Published November 16, 2023
Summary of Progress:
The Faculty Recruitment, Mentoring and Retention Subcommittee recommended several strategies for ensuring that faculty search committees are committed to equity and that candidate pools reflect the diversity of the discipline. In 2022-23, the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (VPFAC) surveyed deans to assess current hiring practices, which showed that what is happening across academic units is uneven. Deans are encouraged to share with each other best practices that can be implemented across schools without significantly slowing down the faculty hiring progress. At the department level, the Chair’s Leadership Program Conversation series, held by the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (VPFAC) includes issues related to bias in hiring and retention.
Enhancing faculty diversity has been a university priority. In 2020, the Provost set a goal of doubling the number of faculty from historically underrepresented groups by 2025 and has worked closely with deans and supported faculty hiring initiatives within the schools to accomplish this goal. As a result of these concerted efforts, hiring of historically underrepresented faculty has been robust in recent years. The percentage of historically underrepresented faculty among new tenured and tenure-track faculty hires has increased from 6% in 2017 to approximately 28% in the last two years.
As the subcommittee recognized, it is equally important that UB provide support and resources to retain faculty and enable their success. As part of the annual resource planning process, the university is continuing to invest recurring funds in decanal units so that deans have the opportunity to reward our most accomplished faculty while proactively addressing faculty retention issues in their schools. To promote faculty success, at the university level, the VPFAC provides guidance for departments to provide excellent mentorship for faculty. The VPFAC also provides training resources for new faculty and department chairs that specifically address issues related to equity, diversity and inclusion as well as opportunities for faculty leadership and career development. On a national level, UB is a member of the National Center for Faculty Diversity and Development (NCFDD). UB faculty members have engaged in numerous NCFDD initiatives, including the Faculty Success Program (FSP) which supports faculty with developing practices to increase their research and writing productivity while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
In 2022, UB participated in the Harvard COACHE Survey of Faculty Job Satisfaction, which is designed to assess faculty views on a range of university policies, practices and working conditions to provide UB with valuable feedback and benchmarking data. The survey results were reviewed by eight faculty-guided teams to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement in key focus areas. In spring 2023, the results were shared widely with the campus through presentations and the Faculty Affairs website. The COACHE survey results, which will be used to inform policy and program improvements, are critical for us as we strive to attract and retain excellent new faculty, enhance the satisfaction of all faculty, and continue to make UB a great place to work.
Recommendation | Status |
Establish and prioritize opportunity “cluster hires” across related disciplines over a period of time (e.g., 3 years) to develop a cohort and community of scholars. Hires should be made at the department level with university-wide support and direction. | Ongoing |
Develop, expand, and/or improve current UB signature initiatives around underrepresented (UR) scholars with improved coordination and communication (e.g., VITAL, iSEED, DVS) across campus.
Use these programs to enhance recruitment and establish networks with universities with UR scholar populations (e.g., Historically Black Colleges and Universities). | Ongoing |
Establish a program that provides opportunities for leadership development and career strengthening options for established faculty. | Ongoing: Faculty Affairs offers opportunities for faculty leadership and career development, and is considering expanding the Faculty Leadership Academy. |
Improve UB salary structure, relative to peer institutions, and accord greater importance to service as part of annual salary reviews. Continue to solve discrepancies of salary where UR faculty seems to be compensated lower than other faculty with similar performance/credentials. | Ongoing |
Create mechanisms that specifically address issues/gaps identified through periodic surveys (e.g., COACHE) | Ongoing |
Develop a proactive faculty retention strategy including with a preemptive retention program, having a standing committee (Faculty Affairs Office) focused on the retention of UR faculty with a well-coordinated effort from Chairs and Deans. | Ongoing: Exploring the creation of a Provost’s Faculty Advisory Group. |
Provide support for identity-based affinity groups (e.g., Minority Faculty and Staff Association) that facilitate/enhance faculty experience and connection within UB. | Ongoing |
Create a system (at the Provost level) for rewarding entire units to recognize creative and impactful approaches in hiring, mentoring, and retaining faculty. | Ongoing |
Create a guidebook with specific pre-search, implementation, and post-search (including onboarding) guidelines and best practices for search committees. | In Progress |
Search committee’s plan should describe the process, strategies, and goals that ensure a diverse candidate pool. Human Resources (HR) and the decanal Unit Diversity Officer (UDO) must approve plan. | In Progress: Faculty Affairs is surveying deans to assess current hiring practices and identify best practices that can be implemented across schools without significantly slowing down the faculty hiring progress. |
All members of search committees must undergo anti-bias education and learn best practices for search. | |
Search committees are expected to:
Stop and re-start searches that show no evidence of a concerted effort to meet the goals of the plan. | |
Develop and fund a program to hire and mentor UR postdoctoral fellows and research assistant professors in departments, as part of a cluster hire, providing a pathway to hire in tenure track lines. | In Progress |
Assure resources to develop new and/or expand flexible mentorship initiatives (e.g., a dynamic Mentoring & Networking Platform for a variety of faculty-driven mentoring relationships, under development in Faculty Affairs). | In Progress |
Recognize “invisible work” and efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion by faculty as part of scholarly activities that are considered for promotion and tenure. | In Progress: Faculty Affairs is working with the Faculty Senate on changes to promotion and tenure, including better recognizing service and contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion by faculty. |
Examine processes/procedures for recognizing faculty (e.g., SUNY and UB Excellence Awards and Distinguished Professors), to identify biases and establish consistent practices across decanal units. Guidelines should include bias and cultural competence education of different committees. | In Progress: Office of Faculty Recognition established to increase faculty recognition across the university and create consistency and address bias across departments by establishing awards committees. |
Develop opportunities to highlight and celebrate UR faculty achievements more prominently, outside of current formats that celebrate faculty success in general. | In Progress: Faculty Affairs is working with Academic Affairs on an awards wall and also looking at other ways to recognize all faculty. |
Review the policies and resources for sabbatical and research leave and how they might be reframed to better support UR faculty scholarship. | In Progress |
Create UB internal research funding opportunities and tailored support for external funding applications with focus on scholarship, research, and creative expression that is of broader interest to UR faculty. | In Progress: UB is working on increasing support for civic engagement and other kinds of research through the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. |
