Now Hiring! Empirically Testing a Three-Step Intervention to Increase Faculty Gender Diversity in STEM

Area of Science:

• Academic workforce diversity
• Higher education faculty recruitment
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields

Background:

• Workforce homogeneity in STEM fields limits creativity and discovery.
• The majority of university faculty in STEM fields are men.
• Historically, increasing faculty diversity at universities has proven challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a randomized, controlled faculty search intervention.
• To increase the number of women faculty in STEM at a US university.
• To test the effectiveness of a self-determination theory-based approach to diversity.

Main Methods:

• A three-step randomized and controlled faculty search intervention was conducted.
• The intervention was based on self-determination theory principles.
• The study compared intervention groups with control groups at one US university.

Main Results:

• Intervention groups showed significantly higher numbers of women candidates considered and offered positions.
• Searches in the intervention were 6.3 times more likely to offer a position to a woman.
• Women offered positions in the intervention were 5.8 times more likely to accept.

Conclusions:

• The faculty search intervention effectively increased the recruitment and hiring of women in STEM.
• The intervention's success demonstrates the potential for targeted strategies to enhance diversity.
• The approach is adaptable for advancing diversity across various academic and scientific disciplines.