Equity Advisor Roles in Faculty Searches

The overall role of the faculty Equity Advisor in the senate faculty search process is to ensure that a fair and equitable search process is conducted. The OFEW website serves as a valuable resource for all topics related to faculty recruitment, including the Senate Search Guide, checklists and templates, scholarly research, and information on faculty contributions in regard to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging

OFEW is available to consult with Equity Advisors at any time during the faculty search process. Some situations, particularly those of a potential legal nature, should be brought to OFEW’s attention quickly.

The standard expectations for the role of Equity Advisors in senate faculty recruitments include the following activities:

Before the FTE allocation

• Support the development of departmental FTE requests by participating in faculty discussions about the direction of the department and its strategic hiring goals and needs. 

Developing and reviewing the search plan

• Consult with the chair (or dean) to ensure that the search committee is committed to implementing a fair search process that reflects the intentions of the campus allocated FTE.

• Serve on or be an advisor to the search committee. If the Equity Advisor is not a member of the search committee, one member must serve as the liaison to the Equity Advisor. The liaison will play the active role in the search, and consult with the department Equity Advisor periodically. 

• Review information in the Senate Search Guide to ensure that the committee has incorporated best practices for equitable search processes throughout the proposed process, including evaluation processes and tools.

• Ensure that the search plan includes robust, effective outreach methods to achieve a broad and diverse applicant pool.

• When the search plan is submitted for review, carefully consider the full search plan and request edits as needed. Approve the plan when ready.

Outreach/open application period

• Support and participate in search committee outreach efforts to achieve a broad and diverse applicant pool.

• Review the applicant pool immediately after the final deadline, including the aggregated, anonymous demographic diversity of the availability pool compared to the pool; the overall size of the pool compared to expectations; and the apparent overall quality of the pool. The search can be extended if initial efforts do not yield desired results. 

• Sign off on the Applicant Pool report when the resulting pool is of high quality.

During the applicant review process

• In collaboration with the chair of the search committee, ensure the integrity of the search process and that all voices on the committee are equally valued.

• Attend the search committee meetings if at all possible, monitoring discussions for fairness, and connection of the discussion and comments to the agreed upon selection criteria. Respectfully pause and redirect discussion when needed; deviations are usually unintended.

• Support the committee with difficult or tricky situations, for example: Unsolicited information received by the committee; faculty who advocate inequitably for or against a single candidate; conflicts of interest that aren’t managed appropriately; deselection of candidates that appears unfair; failure to follow the approved search plan; committee members who feel marginalized or pressured; identifying missing strong candidates who straddle more than one subfield; concerns about how candidates are treated during campus visits, etc. Consult with OFEW as needed.

• At a minimum, when possible attend the meeting where the short list is selected (if not already serving as a member of the committee) to ensure that fair processes for discussion of candidate qualifications are used.

• Highlight any candidates the committee may have overlooked, either because of potential bias, perceived devaluation of certain qualifications, or other concerns from the evaluation or discussion process. 

• Sign off on the Short List report if fair and equitable evaluation practices were used to select the group of finalists.

Campus visits and finalist selection

• Review the senate search guide for best practices to employ during the campus visits. Meet with the search committee chair to discuss these practices and plan a positive experience for each candidate. 

• Attend the job talks when possible.

• Use the campus visit as an important opportunity to share information about the variety of programs and practices that promote inclusion and a sense of belonging for all constituents at Berkeley.

• Equity advisors cannot require that applicants discuss their contributions to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in research, teaching, and service during interviews and other in-person sessions with candidates. Instead, search committees may invite applicants to speak to these qualifications at their own discretion and as they relate to the job duties. For example: You may ask candidates to “describe their approaches to teaching for the success of all students”; you may not ask candidates to “tell us about your contributions to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in your teaching.”

• Attend and participate in the departmental discussion of the finalists and selection of the top candidate, ensuring the integrity of the discussion to the selection criteria, and that all voices are equally valued. Respectfully pause and redirect discussion when needed.

• Sign off on the Search Report if a fair and equitable search was conducted.