Our subcommittee is charged with leading the fifth major pillar of the A&Spire to Illuminate strategic plan of Baylor University’s College of Arts and Sciences at the level of faculty recruitment and retention. Specifically, we plan to increase efforts to recruit and retain racially diverse and equity-minded faculty. Through both empirical research and recommendations from leaders in the social justice field, best practices and recommendations will be established for our department for the following goals:

• Create diverse search committees and diversify the applicant pools through a variety of research measures.
• Consider equitable hiring practices in both the written application of faculty candidates and during the interview process.
• Foster a faculty culture of inclusion and belonging in the department and promote underrepresented minority faculty through the stages of the tenure process.

Actions taken to reach these goals have included, but are not limited to:

Recruitment efforts:

• Organize diverse search committees constituting of differing areas of research expertise, tenure status, racial, ethnic, and gender makeup.
• Craft wide-reaching, open faculty position announcements with inclusive language highlighting the diverse Baylor community.
• Create and maintain a diverse list of departmental listservs for wide circulation of the job advertisement.
• Connect with future applicants through both targeted underrepresented minority listservs, targeted personal advertising, and recommendations from the department.
• Collaborate with the Office of the Provost and the Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity to enhance best practices.
• Enact inclusive hiring practices for search committees and interviewers.
• Prepare extensive interview portfolios to ensure all candidates have similar, attractive campus visits.

Retention efforts:

• Continue to provide transparent annual evaluations toward achieving tenure by the department chair, the tenured faculty, and the dean (biannually).
• Support junior faculty members through continuing the mentorship program established in the person’s first year.
• Monitor demographic composition of departmental faculty to evaluate progress toward meeting goals of increasing faculty diversity.
• Monitor faculty and student health via departmental climate surveys and formulate recommendations for responding to faculty and student concerns.
• Provide all faculty with ongoing training in implicit biases, cultural sensitivity, and responsiveness.
• Facilitate connection with identity-specific organizations. Baylor currently has the following opportunities for getting involved. in identity-specific organizations:
  • Faculty of Color Alliance
  • Black Faculty and Staff Association
  • Baylor Women in Science and Engineering
• Encourage and support faculty engagement in multicultural student organizations. Baylor currently has over 40 academic/professional, religious, Greek, and special interest multicultural organizations at Baylor:  https://www.baylor.edu/multicultural/index.php?id=38017
• Encourage participation in professional activities that are critical for the pre-tenure process through The National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity.
• Encourage and support continued improvement in teaching practices through Baylor’s Academy for Teaching and Learning.