ADVANCE-Nebraska offers faculty recruitment and retention workshops

Events are being planned this fall to "ADVANCE Faculty Recruitment and Retention."  These events are sponsored by Academic Affairs, the Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and ADVANCE-Nebraska. The ADVANCE-Nebraska Office was launched by UNL with the help of a National Science Foundation-funded Advance grant. This office will capitalize on the current momentum and help install the necessary structures for overcoming identified barriers to the advancement of women STEM faculty.

The Office of Academic Affairs and IANR have also launched an “Initiative to Adopt Best Practices to Recruit and Retain a Diverse Faculty.” The workshops below are designed to promote both efforts.

• Oct. 26.2009 - UNL Faculty Development/COACHe Workshop: "Powerful Presentations," 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Nebraska Union - Nancy Houfek (Head of Voice & Speech for the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard University) and Lee Warren (Associate Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University) return to UNL to offer another dynamic workshop.

As public speakers, we often focus on the content of our subject matter and leave the quality of our speaking to chance. After a presentation we wonder, "Did they get it? Am I doing everything I can to get this across?"  "Powerful Presentations" give you some specific skills that actors use that will help you be more effective as a presenter or public speaker. Physical confidence, vocal presence, clear articulation and a relaxed presence are important parts of the performer's training. These are easy to learn and important to practice in order to improve our ability to convey complex and important concepts to our listeners.
Register for this workshop by Oct. 19 by e-mailing: advance2@unl.edu.

• Nov. 3, 2009 - Regenerating the Faculty Workforce: Focusing on Pre-Tenure Faculty - An Interactive Workshop, Nebraska Union, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. (buffet lunch starts at 11:30 a.m.) - Dr. Cathy Trower, research director, Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHe) at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.  Trower's research includes women in science, faculty recruitment and retention strategies, tenure policy and practice, and the values and expectations of GenX faculty.

As greater numbers of faculty retire (or not, given the economic downturn), institutions must recruit younger Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964), Generation Xers (born 1965-1981), and Millennials (born 1982-2000) to fill vacancies, yet continue to engage, or regenerate, older faculty in the evolving academic enterprise. We will: 1) discuss a framework that encompasses a new conception of the profession built upon the premise of regeneration; 2) highlight the values that shaped the policies and practices composed by earlier generations and the older Baby Boom generations, which do not necessarily work so well for Gen X or Millennials, and discuss the possible tension points around tenure clarity, work-life balance, flexibility, collegiality, career pace and paths, feedback, and productivity that result; and 3) engage participants in a dialogue about implications for faculty recruitment and retention at UNL.

Welcome to all new UNL faculty members!

The following individuals have joined UNL's faculty ranks. Please join us in extending a welcome to these new colleagues.

Welcome!

