Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI Committee: Faculty Recruitment and Retention Recommendations

Approved by Faculty September 29, 2022

UC Riverside Mission Statement: 

The University of California, Riverside will transform the lives of the diverse people of California, the nation, and the world through the discovery, communication, translation, application, and preservation of knowledge – thereby enriching the state’s economic, social, cultural, and environmental future.

To achieve this University mission, we must recruit and retain stellar faculty who can: 

1. conduct innovative and relevant basic, applied, and theoretical research;
2. recruit, advise, train, and inspire our diverse student population (i.e., teach); and
3. directly or indirectly serve the state’s highly diverse population.

The Department of Psychology aspires to recruit and retain a faculty that embodies the diversity of human experience with respect to race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and geographic region, and more. Further, we seek to create a climate that advances equity and social justice by specifically addressing historic and current systemic and institutional barriers faced by scholars who have been and are currently severely underrepresented in psychological science (e.g., Black/African/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander; c.f., NIH, 2019) and/or who conduct research with these underrepresented communities. We acknowledge that those underrepresented in psychological science change over time, and commit to updating our focus accordingly.

We have aligned our recruitment and retention recommendations with the UC Academic Personnel Manual, section APM 210-1, “Instructions to Review Committees That Advise on Actions Concerning Appointees in the Professor and Corresponding Series.” 

“The University of California is committed to excellence and equity in every facet of its mission. Contributions in all areas of faculty achievement that promote equal opportunity and diversity should be given due recognition in the academic personnel process, and they should be evaluated and credited in the same way as other faculty achievements. These contributions to diversity and equal opportunity can take a variety of forms including efforts to advance equitable access to education, public service that addresses the needs of California’s diverse population, or research in a scholar’s area of expertise that highlights inequalities. Mentoring and advising of students and faculty members, particularly from underrepresented and underserved populations, should be given due recognition in the teaching or service categories of the academic personnel process.”

Recruitment & Retention of a Diverse Faculty

Faculty Climate
The Department of Psychology strives to achieve a faculty climate that is inclusive and fosters a sense of belonging and respect. To continue developing our cultural and structural competencies and minimize bias to promote a positive faculty climate:

1. All faculty members are highly encouraged to commit to ongoing professional development in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), which will be supported by the Department’s DEI Committee, which will provide formal training opportunities for all faculty, staff, and graduate students each year. These trainings may include outside consultants, presentations from UCR program directors for specific student populations (e.g., African Student Programs [ASP], Asian American/Pacific Islander Student Programs [AA/PI], Chicano Student Programs [CSP], Native American Student Programs [NASP], Middle Eastern Student Center [MESC]).
    
2. Faculty members acknowledge that such training and conversations are inevitably uncomfortable at times while we bring attention to issues surrounding bias and work to correct them.
    
3. All faculty members should stay up-to-date on current APA and other guidelines regarding diversity (e.g., race and ethnicity in psychology; multicultural guidelines; psychological practice with sexual minority persons; disability issues in psychology; the science of diversity training). A tab linking to these guidelines can be found on the Psychology DEI website and an annual reminder with these materials will be sent to all faculty by the DEI committee. 
    
4. In the spirit of accountability and transparency, the Department will internally assess and discuss strategies to improve the faculty climate every two years. As noted in UCR’s 2019 faculty climate survey a “hostile campus climate (bullying, sexual harassment, abuses of power, disrespect) disproportionately harms women, faculty of color (FOC), and junior faculty.” 
   1. The Department’s Executive Committee will implement a confidential faculty climate survey every two years that will include items suggested by the DEI Committee to identify issues related to DEI that can negatively impact the faculty’s ability to thrive – in research, teaching, and service. 
   2. The Department’s Executive and DEI Committees will identify tangible goals for addressing areas of concern.
   3. The Department’s Executive and DEI Committees will evaluate progress toward these goals. 

Recruitment Policies and Procedures

Search Committee Training
Research clearly and consistently indicates that implicit bias negatively affects the recruitment, interviewing, and hiring process.

