During the academic year 2020-2021, the Biology Department at Emory University conducted a faculty search that was designed to continue the success of the department in building an inclusive department. There were several actions taken to ensure an equitable search process despite the challenges and biases inherent in search processes that were likely further exacerbated by a raging global pandemic.
The search was approved for two tenure track faculty positions with no formal limitation on the academic rank of the hires. The whole department invested in efforts to have a very broad search that would have the highest likelihood of identifying and recruiting outstanding scientists with a commitment to teaching who also showed evidence of actions toward the mission of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
For this search, we modified aspects of our traditional search in several ways that included the strategy for the search, the ad that described the position, the composition of the search committee, which was expanded to include trainee members, and aspects of the process (performed largely virtually due to COVID-19). We were fortunate to have strong support from leadership at all levels from the Department to the Dean and Dean’s Office to allow us to make changes aligned with the goals of the search.
A successful search takes a great deal of time and effort dedicated from the search committee as well as all members of the department. The input from trainees, which was new to our process, was invaluable. We will seek to incorporate some of the lessons learned during this recent experience in future searches, with the caveat that we all hope to hold future searches in person. However, there are aspects of the virtual process that may enhance equity and, thus, should be considered for the future. Each search is unique with distinct challenges and opportunities, but there are concrete actions we can take to mitigate bias in the process.
We equally valued Research, Teaching, and Actions toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as supporting the Excellence we were seeking in candidates. We scored each of these categories in our initial evaluation of 585 completed applications consisting of a cover letter (CV), research, teaching, and DEI statements as well as recommendation letters.
