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Recruitment & Retention

Integrate DEI into faculty and staff recruitment and retention processes and practice to ensure every employee thrives, feels connected and supported.

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Orientation & Onboarding

Years 1–4

Assess and enhance these programs to ensure the diverse needs of faculty and staff are met when joining the Thayer community.

  • Outcomes
    • Formalized and streamlined orientation/onboarding process for faculty and staff, tailored to relevant communication and other needs.
    • Curated resources in an easy-to-navigate format that is open to all
    • Improved onboarding, support, and sense of security for international community
    • Incoming community members know what is expected of them and know where to go for additional support/resources.

  • Actions
    • Formalize the onboarding/orientation processes and procedures, regularly gathering feedback to ensure continuous quality improvement.
    • Integrate DEI in orientation and onboarding programs (for example, mentoring, advising, social and academic events, etc.).
    • Review Dartmouth orientation.
    • Gather and assess retention data to identify themes or trends that can inform orientation and onboarding programs.
    • Collaborate with other departments to streamline communication and information-sharing for incoming community members, including both employment and community resources (for example, living in the Upper Valley).
    • Consider additional resources needed for onboarding remote employees, including post-orientation check-ins.
    • Create an onboarding process for remote staff, following the process for in-person staff.

  • Metrics
    • Orientation program feedback from new hires trends positively, indicating that communications and processes are more effective.
    • Improved rate of retention of staff and faculty groups across all demographic and identity groups.
    • Improved retention rate by group year over year, moving towards representative rates across the board.

Tenure & Promotion

Years 2–4

Evaluate for equity, identify barriers and opportunities for improvement of the faculty tenure and promotion processes as it relates to DEI. Include clear guidelines and expectations.

  • Outcomes
    • Increased equity in tenure and promotion processes.
    • Evaluation of DEI impact in tenure and promotion.
    • Improved clarity around tenure and promotion such that faculty feel prepared and set up for success during promotion and tenure process.
    • Service is a visible part of the evaluation process.
    • Faculty are better equipped to mitigate bias, check their bias, and evaluate candidates equitably.
    • Increased faculty engagement, retention, job satisfaction.

  • Actions
    • Train all faculty in bias mitigation in the tenure and promotion review to support objectivity, confidentiality, use of metrics, and lessen subjectivity. Consider having the tenure review committee craft commitments to bias mitigation, rotation of chair for search committee, confidentiality, and commitment to DEI.
    • Develop a recommendation to faculty for the refinement and evaluation of equity and transparency in the tenure-track, and tenure and promotion processes.
    • Review the current handbook and communications about tenure and promotions process and decisions. Identify opportunities to address concerns and create a more transparent process and clearer communications.
    • Review existing tenure and promotion policies for equity, transparency, and inclusion. Some considerations to keep in mind: explore making some subsections of promotion and tenure file available to all those who will go through the tenure process, even if not all faculty will be voting on it; allowing assistant professors who have passed three-year reappointment to join future reappointment conversations; and inviting tenured faculty from another department to serve in tenure review committee.
    • Review and evaluate tenured faculty on commitment to DEI incorporation within their service, research, teaching, and the identified metrics and expectations through the Annual Supplement process.
    • Evaluate policies and practices around tenure-clock starting and stopping for inclusion and equity. Consider how potential factors in the promotion and tenure process perpetuate lack of diversity in faculty and tenured professors, making recommendations for any proposed changes.
    • Create tenure workshops, mentoring, sample tenure files, and other resources to support tenure-track faculty and make navigating the process more equitable.
    • Ensure clear guidance and support for faculty who are not writing/receiving grants; continue to provide professional development support for first-time grant submission and grant writing support for researchers that center DEI in engineering (i.e., low-income communities, affordable housing, climate crisis, environmental justice, accessible and clean water, food security, racial equity, accessibility, etc.)
    • Create and promote professional development opportunities for non-tenure track instructors, lecturers, adjuncts, and postdocs.
    • Create career pathways and identify ways to support research scientists, research faculty, and postdocs. Provide clarity around research scientist/research faculty career tracks.

  • Metrics
    • Positive feedback on tenure and promotion process.
    • Increased People of Color and women promoted and awarded tenure.​
    • Increased number of faculty engaged in DEI service-related opportunities.
    • Increased number of faculty demonstrating commitment to DEI in the tenure application and annual review/evaluation process.
    • Increased professional development opportunities available for members of the academic community at Thayer.

Recruitment & Hiring

Years 3–4

Continue improving recruitment and hiring practices to identify and attract diverse talent and increase representation of faculty and staff from a full spectrum of lived experiences, backgrounds, capabilities, cultures, perspectives and other aspects of identity.

  • Outcomes
    • Standardized recruitment and hiring practices for faculty and staff hires, incorporating best practices for talent acquisition.
    • Improved training for faculty and staff search committees.
    • Improved candidate evaluation processes through an equity lens.
    • Diverse representation of staff and faculty across all demographics and identity groups.
    • Diverse, innovative community of the world’s best and brightest talent.