Larry Berger, head/professor, Animal Science
Amy Boren, research assistant professor, IANR Vice Chancellor's office
Jennifer Brisson, assistant professor, Biological Sciences
Aaron Bronfman, assistant professor, Philosophy
Ruth Brown, associate professor, Advertising
Martin Centurion, assistant professor, Physics and Astronomy
Ming Chen, research assistant professor, Biochemistry
Janghwan Cheon, assistant professor, Architecture
Daniel Ciobanu, assistant professor, Animal Science
Carina Curto, assistant professor, Mathematics
Basuli Deb, assistant professor, English/Women's and Gender Studies
Tonia Durdun, assistant professor, Child, Youth and Family Studies
Joseph Fontaine, director, Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit/School of Natural Resources
Rodrigo Franco, assistant professor, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Amanda Gailey, assistant professor, English
John Gates, assistant professor, Geosciences
Jolie Graybill, assistant professor, University Libraries
Dana Griffin, assistant professor, Political Science
Kevin Grosskopf, assistant professor, Construction Management
Linxia Gu, assistant professor, Mechanical Engineering
Qingfeng Guan, assistant professor, Geography/School of Natural Resources
Debora Hamernik, associate dean/associate director/professor, Agricultural Research Division
Ananthnarayan Hariharan, research assistant professor, Mathematics
Peter Harms, assistant professor, Management
Seth Harris, assistant professor, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Thomas Hoegemeyer, professor of practice, Agronomy and Horticulture
David Holding, assistant professor, Agronomy and Horticulture
Julie Honaker, assistant professor, Special Education and Communication Disorders
Soo-Young Hong, assistant professor, Child, Youth and Family Studies
Jinsong Huang, assistant professor, Mechanical Engineering
Vladmir Itskov, assistant professor, Mathematics
Karla Jenkins, assistant professor, Panhandle Research and Extension Center/Animal Science
Neeta Kantamneni, assistant professor, Educational Psychology
Deepak Keshwani, assistant professor, Biological Systems Engineering
Steven Kolbe, assistant professor, Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film
Yaroslav Komarovski, assistant professor, Classics and Religious Studies
Michelle Krehbiel, assistant professor, 4H Youth Development
Gayaneh Kyureghian, research assistant professor, Food Science and Technology
Josephine Lau, assistant professor, Architectural Engineering
Siu-Kit Lau, assistant professor, Architectural Engineering
Elizabeth Lewis, assistant professor, Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education
Xu Li, assistant professor, Civil Engineering
Adam Liska, research assistant professor, Biological Systems Engineering
Brandon Lockhart, assistant professor, Finance
Maria Dolores Lorenzo, assistant professor of practice, Modern Languages and Literatures
Nandakumar Madayiputhia, research assistant professor, Biochemistry/Redox Biology Center
Renu Nandakumar, research assistant professor, Biochemistry/Redox Biology Center
Timothy Nelson, assistant professor, Psychology
Jon Pedersen, professor, Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education
Jacquelyn Petzold, assistant professor, University Libraries
Damien Pfister, assistant professor, Communication Studies
Yi Qian, assistant professor, Computer and Electronics Engineering
Dipak Santra, assistant professor, Panhandle Research and Extension Center/Agronomy and Horticulture
Anita Sarma, assistant professor, Computer Science and Engineering
Javier Seravalli, research assistant professor, Biochemistry
Martha Shulski, assistant professor, School of Natural Resources
Scott Stoltenberg, assistant professor, Psychology
Jeff Thompson, assistant professor, Art and Art History
Roland Vegso, assistant professor, English
Sergio Wals, assistant professor, Political Science and Ethnic Studies
Huishan Wan, assistant professor, Accounting
Brian Waters, assistant professor, Agronomy and Horticulture
Joseph Weber, associate professor, Journalism
Matthew Wiebe, assistant professor, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Philip Willet, assistant professor, Advertising
Richard Wilson, assistant professor, Plant Pathology
Kim Wilson, director/professor, Landscape Architecture and Community and Regional Planning
Jeffrey Woldstad, chair/professor, Industrial and Management Systems Engineering
Chi Zhang, assistant professor, Biological Sciences

Dean searches under way

Chairs and committee members have been appointed for three separate searches to fill deanships at UNL. Barbara Couture, senior vice chancellor, encourages faculty, staff, and alumni to send nominations for these positions to the appropriate committee chairs as soon as possible.

David Allen, dean of the College of Engineering, is chairing the search for a new dean of the College of Business Administration. Other members of the search committee are: Paul Shoemaker, director of the School of Accountancy; Warren Luckner, director of Actuarial Science, Finance; Silvana Trimi, associate professor, Management; Fred Luthans, professor, Management; Scott Fuess, chair and professor, Economics; Ravipreet Sohi, professor, Marketing; Mary Uhl Bien, professor, Management; Manferd Peterson, professor, Finance; Lilyan Fulginiti, professor, Agricultural Economics; Kirk Kellner, regional president, Wells Fargo; Ronda Smith, graduate student; Kathi Ellis, business manager; and Sammi Mosier, undergraduate student. The committee began reviewing applications in mid September.

