4.3.d. Description of recruitment and retention efforts to attract and retain a diverse faculty and staff, along with information about how these efforts are evaluated and refined over time.
In addition to the activities referenced above, the School employs a range of strategies to attract and retain a more diverse workforce, including documenting and reviewing the hiring efforts of each search committee as required for the completion of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports. Among the strategies are advertising, networking, support (financial and other), developing candidates from within and nurturing the progress of future faculty members:
Advertising
Regular advertisements in journals, newsletters and periodicals,Web sites and list-serves relevant to minority populations and that reach a wide audience of health professionals.
Networking
Faculty are encouraged to establish on-going dialogues and possible faculty exchanges with historically black colleges and to seek other opportunities at conferences, professional meetings, through research and service on editorial boards or study committees, etc., to build relationships with minority faculty.
Faculty Bridge Funding Program
In 1989, the University established a special bridge fund to support academic departments that have identified, through a national search process or through a target-of-opportunity procedure, full-time faculty of color in tenured or tenure-track appointments to fill a specific academic niche, but that do not immediately have adequate funding available to extend an offer of employment. The fund may also be used to support non-regular faculty or professional/academic staff on continuous appointments. The Interim Dean (now Dean) disseminated information on the fund to all faculty during the 2004 – 2005 academic year and awarded the fund to a minority post-doctoral associate in 2006.
Facilitating Spousal Hires
To lower one of the barriers to recruiting candidates, the School often makes special arrangements, as provided by University policy, to facilitate spousal hires.
Development from Within
President’s Post-doctoral Fellowship for Academic Diversity.
Seeking to attract fellows for post-doctoral study who will then stay to become faculty members, the University offers post-doctoral fellowships for academic diversity. Available to candidates from under-represented populations, the University provides 75 percent funding for two years; 25 percent comes from the academic unit.
Recruitment – and Nurturing – of Minority Students
The School looks to develop its own minority faculty by recruiting more minority students (Chapter 4.5), and encouraging their progression to doctoral programs. Competition from private industry and other universities for these excellent graduates makes retaining them a challenge.
To reach potential students (and future faculty), the School participates in the McNair Scholars’ Kids Into Health Careers and the Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate programs that provide minority undergraduates opportunities to work with faculty on projects over the summer. Several students have worked with School faculty. Through their experiences, participants are encouraged to pursue careers in the health sciences.
The School’s participation in the Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Programs (LSSURP) and graduate programs fair is another avenue through which it seeks to recruit students of color. In 2006, 40 to 50 undergraduate students – about half of whom were minorities – attended from colleges across the U.S. The event is designed to promote interaction between the LSSURP students and representatives of the graduate programs in the Life Sciences.
In addition, in order to introduce students early in their undergraduate careers to public health, the Director of the Office of Multicultural Services has taught a Student Excellence and Multiculturalism course for first-year students of color interested in the health professions.
4.3.e. Description of efforts, other than recruitment and retention of core faculty, through which the school seeks to establish and maintain an environment that supports diversity.
The School and University at large are strongly committed to the vital goal of providing equitable opportunities without regard to age, gender, race, ability, religion or national origin and to a culture that promotes collaboration. The University has created a system-wide academic task force on diversity (http://www1.umn.edu/systemwide/strategic_positioning/tf_sys_acad_diversity.html) and an academic task force on faculty culture (http://www1.umn.edu/systemwide/strategic_positioning/tf_acad_fac_culture.html).The diversity task force has reaffirmed and deepened the “University’s commitment and capacity…to become a national leader in articulating, respecting, embracing and supporting diversity among faculty, staff, and students.” The faculty culture task force has yielded one of the most dynamic reports at the University resulting in the review of all tenure codes with an emphasis on rewarding interprofessional collaborations and a culture of engagement. The School is actively participating in implementing these recommendations. In addition, the School has engaged community and University experts to encourage open dialogue about issues of culture and diversity within the School. Examples include: “A Framework for Understanding Poverty,” presented by Jodi Pfarr of aha! Process Inc., for the past three years to a diverse audience of over 80 students, faculty, staff and community partners; and in August 2006, a presentation, “Diversity: A Gentle Approach to the Tough Stuff,” by Kirby Edmonds, T.F. Associates of New York.
4.3.f. Identification of outcome measures by which the School may evaluate its success in achieving a diverse faculty and staff, along with data regarding the performance of the school against those measures for each of the last three years.
Table 34: Outcome Measure by Which to Judge Success in Achieving Diverse Faculty and Staff
*Target
**Year 2003/4
**Year 2004/5
Year 2005/6
Objective 3.b.: Proportion of racially and ethnically diverse and female/male faculty***
9%/44%
Objective 4.b.: Proportion of racially and ethnically diverse and female/male staff.
11%/76%
* No quantitative targets are established. General goal is to continue to increase diversity of faculty and staff. ** Data systems changed. Future percentages will be measurable. *** Faculty include tenured, tenure track and contract.
4.3.g. This criterion is met.
Strengths
Gender diversity has greatly improved, with women now making up 44 percent of the faculty.
The School is committed to recruiting and retaining a faculty that reflects the demographic and ethnic profile of the region.
The Dean has directed all search committees to aggressively seek qualified candidates from under-represented populations.
The School adheres to all University and Board of Regents recruiting, hiring and affirmative action policies and procedures.
The School employs a range of strategies to recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff including faculty development programs and a faculty-led working group on health disparities.
Weaknesses
The racial and ethnic diversity of the faculty (9 percent) does not fully reflect that of the population of the region (11 percent).
Recommendations
Increase efforts to recruit and retain a more racially and ethnically diverse faculty.
Continue to strengthen relationships and ties with historically black colleges and minority faculty at other institutions.
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