Damani White-Lewis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania
INQUIRY #2: Actualizing Equity in Faculty Searches and Hiring
In this workshop, Damani White-Lewis (University of Pennsylvania) maps the contours of racial inequities in faculty careers and describes tools, people, and contexts that can influence more equitable results in faculty searches and hiring. White-Lewis introduces three types of leadership attitudes—incrementalism, pragmatism, and progressivism—toward the advancement of diversity and inclusion in the professoriate. He then leads participants through an interrogation of each stage of hiring:
pre-search (enhancing conditions; the job ad; diversifying the pool)
search and evaluation (criteria, weight and order; decision-support tools; selection techniques; DEI statements)
post-search, yield, and success (corresponding with candidates; the department meeting; yield strategies)
Participants in this inquiry:
Map the novel, inclusive search and hiring policies and practices at their institutions and at competitive peers’ institutions.
Chart the leadership stances of stakeholders in their departments and universities.
Learn which evaluation tools are “low hanging fruit” to implement now and which may require more sustained and prolonged work. Where and how can you actively and authentically recruit?
Interrogate DEI statements and their rigorous review, as well as articulate the supports (e.g., financial, staff, etc.) that departments must provide to ensure DEI commitments won’t interfere with — or will perhaps align with — faculty research.
INQUIRY activities
Contribute to the discussion board your own department's/unit's most effective or promising reforms to faculty searches.
Watch Part III: Solutions & Strategies and Part IV: Discussion of this FAN event featuring Prof. White-Lewis and Prof. Roman Liera.
Read The Role of Administrative and Academic Leadership in Advancing Faculty Diversity and reflect: what's your prevailing theory of change — are you an incrementalist, a pragmatist, or a progressive? How does your frame impact the faculty hiring process in your unit?
List, for each stage of the faculty hiring process in your department, ways that you in your current position can directly or indirectly/abstractly impact the process. What are those areas of opportunity where you might have influence? For each area of opportunity you note, mark whether it's one where you have felt comfortable or uncomfortable showing up and influencing. Finally, for those areas where you feel most uncomfortable, write down how you might show up differently, based on what you took away from the reading.
Optional reading for further inquiry:
O’Meara, K., Templeton, L. L., White-Lewis, D. K., Culpepper, D., & Anderson, J. (2023). The Safest Bet: Identifying and Assessing Risk in Faculty Selection. American Educational Research Journal, First published online February 1, 2023. [PDF]
Culpepper, D., White-Lewis, D. K., O’Meara, K., Templeton, L. L. & Anderson, J. (2023). Do Rubrics Live up to Their Promise? Examining How Rubrics Mitigate Bias in Faculty Hiring, The Journal of Higher Education. [PDF]
White-Lewis, D. (2021). Before the ad: How departments generate hiring priorities that support or avert faculty diversity. Teachers College Record, 123(1). [PDF] [Video]
White-Lewis, D. (2020). The facade of fit in faculty search processes. The Journal of Higher Education, 91(6), 833-857. [PDF]
Fries-Britt, S., & White-Lewis, D. (2020). In pursuit of meaningful relationships: How Black males perceive faculty interactions in STEM. The Urban Review, 52(3), 521-540. [PDF]
O’Meara, K., Fink, J., White-Lewis, D. (2017). Who’s looking? Examining the role of gender and rank in faculty outside offers. NASPA Journal about Women in Higher Education, 10(1), 64-79. [PDF]
Liera R., Ching C. (2019). Reconceptualizing “merit” and “fit”: An equity-minded approach to hiring. In Kezar A., Posselt J. (Eds.), Administration for social justice and equity in higher education: Critical perspectives for leadership and decision-making. New York, NY: Routledge. [LINK]
Bastedo, M., Bowman, N., Glasener, K. & Kelly, J. (2018) What are We Talking About When We Talk About Holistic Review? Selective College Admissions and its Effects on Low-SES Students, The Journal of Higher Education, 89:5, 782-805, DOI: [LINK]