Progress Report: Faculty Recruitment, Mentoring and Retention

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.

All members of search committees must undergo anti-bias education and learn best practices for search.

Search committees are expected to:

• Have knowledge of the diversity in the discipline and strive to have a pool of candidates that represents the discipline’s diversity.
• Have a composition that is diverse in outlook and expertise and works closely with HR and a UDO to ensure best practices at all stages of the process.
• Evaluate and report at different stages as to whether the hiring plan goals have been met (check points).

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.