Retaining
- No minority faculty wants to get a job because they are minorities. Make it clear to the candidates and to the current faculty members the importance of diversity to the institution. Quality is not compromised to achieve diversity.
- For every new faculty member, assign a mentor within the department. The mentor should, as a minimum:
- provide clear guidelines on criteria and timelines for promotion and tenure, and provide examples of successful cases;
- check career expectations regularly (decreasing expectations are a negative sign);
- check progress regularly, and provide early intervention where apparent progress is below standards;
- offer assistance with preparation of grant proposals, and provide examples of successful cases.
- provide clear guidelines on criteria and timelines for promotion and tenure, and provide examples of successful cases;
- Encourage minority members of the faculty to share experiences.
- Check for diversity in all discretionary career-influencing decisions: nominations for awards, nominations for university level committees (NOT the space committee) acting and associate leadership positions.
- Perform exit interviews to monitor for possible problem areas.
- Provide diversity workshops as part of faculty development. They focus on the benefits of the different and rich perspectives that people can contribute, for example the diversity factor in creativity and ingenuity.
- Strong and visible leadership by the chair is the most critical element in establishing a culture of diversity. The ‘champion effect’ is influential. This leadership can be provided by:
- clear statements of standards and objectives
- personal participation in discussions and events
- personal interest in gender- and minority-based issues
- clear statements of standards and objectives