Giacomo "Jack" Oliva, dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, is chairing the search for a new dean for the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Committee members are: Richard Alloway, assistant professor, Journalism and Mass Communications; Trina Creighton, associate professor, Journalism and Mass Communications; Jason Ellis, assistant professor, Agriculture Leadership Education and Communication; Lauren Garcia, undergraduate student, Journalism and Mass Communications; Frauke Hachtmann, associate professor, Journalism and Mass Communications; Meg Lauerman, director, University Communications; Marty Riemenschneider, president, Nebraska Broadcasters Association; Joseph Starita, professor, Journalism and Mass Communications; Kent Warneke, editor, Norfolk Daily News; and Vicky Wheeler, business manager, Journalism and Mass Communications. They began reviewing applications Sept. 30.

David Manderscheid, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Sandra Zellmer, professor, College of Law, will co-chair the search for a new dean of the College of Law. Committee members are: Rob Denicola, professor; Craig Lawson, professor; John Lenich, professor; Colleen Medill, professor; Josephine Potuto, professor; Kevin Ruser, clinical professor; Steven Schmidt, assistant clinical professor; and Anthony Schutz, assistant professor, all College of Law; Richard Wiener, professor, Psychology; Matt Schaefer, law student representative; and external representatives Hon. Judge Laurie Smith Camp, U.S. District Court, Nebraska; Barbara Schaefer, senior vice president for human resources for Union Pacific; and Jerry L. Piglsey, Lincoln attorney with Harding and Schultz.  The committee will begin reviewing applications Oct. 15.

'Best Practices' Faculty Advisory Committee appointed

UNL seeks to ensure that its faculty represents a sufficient range of background and experience to create a deep, broad, and vigorous intellectual environment. Last spring, the campus approved an Initiative to Adopt Best Practices to Recruit and Retain a Diverse Faculty. Additionally, the ADVANCE-Nebraska initiative to increase the number of women faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, will complement the "best practices" initiative.

The university's leadership team, along with a number of faculty advisers, will be devoting their energies and expertise to these initiatives in the coming year. Part of the process is the creation of a Faculty Diversity Advisory Committee.

Harvey Perlman, chancellor, has appointed six UNL faculty members to serve on this new committee. They are: Concetta DiRusso, professor, Nutrition and Health Sciences, (also a member of the ADVANCE-Recruit committee); Aaron Dominguez, associate professor, Physics and Astronomy; Jerry Hudgins, professor, Electrical Engineering (also a member of the ADVANCE internal advisory board); Helen Moore, professor, Sociology; Elaine Westbrooks, associate dean, University Libraries; and Xiao Cheng Zeng; professor, Chemistry (and member of the ADVANCE-Promote committee).

Each of these individuals has shown previous commitment and interest to diversity efforts on campus.

The charge for the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Faculty Diversity Initiative is to provide feedback to the initiative's Administrative Planning Group on action plans that are developed by the colleges' strategic planning processes. The committee will also inform and consult with faculty constituent groups through a Blackboard website, through occasional open forums, and through an annual report, posted on the Blackboard site, on the initiative's outcomes.

Global Gateway initiative encourages faculty, students to increase international activities

A new initiative aimed at increasing the number of faculty who lead study-abroad courses or incorporate international perspectives in classes, and increasing the number of students who participate, has launched.

Chancellor Harvey Perlman revealed the project, Global Gateway, at his annual State of the University address Sept. 10. A student, faculty, and curriculum development project, Global Gateway is funded by the NU Foundation. Under the project, up to three faculty who agree to offer a pre-reading course and take up to five faculty colleagues on a study-abroad trip in summer 2010 will receive an additional $1,500. And up to 15 students per trip (a total of 45 for the three trips) receive $1,500 scholarships to defray trip expenses.

Applications for Global Gateway Faculty Leaders were due Oct. 2, (http://www.unl.edu/svcaa/). Application information for Global Gateway Faculty Associates (the faculty who will be accompanying the trips) will be announced later in the fall. Global Gateway faculty leaders applications will be reviewed by members of the International Programs Advisory Council (IPAC)l, who will make recommendations to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

David Wilson, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the new initiative is designed to improve global competency, which students or faculty may develop by experiencing another culture; developing a working familiarity with a modern language other than English; developing the ability to understand and appreciate different cultural perspectives; acquiring knowledge about the interconnectedness of world history, regional geography, regional cultures, world literatures, and economic, political, and environmental systems; and acquiring the ability to identify and discuss international and cultural issues.

