Faculty Hiring Research Articles

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Radiology Department Financial Impact and Planning for Post-COVID Recovery.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Radiology Department Financial Impact and Planning for Post-COVID Recovery.

Student Evaluations of Teaching Encourages Poor Teaching and Contributes to Grade Inflation: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) do not measure teaching effectiveness, and their widespread use by university administrators in decisions about faculty hiring, promotions, and merit increases encourages poor teaching and causes grade inflation. Students need to get good grades, and faculty members need to get good SETs. Therefore, SETs empower students to shape faculty behavior. This power can be used to reward lenient-grading instructors who require little work and to punish strict-grading instructors. This article reviews research that shows that students (a) reward teachers who grade leniently with positive SETs, (b) reward easy courses with positive SETs, and (c) choose courses that promise good grades. The study also shows that instructors want (and need) good SETs.

Nudging Toward Diversity: Applying Behavioral Design to Faculty Hiring

This narrative and integrative literature review synthesizes the literature on when, where, and how the faculty hiring process used in most American higher education settings operates with implicit and cognitive bias. The literature review analyzes the “four phases” of the faculty hiring process, drawing on theories from behavioral economics and social psychology. The results show that although much research establishes the presence of bias in hiring, relatively few studies examine interventions or “nudges” that might be used to mitigate bias and encourage the recruitment and hiring of faculty identified as women and/or faculty identified as being from an underrepresented minority group. This article subsequently makes recommendations for historical, quasi-experimental, and randomized studies to test hiring interventions with larger databases and more controlled conditions than have previously been used, with the goal of establishing evidence-based practices that contribute to a more inclusive hiring process and a more diverse faculty.

The structural whiteness of academic patronage

ABSTRACT In this essay, we describe the protest cycle that begins when scholars from the margins make demands on an institution or on the discipline for changes to ameliorate structural inequalities and offer two interventions related to the gridlock described above. First, we chart the patronage dynamic that produces pathological economies of liberal reform in the field of rhetoric. And second, we present possible solutions to break those cycles to produce a more equitable academic culture. We ultimately argue for divesting from cis-hetero whiteness and masculinity, particularly as it is sedimented in the distributed academic property rights through which white scholars retain control over disciplinary boundaries, publication decisions, faculty hiring, and tenure and promotion.

Looking backwards to move forward: Using a social mission lens in nursing education.

The ideals of health equity continue to be constrained by the conditions in which people live, learn and work. But to what extents are nursing schools strengthening the preparedness of nurses to extend their reach and help individuals and communities achieve their highest level of health? A culture of health and health equity is built on a framework of social mission. The authors believe that social mission is not new to the nursing profession. However, a clear understanding of the historical evolution of social mission as it relates to nursing education could provide a solid foundation for understanding the extent to which nursing curricula aligns with a commitment to advancing healthcare outcomes. This manuscript is a commentary that outlines the foundational understanding of the history of social mission in nursing education through the present time and amplifies that educators should consider how adopting a social mission lens could help schools more effectively align their curricula, policies and practices with health equity. Social mission refers to the school's commitment to advance health equity in everything it does from admissions and faculty hiring policies, to curriculum development, the extent of community based experiential learning, and, ultimately measured in their graduates' outcomes (Mullan, 2017). It is the authors' view that the rich history, the magnitude of the sector, and the current transformational conversations occurring in the nursing profession, all call for a deeper analysis and engagement of nursing leaders in this topic.

A Field Study: The Business Of Engaging Higher Education Adjunct Faculty

Competition among higher educational institutions has increased especially among public and private institutions; this is exacerbated by demographic changes whereby the number of high school graduates continues to decrease. Additionally, colleges and universities face daunting competition challenges retaining students; therefore, they are reexamining their long-established business models. As a result, to offset costs, higher education institutions continue to increase the hiring of adjunct faculty. Currently, adjunct instructors account for more than half of all faculty appointments and that number is expected to increase. To amplify the situation, college and university accreditation organizations are requiring student retention and faculty work engagement as part of the effectiveness and accreditation process. Customarily, compared to full-time faculty, adjunct faculty are less engaged with their work as effective coaches and mentors for students outside the classroom. Thus, a quantitative study using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale questionnaire sought adjunct faculty feedback in terms of engagement with their work for academic and student success and how the results could be used to increase this engagement.

