HR: 1340h
AN: ED13B-1147    [Abstracts]
TI: Balancing Demographic, Diversity and Specialty in Faculty Recruiting: Two Decades of Experience From the Department of Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University
AU: * Bralower, T J
EM: bralower@geosc.psu.edu
AF: Pennsylvania State University, Department of Geosciences, University Park, PA 16802 United States
AU: Alexander, S S
EM: shel@geosc.psu.edu
AF: Pennsylvania State University, Department of Geosciences, University Park, PA 16802 United States
AU: Arthur, M A
EM: arthur@geosc.psu.edu
AF: Pennsylvania State University, Department of Geosciences, University Park, PA 16802 United States
AU: Slingerland, R L
EM: sling@geosc.psu.edu
AF: Pennsylvania State University, Department of Geosciences, University Park, PA 16802 United States
AB: The Department of Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University has 31 tenure track faculty members covering a wide range of expertise. Over the past two decades, the Department has seen turnover of more than 80% of its faculty involving transformation from rather separate programs in Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry to a more continuous range of expertise and expansion into evolving disciplines. Over the same time interval, the Department has had a significant increase in the proportion of female faculty members. Here we address various philosophical considerations of recruitment attempting to synthesize the collective wisdom of the four Department Heads who have directed this transformation. A critical element of our hiring process is the biannual University strategic planning process that includes a vigorous discussion about near-future hiring goals tied to voids left through retirement, resignation and identification of emerging fields. The Department has predominantly conducted searches directed at specific disciplines or fairly narrow ranges of specialties. Recently, however, we conducted a search aimed at a wide range of disciplines that was designed to attract a more diverse pool of outstanding applicants. Such broad-discipline searches are logistically and politically more challenging; however our recent search drew a significantly more diverse applicant pool and succeeded in recruiting the top two female candidates. The broad search was successful because we brought in a large number of candidates for interview, the Search Committee balanced its assessment of disparate disciplines, and the Committee Chair allayed potential disciplinary ``battles''; ultimately we were able to hire multiple excellent candidates from several specialties. We advocate a long-term hiring strategy that includes both broad-discipline and specific- discipline searches designed to maintain and enhance our academic excellence at the frontiers of Geosciences both nationally and internationally. The Department has directed searches and hired at all rank levels. Open-rank searches have the potential to attract a higher-caliber pool of applicants but generally favor senior candidates. To maintain demographic balance and to prevent future waves of retirement, we advocate a balanced hiring strategy with the majority of hires made at the Assistant or junior Associate Professor rank, but with the occasional senior hire. Informal feedback suggests top candidates accepted offers in part based on the Department's academic reputation, impressions of faculty collegiality, a strong mentoring system, and valuing of teaching. Recruitment, especially of female faculty, has also been helped by a spousal hiring program involving significant resources from the College and Central Administration.
DE: 0800 EDUCATION
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0855 Diversity
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005