Global Gateway faculty leaders will offer a for-credit, short-term, study-abroad opportunity in Summer 2010. Each Global Gateway Faculty Leader will receive an expense account plus funds for support materials to offer an informal, non-credit, reading seminar designed to help their study-abroad students and accompanying colleagues develop some understandings of the culture, history, economy, politics, geography, and contemporary issues of the target country.  

Global Gateway Faculty Associates who participate in each pre-trip reading seminar series will have their basic trip expenses (airfare, housing, meals) covered.  In return each Global gateway Faculty Associate will be expected to develop and offer one or more of the following, within two years of the experience:

• a study-abroad experience for students (to be designed within one year of the experience);
• a new course focused on the country of study;
• a revision of a present course so that it includes significant content from/about the country of study;
• a research experience for undergraduate and/or graduate students in partnership with universities, colleges, schools, or institutions
  within the country of study.

The goals of the Global Gateway project are: 

• Increased number of students able to have a study-abroad experience. 
• Increased number of faculty with an increased understanding of foreign countries/cultures
• Expanded opportunities (through study-abroad offerings, courses, and research experiences) for students to develop global competency.
• Increased campus awareness of the world and Nebraska's relationship to countries and cultures that may seem distant.
• Increased global competency for UNL students.

The project fits within UNL's stated academic priorities and also supports the University of Nebraska's strategic framework. Both UNL and NU place high emphasize on a more internationalized curriculum and believe that students need to be prepared to live, lead and work in a global society.
 
For more information, contact Wilson at dwilson2@unl.edu.

IT survey findings posted to web

Since mid July, when a summary of findings from the Information Technology survey, conducted by the Office of Academic Affairs, was posted to http://www.unl.edu/svcaa/itreview/summary.shtml, the site has had more than 2,500 views.

The survey asked participants to identify IT needs and deficiencies with regard to our missions of teaching and research; to identify services that are best handled centrally or those that are best handled by units; to identify services that might be better handled by outsourcing; and to suggest services that are outmoded or could be eliminated. It was apparent that respondents took their tasks seriously and the results we received were thoughtful and illuminating. Survey results were collected by participant group and individuals also were invited to respond.

In an email announcing the posting, Barbara Couture, senior vice chancellor, thanked a number of individuals for their work in developing and executing the survey.

"The Faculty Senate's Computational Facilities and Services Committee provided valuable input into the development of the survey questions, as did a report from our external consultants, The Advisory Board. Thirty-one campus stakeholder groups provided group responses to the survey, along with a few individuals. Thank you all for taking time to provide your input and best thinking on this high-priority topic."

The survey results were tabulated and analyzed by Gary Aerts, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor and Director of Information Services; Bill Nunez, Director of Institutional Research and Planning; and Ron Roeber, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. This team also received consultancy assistance from The Gartner Group.

"I especially wish to thank Ron Roeber for his leadership in coordinating and directing the project, and for his work in producing the final report," Couture said. "Each of us should be proud of the collegial nature of the project. Our collaborative efforts serve us well in our search for the most effective ways to provide services to our academic enterprise."

Objectives and benchmarks proposed for strengthened international education efforts

In response to recommendations from two task forces on international programming sponsored by Academic Affairs, the SVCAA and VC/IANR appointed the International Programs Advisory Council (IPAC). The committee is charged to make recommendations to the university for strengthening and focusing our international programs. It also was charged with developing a set of benchmarks for increasing UNL's engagement with international academic programs and research. IPAC has developed the following proposed recommendations, and is seeking campus response.  This document is a draft and they are seeking campus input.  Faculty and staff can submit comments at svcaa@unl.edu.  The recommendations are being reviewed formally by the deans, the Senior Administrative Team, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, and the Academic Planning Committee. A list of IPAC's membership follows the proposed benchmarks. For additional information, contact co-chairs David Wilson, (dwilson2@unl.edu), or Susan Fritz,(sfritz1@unl.edu).

