A&S Faculty Recruiting Workshop

• OU Climate Survey– Lori Snyder

• Implicit Bias and Better Practices– Sheena Murphy

• Experiences of OU Dept. of Philosophy – Wayne Riggs and Stephen Ellis

Factors which may impact the impartiality of your search process

Sheena MurphyDepartment of Physics and Astronomy

Experiments on the influences of race and gender on hiring

o “Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students”, Corinne A. Moss-Racusina, John F. Dovidio, Victoria L. Brescoll, Mark J. Graham, and Jo Handelsman, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 109 16474 (2012).

o “The Impact of Gender on the Review of the Curricula Vitae of Job Applicants and Tenure Candidates: A National Empirical Study”, Rhea E. Steinpreis, Katie A. Anders, and Dawn Ritzke, Sex Roles 41, 509 (1999).

o “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination”, Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, American Economic Review, 94 991 (2004).

Experiment on Gender Bias for Academic Scientists: Details of Study

Mythical Applicationfor a lab manager position, submitted by an “undergrad science major” with stated intention to attend grad school

evaluated by 127 U.S. men and women in biology, chemistry or physics departments from 3 private, 3 public, large, Research-Intensive

universities

“Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students”, Corinne A. Moss-Racusina, John F. Dovidio, Victoria L. Brescoll, Mark J. Graham, and Jo Handelsman, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 109 16474 (2012).

Experiment on Gender Bias for Academic Scientists: Results

1-7 (low-high) Scale

John was • more competent• more hireable• deserving of more

mentoringthan Jennifer

• Both men and women faculty were more likely to hire the male applicant, “John”

• Both men and women faculty offered “John” a higher starting salary

Experiment on Gender Bias for Academic Scientists:Results

Experiment on Gender, Hiring and Tenure in Academic Psychology: Details of Study

• Subjects: – 238 academic psychologists (half female/half male)

– Gender and quality of academic institution were known to researchers

• Each subject received one of 4 possible packets– Early packet (CV, teaching statement, bibliography)

• Identical except for name Karen Miller or Brian Miller

– Mature packet (CV, teaching record, more mature bibliography)

• Identical except for name Karen Miller or Brian Miller

• Tasks for Subjects: – To make a hiring decision recommendation– To make a tenure recommendation

“The Impact of Gender on the Review of the Curricula Vitae of Job Applicants and Tenure Candidates: A National Empirical Study”, Rhea E. Steinpreis, Katie A. Anders, and Dawn Ritzke, Sex Roles 41, 509 (1999).

Experiment on Gender, Hiring and Tenure in Academic Psychology: Results for Entry Level Hire

Early stage female cvs resulted in more negative hiring recommendations.

Early cvMature cv

Experiment on Gender, Hiring and Tenure in Academic Psychology

Does Gender of Reviewer Matter?

Gender of reviewer did not matter. Women and men discriminated equally in regards to gender of candidate.

Experiment on Race and Hiring in Marketplace:Details of Study

• 1300 help wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers.

• Four fictitious resumes sent to each ad– Two high quality resumes/Two lower quality resumes– Each resume tagged with either a traditionally African-

American name or a traditionally white name

• Return calls requesting interviews were logged for each of the four classifications.

“Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination”, Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, American Economic Review, 94 991 (2004).

Experiment on Race and Hiring in Marketplace: Results

Resumes with white names received callbacks 50% more often than those with African-American names.

Sample Percent Response for White Resumes

Percent Response for African-American Resumes

Ratio

All resumes 9.65 6.45 1.5

Chicago 8.06 5.40 1.49

Boston 11.63 7.76 1.5

Implicit Bias Summary

• It is quite possible for well-meaning, egalitarian minded individuals (both men and women) to discriminate both on gender and race.

• While the act is subtle (implicit bias) the net result is not.

Are there intervention strategies?

Fortunately, some implicit bias can be negated by reminding subjects to be cognizant of impartiality and bias at the onset of the review process, Devine, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82 (2002).

Better Search Committee Practices Before you interview

Committee ConstructionEstablishing criteria

Reaching the PoolDocumentationCampus Interview Concerns

Construction of search committee

• Include individuals with different perspectives and expertise and with demonstrated commitment to diversity. Make sure the committee reflects as well as possible the diversity within the unit.

• Include a graduate student if possible.

• All departments should include an outside member on the committee. If there is no woman or minority within the department, consider including one from outside.

Guiding the Process

• Hold mtg before the application deadline to develop and implement a recruiting plan.

– Discuss and establish ground rules on meeting schedules, and confidentiality issues.

– Discuss the roles and expectations. – Discuss the decision making process– Discuss implicit bias

• Reach a common understanding of the selection criteria and procedures for screening candidates, before materials from applicants begin to arrive.

– Potential vs. demonstrated accomplishments– What constitutes a strong publication record?– Is “fit” important? What does “fit” mean?– Relative weight of necessary qualifications– Be able to defend decisions– Is mentoring of students important?– Approximate length of long list– Approximate length of short list

• Keep minutes to minimize misunderstandings

Reaching the pool

o May consider using proactive language. Ex. from MIT:

– “MIT is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications from minorities and women.”

o Make personal contact with underrepresented groups (minorities or women in some departments) at professional conferences and invite them to apply.

OEO requires that you list the advertisement sources and the outreach efforts for minorities and women.

Campus Interview Concerns

Provide packets to on campus candidatesLeave policiesChildcare resourcesCommunity literatureReal estate contacts

Do not ask questions about:ReligionEthnic OriginMarital StatusSexual OrientationEmployment Status of SpouseParenthoodFuture ParenthoodDisability

Insure that graduate students/faculty spouses etc. are also informed about what to ask/what not to ask

Protect candidates from renegade faculty

Tips

• Prioritize selection criteria• Do not let personal or narrow perspectives of

individual committee members dominate the process

• Make committee members defend their decisions to reject or retain an applicant

• Be sure standards are being applied consistently