Chair/Co-chairs: Marah Curtis
2023-2024 Committee Members: Lara Gerassi, Amanda Ngola, Marci Ybarra, Audrey Conn, Jill Hoiting, & David Barger
Spring 2024
August 2023 began the hiring process that yielded four new hires: two clinical faculty and two tenure track faculty. New clinical faculty began their appointments in January of 2024, both tenure track faculty will begin in Fall of 2024.
DEI principles in hiring are manifest in several domains:
hiring procedures:
set by the university, the committee goes through a process of producing an approved Position Vacancy Listing
- The approved university diversity statement was included in the PVL for the positions: “The School and The College of Letters & Sciences are committed to creating an inclusive environment in which all of us – students, staff, and faculty – can thrive. There is no excellence without diversity in all its forms; diverse teams are more creative and successful than homogeneous ones. We are better when we are diverse and when we acknowledge, celebrate, and honor our diversity. In acknowledging and honoring our diversity, we also assume a responsibility to support and stand up for each other. The School values the many strengths that diversity brings to our profession.”
- at least 1 member of the search committee is required to attend the Searching for Excellence & Diversity workshop delivered by the Wisconsin-Madison Inclusion in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute
- two search committee members attended the training, all resources were discussed and shared with the full committee
expanding the pool to a more diverse audience:
- To hire for our clinical positions, in addition to the UW Job posting, SW posting on all our social media, SW community circulated to their professional networks, we also posted position announcements with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the Black Doctoral Network, the Career Center for the National Association of Black Social Workers and the Association of Latina/Latino Social Work Educators.
- To hire for our tenure track position, in addition to the UW Job posting, SW posting on all our social media, SW community circulated to their professional networks, we also posted position announcements with all social work Deans and Directors, the Society for Social Work Research Job Center, Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the Black Doctoral Network, the Career Center for the National Association of Black Social Workers and the Association of Latina/Latino Social Work Educators. Committee Chair did a review of candidates included in School of Social Work job books forwarded to our doctoral director; committee members also offered potential candidates from specialized professional listservs. Two members reached out to two candidates the committee voted to invite to apply from these sources. This process yielded two additional applications to our pool.
- UW policy disallowed our request for “a statement addressing past and potential contributions to diversity and inclusion through research, teaching, and service” as part of the application as in our 2021 search. Our current search included the following approved language in the position announcement: “The successful candidate’s research, teaching, and service will clearly demonstrate an understanding of anti-oppressive practice and policy. The successful candidate will work to proactively support the expansion of diversity among all components of the school, and ensure an inclusive, fair, and equitable environment that fosters engagement and a sense of belonging for faculty, staff, students, and members of the broader community.”
candidate application review processes
- TT Search Review Sheet includes the following questions to assess aspects of DEI
- Teaching. Experience, courses, and/or evidence of potential for responsive teaching; capacity for anti-oppressive teaching
- Diversity Considerations
Clinical Search Review Sheet includes the following question to assess DEI
- Evidence of anti-oppressive practice
Tenure Track Zoom interviews:
- all applicants are asked the same questions
- prompts were sent to each applicant a half hour before their interview slot to support all learning styles
- Question to invite a candidate’s broader understanding of the current context and self-reflection: “You are coming to the academy at a time of tremendous challenge and contestation in the broader world, how do you think about this context in relation to your own work?”