In order to boast a strong and diverse faculty, the University is developing programs and services this semester to aid in the process of recruiting and retaining faculty members, particularly females and minorities, according to University officials.
The main focus continues to be placed on broadening the pool of perspective faculty members and weighing the value of diversity, said Karen Ryan, associate dean of the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Gertrude Fraser, University vice provost for faculty advancement, said her office is working to improve and enhance several different aspects of the recruitment process in conjunction with faculty search committees.
One of the projects includes developing an online tutorial for search committees that outlines how to best reach the broadest range of qualified candidates, Fraser said.
"That is one goal of my office -- to make us much more agile and to have much more breadth in how we get information out to candidates," Fraser said.
Fraser said her office also is working on enhancing the proactive nature of the recruitment process. She said by developing a comprehensive networking system, the University can better pinpoint potential faculty members.
"We can't just rest [on] our laurels and be effective," Fraser said.
Ryan said her job in the College also entails working with search committees to ensure that candidate pools are as diverse as possible.
"Most departments will pretty readily agree that diversity is an important thing," Ryan said. "It's not either -- or. You can often get a number of good candidates that are also diversity candidates."
In addition to recruiting faculty members, the University also is striving to retain faculty members. Fraser said one important strategy is trying to ensure that faculty salaries are able to remain competitive with those of peer institutions.
The University also offers another service for "partner accommodation," which works to find employment in Charlottesville for the partners of faculty members, Ryan said. The College also has a flexible mechanism for parental leave built into the tenure system to allow tenure-track female professors to take up to a year off after having a baby, Ryan said.
While both Fraser and Ryan said they think improvements are underway, they said there is still much to do. Ryan said over half of the College's hires last year were women, and quite a few minorities were hired as well, but she would like to see more women higher up on the ladder.
"That is where we are really going to feel a change in the next 10 years as we bring in these women and promote them and make them leaders -- when we're not just in the ranks, but we're senior members," Ryan said.
Ryan said an important key to attracting female and minority faculty members is building a strong, diverse community.
"You've got to have a sort of base of community," she said. "Otherwise, what we are doing is asking someone to come and help diversify the community, and that's a lot to ask someone. If you already have diversity, then you are asking them to come and be a part of the community."
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