Volume LIV, Number 2
The Role of Research Administrators in Supporting Diverse Faculty
Robert Nobles, Ph.D.
Emory University
The responsibility of research administrators to support faculty within institutions of higher education is both a virtue and practice, but how does this change for faculty of diverse backgrounds? On the surface, one could think the service and support we provide are exactly what we do for all faculty. Early in my career, I thought the same, with emphasis on all faculty being the same and attempting not to provide preferential treatment to any but striving for excellence for all. Many of you can likely identify with this philosophy, but as I migrated from Texas to Tennessee, and now to Atlanta, my career progressed from representing an office to a more expansive ideology as a representative of a university. With my matriculation came the realization that all faculty were indeed the same and different at the same time. This paradox will be the focus of this article while providing practical recommendations that research administrators can implement at their own institutions.
Let me start with what is known about faculty. Faculty often spend 8-10 years progressing through their undergraduate and graduate education. Similar to my educational pathway, some faculty progress through their graduate training by obtaining a master’s degree while also completing a pre-doctoral fellowship before completing their terminal degree. Many of our faculty also will select a post-doctoral training program to rapidly progress from being an apprentice for research to one who leads research endeavors. Fortunate post-docs will also have the opportunity to teach, which then catapults their preparation to become an assistant professor at one of our great institutions. Then the hard work for assistant professors begins with having responsibility for research, teaching, and service for the next 5-7 years while demonstrating excellence in each of these categories before being promoted and receiving tenure. During the process of matriculating through tenure is where I began to observe the cultural differences among our faculty.
When I observed faculty working diligently as assistant professors, it became noticeable that minority faculty, both domestic and international, put their heads down and worked diligently to “figure it out.” There is usually an underground network of other minority faculty and/or senior administrators they may eventually connect with to help navigate the university. Although this is appreciated by research administrators from a workload perspective, this phenomenon can result in a more difficult road for these faculty as they try to learn the shortcuts to success that many others already know, including the processes of how best to engage with our research offices. It should be noted that my colleagues who are in the majority, particularly those who are male and Caucasian, are generally more confident in reaching out for help or sharing concerns when policies and processes are seen as obstacles to their success. Having said that, I wish all faculty had the same level of confidence in asking questions and expecting the university to be highly responsive to their needs. Ensuring that all faculty, whether minority or majority, are equally welcomed and supported are critical areas where research administrators can step up and help address this differential dilemma by being proactive with their efforts and communication.
An additional observation that I have had over the years is that female and minority faculty members were typically asked to engage in and accept more service opportunities. This could be based on faculty interest or just the desire for committees to attempt to diversify their membership. Whatever the cause, such service demands can result in far greater workloads for these faculty, impeding their scholarly productivity. The quandary for me as a VP for Research Administration and Institutional Official for our regulatory compliance programs is my desire for inclusiveness and exposure, while also wanting to be protective of minority and female faculty time dedicated to other commitments. In working through this internal conflict, I had to look at my established committees for compliance and regulatory areas (e.g., IRB, IACUC, ESCRO, Biosafety, Radiation Safety, etc.) to see what their composition is from a minority and gender perspective. Consistent with my findings, many of you will find that our committee compositions are out of proportion regarding the total number of female and minority faculty at your institutions. As a minority myself, I note that minority faculty seem to carry the greatest service obligations, both on campus and within their communities. It should be noted that minority faculty are both a minority in their fields of study and communities, so increasing diversity on non-research and non-teaching initiatives further results in ever-growing effort demands on these faculty members. These on-campus service activities may detract from faculty reaching promotion and tenure, so administrators need to be more conscious of these negative impacts as we recruit faculty for our committees, task forces, and working groups.
I will provide one final observation from an experience I had within the past five years. In my career, I had the opportunity to work with some phenomenal leaders and I have observed what they did and did not do to support minority faculty. Related to this topic of supporting minority faculty [and students], I had the opportunity to visit a colleague in Missouri shortly after they had a campus protest and sit-in. During this time, racial concerns and tensions were high on campus and in the community. During this visit, I invited myself to the president's mansion and had an opportunity to have a discussion with the university president and his wife. Truthfully, this was an unannounced visit and when they opened the door they were really surprised to see me since we worked together some years back. This visit came shortly after the president’s announcement that he will be stepping down from the role in the coming months. My primary questions for him were 1) why leave the position now; and 2) what would he have done differently?
What I learned in the conversation was profound, and I want to share it with you. For my first question [why now?], the response was that leadership requires representing all your stakeholders. He added that when you fail to represent everyone fully, you will fail to have a sustainable leadership role. The response resonated with me and reshaped the way I carried out my leadership tone and focus in higher education. Specifically, I began trying to identify my own blind spots and segments of campus from which I was not receiving feedback. I personally brought those groups closer to my groups of engagement so that I could actively keep a pulse of the research experiences across campus. For me this has resulted in my campus feeling heard and developing a sense of trust that the challenges that faculty experience will be addressed appropriately (or at least an objective answer provided of why a challenge can’t be addressed yet).
For the second question [what would you do differently?], the answer was short and sweet… He shared that he wished he would have listened more. He admitted to having a blind spot to issues related to minority groups on campus and never thought that this blind spot would truncate his tenure as a university president. I took this experience back to my institution in Tennessee, as we were having challenges related to recruiting, retaining, and helping our minority faculty excel. When I sat down with the provost and shared my notes, we immediately established listening sessions for our diverse faculty in groups of 8-10 within the same school/unit where possible. What we learned during this listening tour provided significant insight into the culture of our institution towards women and minorities. This propelled us to put together a task force, receive their recommendations, and then make systemic changes and enhancements to our environment, including enhancing the role of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office in faculty searches; faculty and staff receiving bias and implicit bias training; and developing a regular forum for minority and diverse faculty to engage with senior leadership. Engagement and exposure to leadership is the greatest equalizer that can be provided to our female and minority faculty, but this all starts with “listening.”
Naturally, we all want to do our part in making our environments diverse and inclusive. In closing, I am sharing some simple recommendations you can try at your institution to increase engagement and support for diverse faculty.
Recommendation #1: Identify female and minority faculty early in their tenure at the university.
Recommendation #2: Send a welcome letter to female and minority faculty that explains what services are available and provide a point of contact to help them navigate their questions.
Recommendation #3: Work with schools and departments to present annual research administration updates (written and verbal) to all faculty.
Recommendation #4: During years 2-3 of the tenure of female and minority faculty, set up a 30-minute meeting with the female and minority faculty members to ask them about their research goals and share how research administration can help them remove obstacles to aid in their success. This should be repeated within the first year after faculty have been promoted to Associate Professor.
Recommendation #5: Normalize question asking by making it easy for faculty to reach out to gain assistance (e.g., add a welcoming statement in your signature line; add a comment/suggestion box on your website; send an annual satisfaction survey that includes the opportunity for faculty to share more insight and/or request a meeting to discuss research approaches/obstacles, etc.).
Recommendation #6: Limit the recruitment of minority and female assistant professors for research advisory and compliance committees.
Recommendation #7: Be intentional and “Listen More” to female and minority faculty by creating forums, small group and individual discussions about needs and research obstacles. This information should be used to develop systemic and systematic enhancements to how your office engages and responds to the needs of diverse faculty.