DRAFT Objectives and Benchmarks for International Programs

Objective: Increase the visibility, quality, and funding (internal and external) of international programs in teaching and learning, research, and outreach.
Benchmark: Increase external international research funding by 20 percent in five years.

Objective: Ensure UNL staff and faculty are better able to interactive effectively with international students on campus.
Benchmark: Increase by 20 percent within five years the retention of international students.

Objective: Ensure UNL staff and faculty are better equipped to help UNL students with international opportunities.
Benchmark: Increase by 10 percent within five years the number of UNL students conducting thesis/dissertation research with an international component.
Benchmark: Increase by 10 percent within five years the number of students from international collaborating institutions conducting part of their thesis/dissertation research at UNL.
Benchmark: Increase by 20 percent within five years the number of UNL undergraduate students completing international minors or certificates.
Benchmark: Increase the proportion of students participating in study abroad programs from 23 percent to 33 percent of the undergraduate student population within five years.
Benchmark: Increase by 10 percent within five years the number of UNL students who have international internships.
Benchmark: Increase by 10 percent within five years the number of UNL faculty-led programs.
Benchmark: Increased by 20 percent within five years the number of faculty and student Fulbright awards submitted and granted.

Objective: Identify a limited number of priority countries or regions in which it makes sense for UNL to enhance and expand its presence and investment in a coherent way
Benchmark: Increase the number of active Memoranda of Understanding in the priority countries/regions by 20 percent within five years.
Benchmark: Increase student enrollments among international students from each priority country/region by 20 percent within five years.
Benchmark: The number of UNL students, faculty and staff going to each priority country/region through an official UNL effort will increase by 50 percent within five years.
Benchmark: Grant dollars associated with priority country/regional initiatives will increase by 20 percent within five years.

Objectives: Further the globalization of the UNL campus and community by increasing interactions between domestic and international students and scholars.
Benchmark: Increase by 20 percent within five years the number and strength of programs available to international students.

Objective: Increase the number of international undergraduate students.
Benchmark: Increase the percentage of our undergraduate population that is international from 2.8 to 6 percent within five years.

Objective: Improve alignment and coordination of existing international programs/activities at UNL.
Benchmark: Establish a centralized, searchable data bank of university wide, college, departmental and individual faculty international programs/activities (50 percent of the campus reporting year 1; 100 percent in year 2).

Benchmark: Enhance the centralized data bank of University of Nebraska Memorandums of Understandings with international institutions to strengthen international programs within six months.

2009-10 IPAC Membership:

Susan Fritz, Associate Vice Chancellor, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (co-chair)
David Wilson, Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs (co-chair)

Four faculty who are engaged in international work:

Patrice McMahon, Political Science
Stephen Mason, Agronomy and Horticulture
Yiqi Yang, Textiles, Clothing and Design
Margaret Jacobs, History

Three appointees from the Council of Deans: 

David Manderscheid, Arts and Sciences
Wayne Drummond, Architecture
Marjorie Kostelnik, Education and Human Sciences

One undergraduate student with international experience:

Michelle Prothman

One graduate student with international experience:

Clarissa Steele

Associate Vice Chancellor, Research:

Kim Espy

One representative from Student Affairs:

Alan Cerveny, Dean of Admissions

Chinese students savor summer in Nebraska

(Carole Wilbeck, Engineering, and Lori McGinniss, IANR Communications contributed to this story)

On a postcard, their experiences would read like the quintessential Nebraska summer: visiting the state capitol and tourist attractions including the I-80 Arch and Pioneer Village. For Chinese students on a five-week undergraduate research visit at UNL, there was much to write home about.

The group from Zhejiang University worked with UNL faculty by day and also enjoyed evening and weekend cookouts and movies around Lincoln. They worked in labs across campus and presented their work at a daylong Research Experiences for Undergraduates workshop on Aug. 11.