On Students’ (Mis)judgments of Learning and Teaching Effectiveness

Students’ judgments of their own learning are often misled by intuitive yet false ideas about how people learn. In educational settings, learning experiences that minimize effort and increase the appearance of fluency, engagement, and enthusiasm often inflate students’ estimates of their own learning, but do not always enhance their actual learning. We review the research on these “illusions of learning,” how they can mislead students’ evaluations of the effectiveness of their instructors, and how students’ evaluations of teaching effectiveness can be biased by factors unrelated to teaching. We argue that the heavy reliance on student evaluations of teaching in decisions about faculty hiring and promotion might encourage teaching practices that boost students’ subjective ratings of teaching effectiveness, but do not enhance—and may even undermine—students’ learning and their development of metacognitive skills.

Avoiding immigration limbo.

“Banks won't give a mortgage loan to someone who is only going to be in the country for 1 year,” declared the real estate agent. His remark shocked me. I was a tenure-track faculty member at the time, but I was deemed unworthy to receive a line of credit because of my visa situation. I'm a citizen of the Philippines, and the visa that my U.S. institution obtained for me had to be renewed each year. So, on paper it looked as though I only had permission to be in the country for 1 year. My wife and I encountered many such hurdles because of my visa—and they ultimately drove me to quit my faculty position and leave the country. ![][1] ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER > “Don't sign … until you know that you'll have what you need in your new country.” In hindsight, I didn't take the visa application process seriously enough when I was negotiating my job offer. I was so excited about landing a tenure-track position that I didn't take time to think through what kind of visa and accommodations I would need to make my personal life work. I also assumed that the university had a system in place to deal with foreign hires. I said yes to the job offer and signed on the dotted line. The first sign of trouble came when I tried to buy a house in our new city. I had moved there ahead of my wife and 1-year-old daughter so that I could look for a neighborhood where we could settle down. But as the real estate agent predicted, mortgage lenders didn't want to gamble on someone with a 1-year visa. I signed a lease for an apartment instead. After my wife joined me, we needed a car because our sprawling community didn't have a strong public transportation system. But we had trouble securing credit for that, too. In the end, we had to put down more than $3000 as a down payment. The third, and final, straw came when my wife wanted to return to her work as a nurse after her maternity leave. Prior to our move, she had obtained a license to practice nursing in the United States. But she couldn't apply for jobs because of legal restrictions associated with my visa. That left her feeling frustrated and isolated, unable to establish a professional life in a new country. Stress ran high in our small one-bedroom apartment. The logical fix to our problems was for me to secure permanent residency status, otherwise known as a green card. But that just brought more problems. I pleaded with my department chair, dean, and provost to support my green card application. But it took 6 months for the university to agree to sponsor my application, and I didn't know how long the review and approval process would take on top of that. Exasperated by the entire ordeal, I applied for jobs in countries that I thought would be more supportive of foreign workers and their families. I was offered a faculty job in the Netherlands and, within 3 months, my family and I moved across the Atlantic. That was 1 year ago, and we've been much happier ever since. My wife, who is allowed to work in the Netherlands, is completing a course toward a nursing certification while our daughter, now 3 years old, is at government-subsidized day care. We are renting a nice house and are looking for one to buy. And we've been helped by a government policy that grants a 30% tax exemption for foreign hires for a period of 5 years. I'm glad we've ended up where we are. But when I look back, I wish that I'd been more prepared and proactive when negotiating my first faculty position. I could have asked the university to apply for a multiyear visa—which, I later learned, is what human resources staff had done for other faculty hires. I could have also requested a guarantee that the university would sponsor my application for permanent residency within a certain period of time and would pay for some immigration-related expenses, such as green card application fees. I hope that other immigrant scientists take heed from my tale. If you land a job, don't sign on the dotted line until you know that you'll have what you need in your new country. [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif

A Data‐Based Guide to the North American Ecology Faculty Job Market

AbstractEvery year for three years (2016–2018), I tried to identify every single person hired as a tenure‐track professor in ecology or an allied field (e.g., fish and wildlife) in the United States and Canada by consulting public sources. I identified a total of 566 hires. I also used public sources to compile data on the new hires and the institutions that hired them (e.g., number of publications, teaching experience, hiring institution Carnegie class). These data address some widespread anxieties and misunderstandings about the ecology faculty job market and also speak to gender diversity in recent ecology faculty hiring. They complement, and in some cases improve on, other sources of information, such as anecdotal personal experiences.

