The history of Black people across the globe is marred by structural racism created by colonialism. Structural racism is deeply embedded in the American culture and academia is not excluded from this phenomenon. The research demonstrates that the problem of racism is not only prevalent in four-year academic institutions but also exists in two-year…

In modern higher education, nurturing successful interdisciplinary collaboration is both an institutional priority and a grand organizational and cultural challenge. Recent scholarship describes the many and varied challenges inherent in the enactment of interdisciplinarity; it also explores how these challenges can be mitigated to spur successful…

Faculty members are entrusted with great power to decide who deserves space within the academic profession. Given that the profession's central mission is knowledge production, such decisions inevitably concern epistemic matters, and specifically, what constitutes legitimate knowledge. From this perspective, faculty hiring is not only a matter of…

Many institutions within higher education are committed to hiring a diverse and representative body of faculty and staff, yet few institutions have realized this commitment. Instead, administrative staff demographics have not significantly changed over recent decades. To examine the intersection of institutional commitments and outcomes, this…

The homogeneous nature of senior leadership in U.S. colleges and universities and the absence of diverse perspectives in decision making is cause for concern. The nation's college student population has become increasingly diverse, with Black, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander (API), and Indigenous groups making up 45% of 4-year college…

As the face of higher education has changed, the need for a more diverse workforce has increased. It is aspirational and essential for students of color to see themselves reflected in the faces of their faculty and staff. Campus diversity enriches the educational experience for all faculty, staff, and students. Unfortunately, the rate of hiring…

Academic librarian hiring processes are designed to allow hiring institutions to learn about candidates through a multiple-round process, but often these processes are not designed with the candidates in mind. This paper uses a qualitative approach to interpret and understand how the attitudes of search committee members shape on-campus interview…

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the principle of fairness as equity, defined by Adams, is applied during the selection of school principals. Our focus was on a secondary education directorate drawing data in two ways. Firstly, a questionnaire was given to candidates who participated in the selection process, in order to…

Efforts to mitigate bias in faculty hiring processes are well-documented in the literature. Yet, significant barriers to the hiring of racially minoritized and White women in many STEM fields remain. An underreported barrier to inclusive hiring is assessment of risk. Guided by theory from behavioral economics, social psychology, and…

Employee selection and group decision-making skills are critical for ensuring hiring is valid, meets organizational goals, and considers ethical and legal limitations. This exercise has participants role-play members of a search committee reviewing job finalists using shared and unique information. A novel twist to traditional hidden-profile…

Colleges and universities across the United States face novel perils that include a decline in enrollment trends, questions about the value of a college degree, and increased scrutiny of institutional practices and policies. Due to the spotlight shined on all aspects of the higher education industry, presidents of colleges and universities have…

In response to the need for greater racial and ethnic diversity, the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) at Indiana University Indianapolis introduced a mandatory equity and inclusion-centered training program for faculty search committees in August 2023. This training addresses key challenges in achieving faculty diversity, including biases, narrow…

Bias among faculty search committees has been considered a significant barrier to diversifying the professoriate. Given the traditional faculty hierarchy in academia, junior faculty search chairs may not have the positional power to challenge authority when confronted with bias or prejudice. Yet, search chairs are expected to ensure equitable…

Faculty hiring is an important dimension of diversity efforts across many postsecondary institutions. Many U.S. colleges and universities have released faculty job announcements establishing a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as a necessary criterion for applicants. This move is significant because it entrenches…

As preparation for the rhetoric and composition job market becomes more readily available through multiple sources, some cover letter writers may need clarification on the well-meaning but perhaps conflicting responses to writing given to them by mentors from differing backgrounds, statuses, and epistemes. This article seeks to illuminate the…