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Recruitment & Retention

Refine existing or develop new faculty and staff recruitment and retention processes to ensure every employee has access to resources and opportunities to help them feel connected, supported, and to thrive.

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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 the 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 diversity and inclusion 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 rates that better reflect our community.

Tenure & Promotion

Years 2–4

Evaluate for transparency and inclusion, identify barriers and opportunities for improvement of the faculty tenure and promotion processes as they relate to diversity and inclusion. Include clear guidelines and expectations.

  • Outcomes
    • Increased transparency and inclusivity in tenure and promotion processes.
    • Improved clarity around tenure and promotion such that faculty feel prepared and set up for success throughout the entire 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, and job satisfaction.

  • Actions
    • Provide bias mitigation training for all faculty involved in tenure and promotion review to ensure objectivity, confidentiality, and use of metrics, as well as to reduce subjectivity. Consider having the tenure review committee craft commitments to mitigating bias, rotating committee leadership across searches, and to valuing diversity in all of its forms and practices that further a more inclusive community.
    • Develop recommendations to faculty for the refinement and evaluation of inclusion and transparency in tenure and promotion processes.
    • Review the current handbook and communications about tenure and promotion process and decisions. Identify opportunities to address concerns and create a more transparent process and clearer communications.
    • Review existing tenure and promotion policies for 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.
    • Recognize that service and commitment to diversity and inclusion are valued equally with other services, including service to Thayer, Dartmouth, or any other professional organization.
    • Evaluate policies and practices around starting and stopping the tenure clock.
    • Create tenure workshops, mentoring, sample tenure files, and other resources to support tenure-track faculty and make navigating the process more transparent and inclusive.
    • 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 diversity in all its forms amongst tenured faculty.
    • Increased number of faculty engaged in service-related opportunities that build our community.
    • Increased professional development opportunities 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 with an emphasis on inclusive and fair practices.
    • 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 focus on attracting talented, qualified candidates across a full spectrum of diversity.
    • Identify opportunities to create partnerships with external organizations (eg. existing professional partners of incoming hires) to develop and expand pipeline and applicant pool.

  • Metrics
    • Search committee and hiring manager training completion rate.​
    • Increased diversity of all forms in the applicant pool.
    • Increased diversity of all forms among Thayer's faculty and staff.
    • Increased acceptance of offers from candidates from across the spectrum.
    • Increased promotion and retention rates of individuals from across the spectrum.

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 with resources that provide support and exposure to help staff build successful careers at Thayer.
    • Increased connection and camaraderie across different teams and departments.
    • A culture of mentoring, coaching, and feedback.

  • Actions
    • Identify mentorship needs for different groups of staff (ie. 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
    • Number and demographics of mentoring program participants (eg. role at Thayer, interests)
    • 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 safety and well-being, connection, and belonging.
    • Ongoing relationships and associations that provide support and exposure to help faculty 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.
    • 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 “hosts” for these individuals to help them access local information and resources to meet their needs.
    • Assess and refine the 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 inclusion and fairness, 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.
    • Diversity and inclusion are included in annual staff reviews, salary increases, and evaluations for promotion.
    • Reduced barriers to access to professional development opportunities and/or career coaching for all staff.
    • Increased staff engagement, retention, and job satisfaction.

  • Actions
    • Refine and evaluate inclusion and transparency in staff career pathing promotion decisions.
    • Review and update the current guidance and communications about staff career paths, promotion process, and decisions. Identify opportunities to address concerns and create a more transparent process and clearer communications.
    • Define core competencies, expectations, and requirements for staff promotion based on the position. Review and evaluate policies related to evaluating staff on a commitment to incorporate diversity and inclusion incorporation within their roles, responsibilities, and identified expectations.
    • Train all supervisors in bias mitigation in promotion review to support objectivity, confidentiality, the use of metrics, and to reduce 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 diversity, inclusion, 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 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 diversity and inclusion opportunities.
    • Number of staff demonstrating a commitment to diversity and inclusion in promotion applications and the annual review/evaluation process.
    • Higher number of internal promotions ​versus external hires.
    • Improved retention and promotion rate from each demographic and identity group.