Mathematicians divided over faculty hiring practices that require proof of efforts to promote diversity

Mathematicians divided over faculty hiring practices that require proof of efforts to promote diversity

Moving Beyond a Culture of Niceness in Faculty Hiring to Advance Racial Equity

This study applies cultural historical activity theory to examine the experiences of 17 professors at a religiously affiliated private university who participated in a 10-month, inquiry-based intervention to change their culture around faculty hiring. The findings illustrate that professors who use race-conscious language and tools to interrogate their campus culture’s historical roots with racism rethought their hiring process. In doing so, faculty perceived racial equity work as an action-oriented, organizational effort to use equity-minded language and create a more equitable hiring structure. The study contributes to the literature on organizational change for racial equity by identifying faculty experiences with racism and critical knowledge about the organizational culture mediating faculty learning and agency.

Diversity and inclusion in Australian astronomy

Australian astronomy is undergoing a great change in culture, diversity and inclusion through major nationwide and university-scale initiatives. These initiatives include prestigious women-only faculty hires, broad diversity targets, concrete activities to overcome implicit bias, and innovative initiatives to change the academic culture and environment. Many of these activities were precipitated by the Pleiades Awards programme run by the Astronomical Society of Australia and by initiatives developed within the Australia-wide Centres of Excellence in astrophysics. I provide an overview of the nationwide programmes that are making an important impact on diversity, culture and climate, and describe the most promising and innovative initiatives in Australian universities and institutions. The striking changes seen in Australian astronomy can be triggered in other countries by similar awards programmes initiated by national astronomical societies or Academies of Science. An overview of the nationwide programmes that are making an impact on diversity, culture and climate in Australia is presented, along with the most promising and innovative initiatives in Australian universities and institutions.

The More Divided Academy: Did the Fall of the Faculty and the Rise of the All-Administrative University Increase Racial Conflict in Higher Education?

Despite efforts to redress racial grievances, American’s most progressive institutional sector, higher education, suffers racial incidents with disturbing frequency. We hypothesize that one explanation lies in the bureaucratization of higher education. Various trends have led to what Benjamin Ginsberg calls “the fall of the faculty” and “the all-administrative university.” We hypothesize that insulated from students and responsive to national employment markets, administrators adopt policies promoting the short-term appearance of successful integration, and driven by ideology. Faculty, in contrast, may focus on long-term student well-being, acknowledging policy tradeoffs. Using the North American Academic Survey Study ( n = 1,643 faculty and 808 administrators), we construct statistical models of attitudes toward race-based undergraduate admissions and faculty hiring. Contrary to predictions, both faculty and administrators offer nuanced support for affirmative action acknowledging potential tradeoffs. Further, ideology better explains faculty than administrator support. Implications are discussed.

How (Not) to Lead Academia

This work reports several issues found by the author throughout his professional career, concerning academic leadership. Topics like (i) out-of-field teaching/researching, and (ii) time management in faculty hiring or new role assignment, are addressed. Besides, the author describes which fundamental decisions he´d take if he could manage a higher education institution or academic department. The topics covered are crucial for the success of any higher education institution, such as (a) hiring, (b) social engagement, (c) student assessment, (d) open mindedness, (e) prompt communication, (f) passion in work, and (g) freedom / trust.

The case for greater faculty diversity: examining the educational impacts of student-faculty racial/ethnic match

ABSTRACT Faculty diversity has benefits for all students; however, increasing faculty diversity may be particularly helpful in reducing academic disparities for students of color. This study examines the impact of having a professor of the same race/ethnicity on student performance. A longitudinal model was tested to examine how campus racial/ethnic composition and student-faculty racial/ethnic match impact GPA and graduation for students of color. Campus racial/ethnic climate was included in the model as a potential mediating factor. Results indicated that student-faculty racial/ethnic match, campus racial/ethnic composition, and campus racial/ethnic climate each predicted GPA, which predicted graduation. An indirect relationship between student-faculty racial/ethnic match and GPA through campus racial/ethnic climate was found. Findings stress the need for diverse faculty to enhance student success, ultimately improving grades and retention. Given the benefits to students, a focus on the hiring and retention of faculty of color may be key in addressing academic disparities.

Presidential Spotlight: It’s Time for Discomfort and Courage

Amy Aldridge Sanford, immediate past president of the Central States Communication Association, shares parting thoughts as her term on the organization’s executive committee comes to an end. A self-identified well-intentioned white ally, she admits to recent mistakes made in her personal journey to a raised consciousness regarding racial and ethnic oppression. Sanford challenges members of CSCA, particularly folx from privileged spaces, to radicalize their journeys of consciousness by embodying the courage necessary to challenge the status quo, especially when it comes to the business of faculty hiring and graduate admissions. The author argues that increasing diversity in the latter will only improve the diversity of the former, which is necessary if faculty and academic administrators in the United States are ever going to be truly reflective of the demographics of the undergraduate student population in modern colleges and universities. Sanford expresses appreciation to the dozens of CSCA members who practiced courage and discomfort during her presidency, including the organizers and participants of the inclusive conference spaces video project, the difficult conversations faculty learning community, and the family friendly task force initiative.