1. Per the university, all members of a search committee are advised to complete a brief training on Promoting Faculty Diversity through UCR’s Office of DEI. 
    
2. However, we recommend that all members of a search committee complete a training module on implicit bias. The DEI committee will work to identify a suitable option in collaboration with UCR’s Office of DEI.
    
3. The DEI committee will keep the department apprised regarding advances and best practices to support current and future training.

Search Committee Procedures

1. Search Committee Rubric
   • Create a rubric for what we are looking for in top candidates for that particular search
     • Draw from others’ rubrics, including UC Berkeley (https://ofew.berkeley.edu/recruitment/contributions-diversity/rubric-assessing-candidate-contributions-diversity-equity)
        
   • Decide whether the rubric should be numeric (e.g., use 0, 1, 2 ratings that ultimately yield some consensus), qualitative, or both
   • The rubric provides a starting point for discussion and ensures that everyone is looking for the same information. 
   • It should include DEI considerations throughout the entire application
   • It should also be thoughtfully aligned with the prompts for materials that applicants see
   • A general rubric will be developed, and search committees will have room to edit them for particular search criteria
      
2. Diversity Statements
   • Develop specific evaluation criteria, based on the UCR prompt for diversity statements
   • Emphasize the need to really discuss what the committee and department feels is a strong diversity statement. Some statements may seem very positive to some, but problematic to others (e.g., savior-style statements). 
     • Strong diversity statements will describe a focus on specific activities, rather than listing several activities
     • Strong diversity statements will also describe how the applicant will put their experience into practice on our campus, rather than simply stating their background
   • Consider how to evaluate diversity statements. For example, diversity statements could be evaluated in conjunction with the type of research that has been conducted and the communities involved.
      
3. Search Committee Conduct
   • People on the committee clarify and check other people’s bias during the search (e.g., point out gender-biased language).  

Diversifying Our Applicant Pool

1. We will continue our external communication efforts: Regular announcements throughout the year about diversity-relevant work in the Department, as well as far-reaching distribution of the DEI and Departmental newsletters will establish UCR Psychology as an environment that celebrates and advances DEI. 
    
2. Job posting language: To communicate our commitment to diversity and social justice, all announcements, irrespective of area/focus, will include the following language, contingent on the approval of the Office of Academic Personnel:  Consistent with the UC commitment to diversity, the UCR Department of Psychology is committed to addressing systemic and institutional barriers faced by underrepresented scholars and researchers. We strongly encourage scholars who represent and/or research ethnic and racial communities that remain severely underrepresented in psychological science (e.g., Black/African/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders) to apply.
   
   This language will be in addition to the required EEO tagline: The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
    
3. Job posting distribution: To ensure that we secure a large pool of qualified and competitive applicants, the Psychology Department will disseminate all job announcements to professional organizations that serve the interests of scholars who represent and/or research underrepresented communities (e.g., Black, Indigenous, Latinx, AMENA, Asian, LGBTQIA+).
    
4. We commit to regularly reviewing President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Awardees to consider them for joining our faculty

Atypical Hires
Hiring opportunities that bypass traditional recruitment and search procedures (e.g., national search, committee review, DEI representation) necessitate careful vetting. Because atypical hires (e.g., spousal hires, targets of excellence, FTE transfers) circumvent established checks and balances in the hiring process, they are particularly vulnerable to bias. Further, because every hire (traditional or atypical) counts toward the department FTE, it is essential that atypical hires receive careful consideration in accordance with the following guidelines.

1. Any atypical hiring opportunity will be brought to the Chair’s attention using the UCR Psychology Department Hiring Proposal Form. 
    
2. A departmental ad hoc committee assembled by the Chair will identify the pros and cons of the proposed hire. This committee will include at least one member of the DEI committee. The purpose of the committee is to provide a holistic picture of the candidate, including explicit consideration of diversity contributions to the faculty. The committee will not provide a specific recommendation.
    