Of the 25 Zhejiang University juniors, all with GPAs of 3.6 or above, who applied for this opportunity, 16 were selected, said David Lou, director of UNL's Confucius Institute that helped facilitate the visit.

"We do this because we want these exceptional undergraduates to come to UNL for graduate studies," Lou said.

Zhejiang, located southwest of Shanghai, is one of the top three universities in China and is well-known for its science and engineering programs, said Lou who is also a professor of mechanical engineering. The participating students all had prior lab research experience, and Lou's office ensured that each student was matched with a UNL faculty member who shared that student's research interest.

Faculty mentors included Jerry Hudgins, Wei Qiao, Sina Balkir and Mustafa "Cenk" Gursoy with Electrical Engineering; Shane Farritor, Jeff Shield, Brian Robertson, Zhaoyan Zhang and Carl Nelson with Mechanical Engineering; Greg Bashford and Shadi Othman with Biological Systems Engineering; Gustavo Larsen with Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Steve Reichenbach with Computer Science and Engineering; Lawrence Harshman, Biological Sciences; and Tim Arkebauer with Agronomy and Horticulture.

Student Zhenguo Tan worked with Bashford, helping redesign an electrocardiogram circuit – a sensor that measures the electrical fields that emanate from the heart.

"He's redesigned a circuit board that we designed a few years ago and added some features that will make it much better," Bashford said of Tan's work.

UNL's involvement with ZJU is a continuing evolution. Last year IANR partnered with ZJU to develop a joint China-U.S. center for advanced agricultural and natural resources technology.

Also last year, IANR signed an agreement with ZJU for a graduate program that will bring ZJU students to Lincoln. Under the three-plus-one plan, ZJU undergraduates will transfer to UNL after three years to complete their bachelor's degrees, then will earn a master's degree from the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

"This will be a great recruiting tool," Lou said.

Bashford said the research program benefits both UNL and the visiting students. UNL benefits from research conducted by top-notch students, he said. The ZJU students benefit by getting the opportunity to work in an advanced laboratory.

Tan said BSE's laboratory has more equipment than do laboratories at ZJU. "This helped me a lot. The labs are wonderful," he said. "The time I stayed here is too short."

ADVANCE-Nebraska workshops reveal early lessons gleaned from research

The ADVANCE-Nebraska project and Best Practices to Recruit and Retain a Diverse Faculty initiative dovetail and support each other in a variety of ways. At workshops Sept. 17 and Oct. 6, faculty reported on the early findings of research supported by the ADVANCE grant.

Research conducted prior to adoption of the Best Practices Initiative showed that UNL is doing just a little better than OK in its efforts to hire diverse faculty, but other institutions are doing better, according to Barbara Couture, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. There are four areas of attention: scouting for potential new hires (prior to developing applicant pools); altering search processes to ensure greater success; supporting new hires through tenure and promotion; and sustaining that support throughout careers to retain the best possible faculty.

Presentations Sept. 17 focused on the first of those areas.

Mary Anne Holmes, ADVANCE-Nebraska director and geosciences, said that research has shown there is great variability in how UNL departments run and manage searches. The Bureau of Sociological Research conducted focus groups about searches, she said; interestingly, members of the focus groups were surprised to hear of other departments’ processes during the focus group interviews. And it appears that since those interviews were conducted in the spring of 2008, some departments have implemented changes they heard about during the interviews.

Holmes said that the key to improving faculty diversity is having large and diverse applicant pools. But it takes some work to develop large, diverse pools, she added.

Holmes said interviews with recently hired faculty show that PeopleAdmin (UNL's employment software) is the most-cited and best source used by applicants who are looking for jobs. The takeaway, she said, is that ads that appear on PeopleAdmin need to be well crafted. And it appears that expensive ads in journals like Science are rarely cited, and they may not be the wisest way to spend recruitment money.

