bhangal, Michigan State University

• Chastity Stokes, Michigan State University