"Spinning Their Wheels … "-Influences That Shape How Nurse Educators Teach Social Justice.

Despite institutional claims that social justice is a core professional nursing value, efforts to fulfill this claim remain uneven. The purpose of this study was to examine the circumstances that shape nursing educators' approaches to social justice. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 28 educators teaching theory courses in baccalaureate nursing programs shed light upon the influences that shape how educators integrate social justice. These include formative experiences, institutional factors, and curricular opportunities. Formative experiences include upbringing, educational background, and preparation to teach. Institutional factors consist of the type of institution, geographic location, and the specter of retention, promotion, and tenure. Finally, curricular opportunities and fit include the positioning of Community Health Nursing, fragmentation and tension between "content and context," and the "driving force" of the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX). Findings indicate that the capacity to uphold the value of social justice is shaped by experiences across the lifespan, institutional policies, and practices related to faculty hiring, development, career advancement, as well as curricular vision. This study calls for a concerted effort to enact social justice nursing education.

Strategies to improve equity in faculty hiring.

Through targeted recruitment and interventions to support their success during training, the fraction of trainees (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) in academic science from historically underrepresented groups has steadily increased. However, this trend has not translated to a concomitant increase in the number of faculty from these underrepresented groups. Here, I focus on proven strategies that departments and research institutions can develop to increase equity in faculty hiring and promotion to address the lack of racial and gender diversity among their faculty.

Black Power and the Mills Girl: Gender and the Black Campus Movement at Mills College, 1967–69

Abstract This article examines the rise and impact of the Black campus movement at Mills College, a women’s college in Oakland, California. Founded in 1852 for the daughters of western industrialists, Mills actively promoted an image of its elite students as refined, intelligent, and ladylike—“the Mills girl.” Administrators historically had discouraged the students from political engagement and activism because they considered these activities to be unfeminine and believed that they would jeopardize students’ prospects for marriage and motherhood. These ideals were challenged in 1968–69 when the newly formed Black Student Union (BSU) employed direct-action protest strategies that led to the hiring of Black faculty and staff, the increased recruitment of students of color, increased financial aid, and the establishment of one of the first departments of ethnic studies in the country and the first and only at a women’s college. Although successful, the Mills BSU’s actions were met with resentment and resistance from the college administration and derision from much of the public. While the Black campus movement challenged Eurocentric curricula and racially homogenous student bodies and faculty at numerous universities, at Mills the movement also challenged gendered expectations of acceptable behavior for female students. I argue that, in critics’ views, what was most disturbing about the BSU’s actions was not its desire to make Mills inclusive and its curriculum relevant to Black students, but that, by protesting, the BSU upended the carefully crafted and protected image of “the Mills girl.”

Providing Gender Confirmation Surgery at an Academic Medical Center: Analysis of Use, Insurance Payer, and Fiscal Impact

Expansion of insurance coverage for gender confirmation surgery (GCS) has led to a large demand for GCS in the US. We sought to determine the financial impact of providing comprehensive GCS services at an academic medical center. This was a cross-sectional study of patients older than 18 years who presented for GCS between January 1, 2015 and July 31, 2018 at a single academic medical center. The use of GCS services and associated work relative value units is reported. Departmental and hospital-level operating (profit) margins are reported relative to other hospital services, as well as the payer mix. A total of 818 patients underwent 970 GCS procedures between January 2015 and July 2018. Mean (SD) age was 35.32 (12.84) years. Four hundred and ninety-three (60.3%) patients underwent a masculinizing procedure, and 325 (39.7%) had a feminizing procedure. The most commonly performed procedure was chest masculinization (n= 403). The GCS case volume grew to generate 23.8% (plastic surgery) and 17.8% (urology) of total annual departmental work relative value units, and was associated with positive operating margins after recouping new faculty hiring costs. There were positive operating margins for GCS procedures for the hospital system that compare favorably with other common procedures and admissions. Medicare and Medicaid remained the most common payer throughout the study period, but dropped from 70% in 2015 to 48% in2018. We found that providing GCS at our academic medical center is profitable for both the surgical department and the hospital system. This suggests such a program can be a favorable addition to academic medical centers in the US.