Holmes addressed several topics relating to scouting for potential hires. Successful departments have a strategic "wish list" for new hires five or six years out, she said. These departments then use that wish list when UNL faculty attend conferences, invite prospective Ph.D.s as speakers or or PhD-producers who can see UNL and encourage their students to apply here.

Concetta DiRusso, nutrition and health sciences, is chair of ADVANCE-Nebraska's Recruit-NE committee. She reiterated Holmes' comments about strategic "wish lists," and said that recruitment for a position begins long before the opening is advertised.

"Consider yourself to be in recruitment mode at all times," she said. "Consider that the best 'man' for the job may be a woman."

DiRusso said that diverse search committees have a better record of producing diverse applicant pools. It's important that advertisements run in appropriate journals and society publications. And the most important is to recruit on a personal and targeted basis.

ADVANCE's Promote-NE committee's research focused on the phenomenon of "implicit bias" in searches. Tracy Frank, geosciences, said everyone holds implicit, unconscious biases and have a tendency to apply gender "schemas" or "stereotypes" as shortcuts.

"These are subtle," she said, "but over time, these molehills can create mountains."

Alexandra Basolo, biosciences, said that self-recognition of these biases is not equivalent to resolving or reducing them but is a first step towards ending the problems. Shireen Adenwalla, physics, said there are ways to mitigate bias. Taking time to carefully read vitae and applications is important, because people crunched for time may resort to stereotypes or assumptions as a tool to quickly winnow.

She noted two other areas of concern: the implicit gender bias among students when they are writing teaching evaluations and the recognition that women in STEM fields shoulder larger service burdens. She suggested that when women, especially junior faculty, are asked to serve on committees, that their roles are meaningful – such as being the chair.

Also at the Sept. 6 workshop, Christina Falci, sociology, reported early findings of her work in studying departmental networking. Falci's work in social networks analysis looks at ways to systematically identify actors in a network. Most of the work in this emerging field has been done in middle and senior high schools, she said. She believes she is the first to analyze social networking among a university faculty. Her goal is to see how networks are associated with departmental climates.

She looked at the types of networks (centralized or clustered) in three areas: research exchange, social connections and committee co-memberships.

Falci's preliminary findings, based on surveys done in 2007, show that departments that are more centralized show a higher degree of climate satisfaction. Women tend to have fewer ties than men in research and friendship (social) networks but not in committee co-memberships. She believes that the more connected actors are in a group, especially if individuals are tied to "well-connected" actors, then the better all the actors in the group feel about the climate.

Falci is working to increase the number of departments she is studying over the next year.

Holmes reported at the Oct. 6 workshop that interviews with recently hired faculty showed that some candidates feel that the interviews were rushed and there was not sufficient opportunity for them to see parts of the campus beyond the interview site and they did not get to see as much of Lincoln as they would have liked. She said that departments should try to adjust their interview processes to accommodate those wishes.

Holmes said there are several attributes of UNL that are unique, unusual and attractive to candidates. These include

• New faculty orientation, guidance and mentoring offered by the Senior Vice Chancellor's office.
• Grant-writing assistance, visits to funding agencies and help in finding funding sources, all provided by the Office of Research.
• Interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary focus among colleges and departments. This is especially attractive to young faculty.
• The city of Lincoln offers good schools, safety, high-quality cultural and arts opportunities, sports and affordable housing.

Evelyn Jacobson, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said UNL's work-life balance policies are more liberal than many universities. A new brochure has been developed and should be part of all search materials. The brochure is available from the ADVANCE-Nebraska office and will soon be online. She noted that these policies apply to all faculty eligible for health benefits. She also noted that UNL has no limit on the number of tenure interruptions, although each interruption is reviewed on a case by case basis. She urged that all new or potential hires know of these polices.

Nancy Busch, associate dean of libraries, said Libraries has been successful in attracting minority candidates by acknowledging and accepting the fact that highly qualified candidates may be looking at UNL as a place to learn and develop and then to jump off to a more advanced position. That's not necessarily a bad thing, she noted, because even if candidates stay just five to seven years, they are extremely productive while here, and they may decide to stay.