Chapter 3: Best Practice Highlights—Recruiting and Hiring Diverse Faculty

Because the majority of faculty at dental schools and allied dental programs come from private practice, it is imperative that dental education develop pipeline and pre-professional programs to support the academic readiness, matriculation and graduation of historically underrepresented and marginalized (HURM) students in these programs.

It is from these graduates that a more plurality of academic dentistry faculty will change.

Faculty candidates will expect to see a commitment to diversity within key strategic planning documents, such as the institutional, college and departmental mission statements.

The effective recruitment of HURM faculty require campuses to identify resources and use data to develop a comprehensive faculty recruitment search plan and checklist.

Faculty Search Committees must be pluralistic in their composition, and the Committee’s official charge should be approved and sent to the Committee from the dental school dean and/or allied dental program director.

The following three essential items should be included in faculty position job search descriptions: 

• Overview of the department/institution, 
• Primary job duties and 
• Qualifications for the position.

Faculty position job search descriptions should include a substantive statement of the department’s interest in diversity-related research, teaching or service in the body of the advertisement.

Examples include the following language:

• “We welcome candidates whose experience in teaching, research or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence.”
• “Individuals with a history of and commitment to mentoring students from underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply.”
• “The department is seeking outstanding candidates with the potential for exceptional research, excellence in teaching and a clear commitment to enhancing the diversity of the faculty, graduate student population and of the majors in [X].”
• “A demonstrated commitment to improving access to higher education for disadvantaged students through teaching or mentoring activities is desired.”
• “The Department is particularly interested in candidates who have experience working with students from diverse backgrounds and has a demonstrated commitment to improving access to higher education for disadvantaged students.” 
• “Experience in mentoring women and minorities in STEM fields is desired. 
• “The University of California seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the people of California, to maintain the excellence of the University and to offer our students richly varied disciplines, perspectives and ways of knowing and learning.” 

► Figure 4. Four Components of Diversity Statement Scorecard

University of California – Irvine has “Equity Advisors” who work with search committees to provide training on the use of the diversity statement evaluation grid. Faculty candidates are evaluated on four components of the diversity statement. An example of the scoring system is below.

Examples: (5 = EXCELLENT) (1 = STATEMENT ONLY)

• Helps to identify candidates who have job skills, experience and/or willingness to engage in diversity-type activities that could enhance campus diversity efforts.
• Promotes commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in faculty culture.
• Underscores our public commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

The Search Committee and faculty should have ongoing training and discussions regarding the appropriate avenues for ensuring an equitable faculty search process. These discussions and trainings should be held in collaboration with the university and college/departmental-level Human Resources, Academic/Faculty Affairs and Equal Opportunity representatives.

Appoint tenured faculty to serve as red team strategists and diversity champions to promote equitable search principles and practices.

Campuses should review the impact of tenure clock-stoppage policies and practices to ensure that they are truly gender neutral in effect.

Cognitive errors are shortcuts that corrupt “rational thinking, estimate probabilities, and sound decision-making and investing.” Similar to implicit biases, cognitive errors are not judgement mistakes that individuals with bad intentions necessarily make, but when not given the opportunity to be thorough, deliberate and careful in our evaluations, anyone can make them.

Dysfunctions that should be avoided by Tenure and Promotion Committees: 

• Overloading and rushing - Undertaking complex tasks without appropriate time, resources or relief from other loads.
• No coaching or practice - No training in searching and interviewing practices, so people default to what they have seen or experienced before.
• No ground rules - Before filtering applicants, have we established the needs and priorities for the program or how the committee will function, process and help each other? Have we gathered information on who else committee members can call upon?
• Absence of reminders and monitoring - For example, lack of reminders of common errors, highest priorities and a process monitor on the committee.
• No one is accountable – The committee decides no updates or disclosure is required.
• Lack of debriefing for systematic improvement - Committees start from scratch over and over again.  

Academic ethnocentrism refers to the “ways in which the academy relies on a North American/Western European canon as the frame of reference” to judge scholarship. The affect is that faculty of color, women, and marginalized groups are pressured and socialized to convey and validate research and ideas through their teaching and publications that are in the align with mainstream European culture.

Imposter syndrome is not simply the conflict between one’s identity within the academe and identity or a lack of self-esteem, but the feeling of isolation and chipping away of self that results from everyday signals from faculty and students that one does not belong.

Cultural "taxation" poses a significant dilemma for HURM scholars because they frequently find themselves having to respond to situations that are imposed on them by the administration, which assumes that they are best suited for specific tasks because of their gender identity, sexual orientation and race/ethnicity or their presumed knowledge of cultural differences. This taxation takes many forms, with some being easier to identify than others.

In evaluating candidates, Search Committees and the faculty must understand the impact of implicit basis on their assumptions, viewpoints and beliefs. This will require ongoing training in the area of implicit bias, cognitive errors and the cultural competence continuum.

The voting procedure, clearly defined criteria and how the criteria will be weighed should be part of the Faculty Recruitment Plan and explicitly agreed upon in advance.

Consider a longer list of candidates or an intermediate list and avoid labeling candidates as a “good fit” without explicit criteria explanation.

► Figure 5. The Association of American Medical College’s Holistic Review Framework’s Experiences, Attributes and Metrics Model

► Figure 6. Four Components of Diversity Statement Scorecard

In order to avoid premature favoritism or prioritization of applicants early in the process, The University of Chicago recommends using a criterion grid to individually discuss and focus on the objective

Post-assessment is an integral part of the faculty recruitment process and should be included in the Faculty Recruitment Plan. While fresh, this critical evaluation allows the Search Committee to document successes, areas in need of improvement, and to note future process and search needs.

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