Diversity statements: How faculty applicants address diversity.

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine application materials for assistant professor positions in 3 academic disciplines. Applicants were asked to write a diversity statement describing how they would advance diversity through their research, teaching, and service. The sample included application materials submitted by 191 candidates for tenure-track faculty positions at a public research university in computer science, political science, and psychology. Application letters and diversity statements were coded for 9 diversity dimensions. For example, My research in the Latino community . . ., and I volunteer at a middle school to encourage more girls to pursue computer science . . ., would be coded as reflecting the diversity dimensions of ethnicity/race and gender, respectively. Applicant self-disclosures of diversity were uncommon, occurring in fewer than 1 quarter of the letters. Nonspecific forms of diversity were most frequently mentioned in application materials, followed by references to ethnicity/race, disability, age, and gender. Comparisons between the searches revealed that psychologist applicants had significantly higher density of references to diversity in their letters than the 2 other disciplines, and also were most likely to cite specific, rather than nonspecific, dimensions of diversity. These results add to our understanding of how faculty applicants approach the diversity statement component of applications and reveal potential differences between disciplines in the diversity construct. The results are discussed in terms of suggestions to faculty applicants and directions for further research.

The Promise of Diversity Statements: Insights and a Framework Developed from Faculty Applications

“…Instead, if identity characteristics were mentioned, they were tied to the impact of that identity on their approaches, actions, or interests in relation to the faculty role they were seeking. Furthermore, prior research by Baker, Schmaling andcolleagues (2015, 2016) found very low rates of applicants' identity self-disclosures in their diversity statements, especially for underrepresented or minoritized identities. Our case example did not show this pattern.…”

“…Despite the increasing attention paid to diversity statements, little systematic research has investigated these statements and their content, that is, the types of views, experiences, and skills that are described in these statements. To our knowledge, the only research on faculty diversity statements are two studies by Baker, Schmaling and colleagues that focused largely on coding applicants' conceptualization of diversity (e.g., identity categories such as age, ethnicity/ race, gender, sexual orientation) and how applicants disclosed and described their own diversity characteristics (Baker, Schmaling, Fountain, Blume, & Boose, 2016;Schmaling, Trevino, Lind, Blume, & Baker, 2015). These studies provide important insights into the varying identity-based terms that applicants use to reflect their diversity contributions, as well as the overall low disclosure in selfidentification among underrepresented or minoritized groups.…”

Diversity, fluidity and threats to social identity: The case of ELT in Oman

“…Given the influence of a salient social identity on a group's functioning, the question regarding the existence of social identity among the culturally diverse HE faculty in Oman pertains. While the literature suggests that the academic discipline could form the basis for group identity in academia (Blackwell et al, 2009;Clarke et al, 2013;Schmaling et al, 2014), the mix of cultural identities characterizing Omani HE is likely to hinder the salience of a unified academic/professional identity. This is especially so that academic faculty members are mostly non-Omanis, which means that longevity within the group could be affected by the constant movement of members from and to the group.…”

An Exploratory Study of Diversity Statements in Canadian Academic Librarian Job Advertisements

“…If libraries were to require candidates to demonstrate their experience working in a diverse and inclusive environment or demonstrate their commitment to DEI in the workplace this would send a strong and positive signal to prospective applicants. A practical approach may be for applicants to include a diversity and inclusion statement as to how they will advance diversity and inclusion in their work as part of the application package; this is an emerging practice in faculty searches (Schmaling et al, 2015).…”