3. Review by the Graduate Student Representatives to provide graduate student input. 
    
4. Following the ad hoc review process, a full faculty discussion focused on the pros and the cons of the atypical hire will be held.
    
5. Identifying opportunities: 
   • The faculty will meet annually to discuss potential recruitment opportunities through pipeline initiatives or targets of excellence.
   • The DEI Committee will review all Provost and Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellowship recipients annually to identify potential opportunities to recruit outstanding faculty with the support of the UC Hiring Incentive program.

Retention Policies and Procedures

Successful retention of a diverse faculty involves creating an environment where all faculty are:

1. recognized, supported, and rewarded for their contributions to the department, UCR, and the community;
    
2. intellectually stimulated, inspired, and collegial. 

The Department of Psychology will implement the following procedures to ensure that we promote the personal and professional success of all faculty members. 

Equitable Merit and Promotion Criteria
The Department of Psychology recommends that all faculty endeavor to support DEI in their teaching and service. We support DEI-related research and commend such historically marginalized work. We commit to recognizing the value of DEI contributions. When present, contributions to DEI will be noted in one or more of the following areas as part of the formal evaluation letter. For example:

1. Teaching – a brief summary that comments directly on how teaching activities may advance DEI (e.g., developing or refining courses that are especially relevant to DEI, involving students in research relevant to DEI).
    
2. Service – a brief summary that comments directly on how service activities advance DEI at the level of the department (e.g., graduate recruitment outreach), campus (e.g., mentoring an organization for underrepresented students), community (e.g., serving on the local NAACP chapter), and broader field (e.g., reviewing for the Ford Foundation). 
    
3. Research – a brief summary that comments directly on how research activities directly or indirectly align with UCR’s mission to transform the lives of the diverse people of California, the nation, and the world. We will recognize the diverse ways research activities can advance DEI, such as through direct research with underrepresented populations and translational implications for individuals from diverse populations.
    
4. These recommendations may change over time, based on new information and relevant updates to the APM and the CALL.

Area Brown Bags and Departmental Speakers
We recommend the integration of DEI into the intellectual life of the Department.

1. Each area brownbag will seek to invite speakers who present on a topic relevant to research, professional development, teaching, or service focused on underrepresented populations.
2. At least one departmental colloquium slot per year will be reserved for a DEI-relevant speaker, nominated by the DEI committee. 
3. As noted earlier, the Department will host annual professional training opportunities to advance DEI knowledge for all faculty, staff, and graduate students.  

Junior Faculty Mentoring Team
Mentorship and support contribute to retention and junior faculty success (c.f., Rockquemore, 2013). Thus, the department will ensure that all pre-tenure faculty have the opportunity to receive supportive mentorship as soon as possible in their first year. Because a single person cannot provide support in all areas (research, teaching, service, and work-life balance), we recommend supporting junior faculty to develop a mentoring team. The department Chair will ensure this service commitment is recognized in mentors’ merit and promotion reviews.

1. Each junior faculty would be offered a primary mentor with whom they would meet on a monthly (or quarterly) basis. The assignment of the primary mentor would be made in a conversation between the chair and the junior faculty member based on their needs and interests.
    
2. In addition, and in collaboration with the primary mentor, the junior faculty would have the opportunity to identify additional mentors (including those from outside the department) to provide more targeted, topic-specific mentoring during quarterly meetings (or more often). 
    
3. We recommend (optionally) that the full mentoring team meet with the junior faculty member to collaboratively and supportively discuss progress and goals in a non-evaluative fashion at least annually. 
    
4. Mentors will reach out to mentees to schedule their regular meetings to avoid anyone falling through the cracks
    
5. Specific goals and topics to discuss should be identified with the faculty mentors (e.g., graduate and undergraduate teaching, merit and promotion processes, building a lab, grant writing)

Equitable Dissemination of Departmental Knowledge
Gaps in knowledge and bureaucracy can hinder new faculty’s progress. The department Chair will ensure all new faculty receive a formal introduction and orientation to the department. This will ensure that departmental expectations and information are clearly communicated to all incoming faculty.