  • Actions
    • Update and improve hiring handbooks and trainings for search committees/hiring managers that include guidance and practices for Thayer’s hiring philosophy, sourcing, interviewing, candidate assessment and selection, and how to mitigate bias in the hiring and selection process.
    • Expand candidate sourcing efforts (including advertising and sourcing channels) with a focus on a full spectrum of diversity.
    • Identify opportunities for partnerships with external organizations both for potential pipeline development and for professional partners of incoming hires.
    • Utilize workforce data to establish a 3-5 year plan to achieve desired levels or targets of diversification for faculty and staff.

  • Metrics
    • Search committee and hiring managers training completion rate.​
    • Quantity of female and People of Color (POC) applicants that advance through the interview and hiring round (candidate conversions to FTE).​
    • Increased diversity of hiring pool.
    • Increased diversity representation of Thayer’s faculty and staff.
    • Increased acceptance of offers from candidates representing a full spectrum of diversity.
    • Increased promotion and retention rates of individuals representing a full spectrum of diversity.

Staff Mentorship

Year 4+

Build a program to support new hires in acquiring knowledge, resources, and connections to have successful career experiences at Thayer.

  • Outcomes
    • New community members have clarity of resources, insight into the culture and community norms, and a sense of psychological safety connection and belonging.
    • Ongoing relationships and associations that provide support and exposure to help staff to build successful careers at Thayer.
    • Increased connection and camaraderie across different teams/departments.
    • A culture of mentoring, coaching and feedback.

  • Actions
    • Identify mentorship needs for different groups of staff (i.e., operational and administrative staff, research staff).
    • Identify support needs for international community members.
    • Identify a pool of staff mentors to support program participants based on specified needs for different groups.
    • Develop, design, and deliver mentorship training that includes best practices, tools, programmatic resources, and roles and responsibilities to ensure quality mentorship experiences.
    • Establish a feedback system to support continuous quality improvement for the program as well as mentor and participant experiences.

  • Metrics
    • Mentoring program participant demographics (role, race/ethnicity, gender, internation, etc) representative of new staff demographics.
    • Positive participant feedback (mentor/mentee) and evaluation of experience.
    • Post-program participant promotion rates. ​
    • Retention rates of program participants.

Faculty Mentorship

Year 4+

Review and expand the faculty mentorship program to support new faculty in acquiring knowledge, resources, and connections to have a successful career at Thayer.

  • Outcomes
    • New community members have clarity of resources, insight into the culture and community norms, and a sense of psychological safety connection and belonging.
    • Ongoing relationships and associations that provide support and exposure to help faculty to build successful careers at Thayer.
    • Connection and camaraderie across different Program Areas or engineering disciplines.
    • A culture of mentoring, coaching, and feedback.

  • Actions
    • Increase communication around existing resources (for example: on-demand access to faculty mentoring through https://www.facultydiversity.o...).
    • Identify mentorship needs for different groups of faculty (instructional, research, tenure-track), creating a framework to ensure that faculty can build knowledge, experience, and engagement through the mentoring process.
    • Identify support needs for international community members, building a group of volunteers to serve as “host” for these individuals to help them access local information and resources to meet their needs.
    • Assess and refine pool of faculty mentors to support program participants based on specified needs for different groups.
    • Develop, design, and deliver mentorship training that includes best practices, tools, programmatic resources, and roles and responsibilities to ensure quality mentorship experiences.
    • Establish a feedback system to support continuous quality improvement for the program as well as mentor and participant experiences.

  • Metrics
    • Mentoring program representation by role, race/ethnicity, gender, and other indices, as needed.
    • Positive participant feedback (mentor/mentee) and evaluation of experience.
    • Post-program participant promotion rates. ​
    • Retention rates of program participants.

Staff Development & Promotion

Year 4+

Evaluate for equity and refine the staff professional development and promotion processes to include clear career pathing, guidelines, and expectations.

  • Outcomes
    • The process and opportunities for staff promotion are more transparent.
    • Staff supervisors are equipped with the necessary skills to avoid bias in hiring, evaluation, and promotion.
    • DEI is included in annual staff review, salary increases, and evaluation for promotion.
    • Equitable access to professional development opportunities and/or career coaching for all staff.
    • Increased staff engagement, retention, job satisfaction.

  • Actions
    • Refine and evaluate equity and transparency in staff career pathing promotion decisions.
    • Review and update the current guidance and communications about staff career pathing and promotion process and decisions. Identify opportunities to address concerns and create a more transparent process and clearer communications.
    • Define DEI core competencies, expectations, and requirements for staff promotion based on the position. Review and evaluate policies related to evaluating staff on commitment to DEI incorporation within their roles, responsibilities, and identified expectations.
    • Train all supervisors in bias mitigation in promotion review to support objectivity, confidentiality, use of metrics, and lessen subjectivity.
    • In partnership with central offices at Dartmouth, identify and develop clear career pathways for staff promotion, development, and opportunities to demonstrate a commitment to DEI and growth.
    • Identify mechanisms to allow time and space for staff to engage in professional development programs, including those focused on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Partner with managers to offer stretch or growth projects.

  • Metrics
    • Positive staff feedback on annual evaluation and promotion processes.
    • Increased number of staff engaged in DEI opportunities.
    • Number of staff demonstrating commitment to DEI in promotion applications and annual review/evaluation process.
    • Higher number of internal promotions ​versus external hires.
    • Improved retention and promotion rate from each demographic and identity group.