Tenure Advisory Committee Organizational Meeting February 13, 2009 Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer

Equitable Policies Consistently Applied Purpose of this discussion is to assist committee members to identify and become aware of subtle bias and how it manifests itself in evaluation. Merriam-Webster defines bias as “…an inclination of temperament or outlook; especially: a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment; (2): systematic error introduced into sampling or testing by selecting or encouraging one outcome or answer over others.” Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Working Definition for Tenure Advisory Bias implies “an unreasoned and unfair distortion of judgment in favor of, or against, a person or thing.” Bias involved in mentoring, career development and P&T involves judgments/actions that reflect preferences typically held by individuals and expressed either in overt or subtle ways. Bias is often dependant on the culture of the institution, school or college. Bias can be negative or positive. Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Five Common Forms of Bias 1.Age 2.Resource Allocation 3.Service 4.Gender 5.Race Bias is often dependant on the culture of the institution, school or college. Bias can be negative or positive. Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Examples of Age Bias Favoring those who followed a similar track as yourself Or against older candidates who remained instructors for a significant amount of time Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Examples of Resource Bias Allocation of financial, space, and equipment resources can be inequitable Senior people who “paid their dues” get priority in graduate student assignment The bigger the investment by the university, the more the person should prove they are worthy Usually a positive bias for men, Usually a negative bias for women and minority candidates Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Examples of Service Bias Belief that women and minorities “choose” to do too much service to the detriment of their scholarship Assignment of committee and other service duties can be a heavy burden if you are the only woman or minority expected to provide diversity to committees and advise women/minority students Consider if they really have the option of saying no to their chair or dean to these assignments Consider if mentoring or advising women/minority students is part of their identity Consider the value of this kind of specialized service to the department, school, university Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Examples of Gender Bias - Three Issues 1.Women can be viewed a “less serious” about their careers Which automatically makes their CV less impressive 2.Stopping the tenure clock can be viewed as “extra time” Maternity leave or stopping the clock does not give anyone extra time and does not mean they should be “extra productive”. All cases should be reviewed according to the standard number of years. 3.Tenure is “his to lose, and hers to earn” National study showed gender stereotyping in evaluation of CVs. Male candidates CV preferred twice as often as female, with an identical CV. For tenure, the reviewers were 4X more likely to ask for supporting evidence about the woman’s record, such as proof that she had won her grants on her own. Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Examples of Race Bias Many of the same expectations of low productivity and low quality of scholarship apply to faculty of color. (“They are less serious”, “they are here because of Affirmative Action not talent”) This requires them to be more productive in order to be considered comparable to their peers. Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Other areas of potential bias Teaching evaluations research shows they are more negative for women Engaging in interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary research bias toward independent research Ethnicity see race and gender above Forums for publishing and presentation specialized can be viewed as less impactful Selection of review committee representation Disorganized CV or tenure file should reflect negatively on chair, department, mentors! Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Questions to Ask Yourself to Understand the Way Your Preferences Influence Your Decision-Making 1.Has this person received the appropriate resources? Did they receive the resources promised to them in their startup? Consider the impact of resources and resource allocation (including office/lab space, administrative assistance) on the careers of young faculty over the last 5 years. 2.How will the committee consider gaps in the record, leaves of absence or tenure clock stoppage? Variations in performance over a period can be evaluated by looking at: a. Average annual productivity? b. Will achievements be viewed as cumulative (career-long) or just during the employment at the university? c. Was there high productivity in the 1-2 year period just before the decision? d. Individual productivity related to comparable peers at the university and/or in the discipline? Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Questions to Ask Yourself to Understand the Way Your Preferences Influence Your Decision-Making 3.Is the feedback provided by the chair in the annual reviews consistently valid, pertinent, and useful to the career development of the faculty member under review? 4.What approaches to evaluating collaboration might be appropriate? With regard to collaboration, identify the advantages and disadvantages to collaborating and address the difficulties related to the assessment of collaboration for tenure and promotion. Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Questions to Ask Yourself to Understand the Way Your Preferences Influence Your Decision-Making 5.How do assumptions about gender and ethnicity influence your reading of this case? Is a heavier service burden in evidence? Are there any additional positive benefits to the institution when the female or minority faculty members participate in this type of service? This is generally where women and minority faculty are unfairly taken to task for not saying “no” to excess service, when saying “no” is not a real option for them. 6.How will you measure the candidate’s impact on graduate students? Beyond number you can consider retention, quality, graduation rate, post-graduate success, and satisfaction as additional mechanisms for measuring success. Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Questions to Ask Yourself to Understand the Way Your Preferences Influence Your Decision-Making 7.Consider how gender and family responsibilities are coupled - in other words, is there a difference between considering family responsibilities for cases of male and female faculty members? Does parental status affect arguments for or against a case? Traditionally men with families are viewed as stable and settled, while women with families are considered to be not serious about their careers. 8.What is your responsibility as a reviewer to notice potential issues of bias for the committee? 9.Consider how, or if, committees this committee should weigh past performance against a bet of future performance with regard to the tenure decision. Amanda Shaffer, Interim Faculty Diversity Officer, CWRU, 2009

Q & A