Recruitment
Diversity is a defining feature of California's past, present, and future. As a public institution, the University of California is committed to achieving diversity, while striving for inclusive excellence. A diverse academic community enhances the exploration of ideas vital to our academic mission (see UCOP guidance).
According to the UC Diversity Statement, diversity refers to “the variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and geographic region, and more."
The recruitment and retention of an excellent and diverse faculty continues to be a high priority for the University and for our campus specifically. In addition to enhancing our teaching, research, and public service mission, a diverse faculty reflects our commitment to equal opportunity and ensures that we can serve the needs of our increasingly diverse student body.
The Center for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion works with administrators and Equity Advisors to identify and implement practices that will advance these goals. These include broadening candidate pools, establishing clear criteria for evaluating applicants, guarding against biases in decision making, and treating all candidates with respect.
Faculty Equity Advisors
Faculty Equity Advisors (FEAs) work collaboratively with Deans, Department Chairs, and search committees to ensure that equity and inclusion are considered in all aspects of faculty affairs, including recruitment, retention, and advancement. They provide implicit bias training for search committees, guidance on implementing inclusive practices, and other input as needed.
If you are a faculty member and have ideas or concerns relating to your department or division, feel free to reach out to your FEA or schedule an appointment to meet with the Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Search Committee Training
All faculty serving on faculty search committees are required to complete training for inclusive hiring every three years. The goal of the training is to give faculty the tools to interrupt and address unconscious bias in every step of the recruitment process, and to apply best practices for a fair and inclusive search.
The Search Committee Training has two parts:
- Part 1 (asynchronous) is a pre-read slide deck that covers diversity and implicit bias. Please note that you will need to log in via UC San Diego SSO in order to access and download the slides. If you have trouble accessing the slide deck, please contact vcedi-faculty@ucsd.edu. Faculty are expected to read through these slides and become familiar with the content before attending Part 2.
- Part 2 is a synchronous session led by a Faculty Equity Advisor (FEA) that focuses on strategies for interrupting/mitigating bias in the search process, and best practices for a fair and inclusive search. Participants will have an opportunity to think through how to apply practical strategies and best practices, and ways they might respond in certain situations during the search process. Upcoming trainings are listed below with links to register through UC Learning.
Upcoming Training Sessions
Faculty are encouraged to participate in the session corresponding to their school or division but may attend any available session to fulfill the requirement.
Date & Time: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, 9 - 10 a.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Simone Baumann-Pickering, SIO
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Simone Baumann-Pickering, SIO
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, 9 - 10 a.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Jesse Nodora, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Monday, Mar. 10, 2025, 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Candis Morello, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Wednesday, Apr. 9, 2025, 8 - 9 a.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Candis Morello, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Monday, May 19, 2025, 4 - 5 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Farah Sheikh, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Tuesday, Jun. 17, 2025, 9 - 10 a.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Jesse Nodora, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Tuesday, Jul. 15, 2025, 9 - 10 a.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Jesse Nodora, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, 9 - 10 a.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Jesse Nodora, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Farah Sheikh, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Candis Morello, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, 8 - 9 a.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Candis Morello, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Date & Time: Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Facilitator: Dr. Farah Sheikh, Health Sciences
Register on UC Learning
Guidelines, Articles, Videos, and Other Media
- UC Santa Cruz Faculty of Color: Exposing and Reforming Structures of Whiteness in Leadership 2023 Brief Covarrubias, R. & Quinteros, K., UC Hispanic-Serving Institutions Initiative, Oakland, CA.
- 2023 Scripps Institution of Oceanography Space Allocation Report
- Addressing Common Myths About Diversity and Equity in Faculty Recruitment and Hiring (2020-2021). Advancing Faculty Diversity Workgroup, UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced.
- Color-evasive racism in the final stage of faculty searches: Examining search committee hiring practices that jeopardize racial equity policy (2021). Liera, R. & Hernancez, T.E., The Review of Higher Education
- Responses to 10 Common Criticisms of Antiracism Action in STEMM (2021). Gosztyla, M.L., et al., PLOS Computational Biology.
- Better Letters: Equitable Practices for Writing, Reading, and Soliciting Letters of Recommendation (2020). Equity in Graduate Education, University of Southern California.
- Institutional barriers, strategies, and benefits to increasing the representation of women and men of color in the professoriate (2020). Griffin, K., UC Davis.
- The facade of fit in faculty search processes (2020). White-Lewis, D., The Journal of Higher Education.
- Moving beyond a culture of niceness in faculty hiring to advance racial equity (2019). Liera, R., American Educational Research Journal.
- Strategies to improve equity in faculty hiring (2019). Bhalla, N., UC Santa Cruz.
- Evaluation and decision making in higher education: Toward equitable repertoires of faculty practice (2019). Posselt, J., Hernandez, T.E., Villarreal, C.D., Rodgers, A.J., & Irwin, L.N., Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research.
- Promising Practices for Diversifying the Faculty at UC San Diego (2019). Academic Senate-Administration Workgroup on Faculty Recruitment, UC San Diego.
- “We are all for diversity, but . . .”: How faculty hiring committees reproduce Whiteness and practical suggestions for how they can change (2017). Sensoy, O. & DiAngelo, R., Harvard Educational Review.
- Legal and Illegal Questions: A Guide to Pre-Employment Inquiries. Office of Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity, UC San Diego.
- How to Remove Gender Bias in Hiring (2015). UC Davis ADVANCE Program.
- Cluster Hiring Report for Diversity and Institutional Climate (2014). Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities.
- Search Chairs and Search Committee Guide to Faculty Recruitment (2014). Office of Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity, UC San Diego
- Hacking Tech's Diversity Problem (2014). Williams, J.C., Harvard Business Review.
- Dartmouth College Student Opinions on Faculty Diversity (2014). YouTube.
- Toward Inclusive Excellence in Graduate Education: Constructing Merit and Diversity in PhD Admissions (2014). Posselt, J.R., American Journal of Education.
- Beyond Numbers: How Diversity Makes Us Better at What We Do (2013). Presentation at UC San Diego by Page, S.E., University of Michigan. YouTube.
- Search for Excellence & Diversity: A Guide for Search Committees (2012, sample only). Fine, E. and Handelsman, J., WISELI, University of Wisconsin‐Madison.
- The Strategies and Struggles of Graduate Diversity Officers in the Recruitment of Doctoral Students of Color (2011). Griffin, K.A. and Muñiz, M.M., Equity & Excellence in Education.
- Interventions That Affect Gender Bias in Hiring: A Systematic Review (2009). Issac, C., et al. Academic Medicine.
- A Conversation with Charles M. Tatum, PhD, University of Arizona on Recruiting and Retaining Diverse Students and Faculty (2009). Interview by Velasquez, P., UC San Diego. UCTV, YouTube.
- Faculty of Color in Academe: What 20 Years of Literature Tells Us (2008). Turner, C.S.V., Gonzales, J.C., and Wood, J.L., Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
- Dual-Career Academic Couples: What Universities Need to Know (2008). Schiebinger, L., Henderson, A.D., and Gilmartin, S.K., Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Stanford University.
- Making the Difference: Applying a Logic of Diversity (2007). Page, S.E., Academy of Management Perspectives.
- Reviewing Applicants: Research on Bias and Assumptions (2006). Fine, E. and Handelsman, J., WISELI, University of Wisconsin‐Madison.
- Interrupting the Usual: Successful Strategies for Hiring Diverse Faculty (2004). Smith, D.G., et al. The Journal of Higher Education.