Top 10 Best Practices Checklist

ATHENA STRIDE Search Committee Training 

TOP 10 BEST PRACTICES 

• 1. Build an effective search committee 
• All members should have attended the STRIDE search committee training in the last three years. 
• Complete the search committee STRIDE Intake Form, which notifies the STRIDE Committee of your search, so that they can assign an Equity Process Advocate (EPA).
  See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. III.6 | Page 12. 
• Contact the STRIDE Committee (athena@louisville.edu) if you have any questions.
• Establish committee responsibilities, set the tone and build consensus on the search criteria and process in the first meeting.
  See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. III.5 | Page 11 (Committee member responsibilities, Confidentiality form, Conflict Of Interest form) and Sec. IV.2 | Page 19. 
• Require/reward a high level commitment to diversity and excellence.
  See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. III.2 | Page 9. 
• Assign a staff member to support the search. 
• Have processes in place for person-specific hiring.
  See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. III.10 | Page 15. 
• 2. Pay close attention to both the language and the posting venues of the job Ad 
• Check the guidelines and the resources relating to language in the UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. III.9 | Page 14. 
• Use some of the language excerpts in the UofL STRIDE Handbook Appendix 2 | Page 36. 
• Post the job Ad in venues listed in UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. III.8 | Page 14. 
• Use online tools, such as gender-decoder, for scoring the Ad language on equity criteria: See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Appendix 2 | Page 36. 
• 3. Actively develop a diverse pool of applicants 
• Network directly with newly established scholars. 
• Review national pool and past search data and foster connections with institutions, on-campus postdoctoral programs, and professional organizations that train or support underrepresented groups in your field.
  See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. IV.1 | Page 18. 
• 4. Define the disciplinary area for your search as broadly as possible 
• Search as broadly as possible. If you have multiple positions over a period of several years, consider more broadly defined searches, with a multidisciplinary search committee. See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. III.7 | Page 13. 
• Consider searching in subfields that are more diverse. These can be called out specifically as areas of interest in your broad search. 
• 5. Ask for information you need from applicants 
• Ensure that all applicants know the criteria on which they are being evaluated. 
• Provide a template or checklist and clear instructions about the application process. 
• Require candidates to write about their current and planned contributions to diversity and inclusion in a Diversity Statement and use a rubric to evaluate it. Use the “DEIB Rubric” tool in UofL STRIDE Handbook - Appendix 7 - Page 42. 
• 6. Make sustained and conscious efforts to counter potential evaluation bias 
• Discuss and define specific evaluation criteria before the search. Ensure all search committee members and department faculty have a clear and shared understanding of the criteria. See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. IV.2 | Page 19. 
• Design evaluation tools, such as rubrics, that examine a candidate's strengths, accomplishments, and attributes along a variety of dimensions, including rubrics for evaluating Diversity Statements. See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. V.2 | Page 24. 
• Consider the environment in which achievements were made. 
• Be alert for bias around the candidate’s institution and/or subfield. 
• Avoid global evaluations and summary rankings that fail to consider all of the search criteria. 
• Use the “Rising Above Cognitive Errors” tool in UofL STRIDE Handbook - Appendix 3 - Page 37. 
• 7. Provide a welcoming environment and circumstances that will allow you to see the candidate at their best during the interview and campus visit (See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Secs. VI.1-2 | Pages 27-30.) 
• Attempt to avoid 'tokenism' in the interview pool by interviewing more than one female/minority candidate. 
• Avoid telling a candidate that you are interviewing them or want to hire them because of the social group to which they belong. 
• Ensure that all candidates meet a diverse group of people during their visit to campus. 
• Provide complete information about the visit well in advance. 
• Ask the candidate whom s/he would like to meet. 
• Identify an appropriate faculty host. 
• Ensure diversity in the audience for the job talk. 
• Introduce the candidate's job talk with a summary of their accomplishments/expertise. 
• Consider how welcoming the spaces in your department are (e.g. who is pictured?) 
• Do not ask the candidate about their personal life (age, marital status, children, etc.) even in off- campus situations (e.g. dinner with the search committee). Questions about personal life can have unintended consequences. 
• 8. Ensure that all candidates know about dual career support and family friendly policies. 
• Provide an information packet to all candidates (rather than making this contingent on gathering inappropriate personal information). 
• Be aware that dual career support is available to domestic partners of faculty recruits regardless of marital status or sexual orientation. Chairs, associate deans and deans – not individual faculty or the search committee - are the appropriate people to communicate with the candidate about dual career support.
  See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Secs. IIII.10 | Pages 15-17.
• 9. Manage the decision making process 
• Consider only job relevant criteria in evaluating candidates and make sure the views of all faculty are heard.
  See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Sec. VI.3 - Page 30. 
• Use the candidate evaluation rubric/tool for each step of the interview process, and refer to items on the evaluation tool when discussing the candidate, rather than subjective terms like “fit”.
  See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Secs. V.2-3 | Pages 24-25 & Appendix 4 | Page 38
• 10. Recruit the selected candidate and complete the STRIDE Data Debriefing
• Once a candidate is selected for a job offer, all relevant factors can be discussed. 
• Provide detailed information to ensure that the negotiation process is positive and effective for all candidates. See UofL STRIDE Handbook - Secs. VII.1-2 | Pages 31-32. 
• Check the Initial stage pool's Diversity characteristics on WorkDay
• Prepare STRIDE Debriefing Document and discuss with your EPA and as a committee (use this template) 
• Email STRIDE Debriefing Document  to athena@louisville.edu

• BONUS ITEM! Develop department policies and practices that aid in faculty support and retention
• Create mechanisms to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and retention.
• Make sure new faculty are mentored well and supported from Day 1 to be successful.