September 15, 2021
Dear Campus Leaders,
As we return to campus, many of you may be conducting searches to fill faculty or staff positions. PSU strives to have inclusive hiring practices that provide equal opportunity for internal and external candidates and result in hiring employees from diverse backgrounds. Global Diversity and Inclusion, Academic Affairs and Human Resources are partnering to provide support to hiring authorities and search committees and would like to remind you of some important requirements and resources for searches.
PSU’s HR partners are your main contact during your searches. Additionally, Global Diversity and Inclusion welcomes Becky Chiao, as PSU’s new Director of Affirmative Action and Senior Investigator. One of Becky’s primary responsibilities is to work with the campus community to increase the diversity of our employees and to ensure equitable hiring practices. Please feel free to contact Becky with any questions or for help with inclusive searches and increasing diversity in your department.
When you are managing a search, be aware of the inclusive hiring workshop requirement, and contact your HR partner to confirm that members of your search committee have completed the workshop within the last three years.
Required for:
Hiring authorities and search committee members for positions that are:
- At the assistant director level or higher (new requirement for staff administrators positions) or
- Tenure track and non-tenure track faculty
This requirement is also recommended for Hiring authorities and search committee members for all other positions.
If you or a search committee member has not participated in the Inclusive Hiring workshop in the last three years, please sign up for one of the upcoming workshops through Canvas.
If you are not able to enroll through Canvas because you do not have a PSU email account, or are having other difficulties, please contact the instructor Becky Chiao.
We heard the campus community express a continued interest in PSU offering search advocates to enhance an equitable search process. The Search Advocate Program provides an external person to guide the search committee in their inclusive hiring processes. Search advocates serve on search committees from outside of their departments, as non-voting members.
Search Advocates are PSU faculty, staff, and administrators who are trained as search and selection process advisors. Their preparation includes a 16-hour workshop series addressing current research about implicit bias, diversity, the changing legal landscape in hiring, inclusive employment principles, practical strategies for each stage of the search process, and effective ways to be an advocate on a search committee.
GDI will be offering the 16-hour workshop over four days this fall. If you are interested in becoming a search advocate, please respond to the email where GDI will share more information on how to register to become a search advocate. GDI will also be providing information on how to request a search advocate once the program is in full swing.
While PSU expects searches to be conducted for most positions, we understand that there are times when a search is not the most optimal method to filling positions, including permitting promotions within a division. Search waivers are permissible when they meet the criteria of the search waiver guidelines.
Again, your HR partner can advise you if a search waiver is necessary for a position. Starting September 22nd, search waivers should be emailed to Becky Chiao at bchiao@pdx.edu with the necessary documentation. Any search waiver for a position within Global Diversity and Inclusion should be emailed to Nathan Klinkhammer at nklink2@pdx.edu.
Sincerely,
Ame Lambert
Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion
Susan Jeffords
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Nathan Klinkhammer
Associate Vice President for Human Resources