How to Do a Better Job of Searching for Diversity
As the members of the search committee gather for the first time, their goal seems straightforward: create a shortlist of finalists for the tenure-track position in their department. It’s agreed that anyone receiving one or more "outstanding" votes will be considered for a phone interview, and the rest will be dropped. Alice, a recently hired associate professor, really likes one candidate, but the other members tell her they’ve met him and he’s "a disaster," with a "terrible personality." He’s eliminated. Two postdoctoral fellows in the department have applied, but only one advances, because his mentor, Jane, is on the committee and vouches for him. A third candidate is held in reserve because someone heard she’d resigned from her job to follow her spouse, and the committee isn’t sure it can close the deal with both of them. A candidate from a prestigious Ph.D. program is granted a phone interview despite having no teaching experience, while someone from a lesser university who has taught is put on the back burner.