The President’s Advisory Council on Race was established to help guide the university's progress in realizing the ideals of equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice in its educational, research, and engagement missions. A central component of this effort is the urgent need to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty at UB, with an institutional goal that meets or exceeds the levels of top AAU peers. The President’s Advisory Council on Race has recommended a number of possible strategies for reaching this ambitious goal including cluster hiring, enhanced support to recruit and retain junior faculty, and additional university services to support diversity. The Council drew particular attention to the need to create a system of accountability in ensuring diversity in the hiring process and to empower decanal units and departments to develop specific action plans for anti-racist research, teaching, hiring, and retention.
The Faculty Recruitment, Mentoring, and Retention Subcommittee will be guided by the recommendations advanced by the President’s Advisory Council on Race and will investigate and make recommendations on the most effective methods for accomplishing these goals. The subcommittee will:
- Review the hiring processes for faculty to create a system of accountability for ensuring diversity and following best practices for searches, including considering:
- Requiring anti-bias education and establishing clear expectations for search committees
- Creating a transparent recruitment process
- Implementing review points along the search timeline
- Building institutional hiring networks to advanced URM PhD students and postdoctoral scholars
- Workable action-based strategies (e.g., cluster hires) for increasing the hiring and retention of URM faculty
- Review mentoring practices for faculty, assess their efficacy and consider how they can be re-designed to support and promote diversity.
- Review faculty retention strategies currently in place throughout UB and assess their efficacy.
- Explore what additional supports and resources are needed to further promote diversity, equity and inclusion within UB’s faculty recruitment, mentoring and retention efforts.
- Develop specific recommendations that would have widespread support across the university and could begin to be implemented immediately.
- Frame recommendations within requirements stemming from applicable curriculum, state, SUNY, accreditation, and similar policies and guidelines.
- Recommend roles and responsibilities for each recommendation.
