How do US Geoscience departments value (or not-value) JEDI work in
faculty evaluation systems?
Abstract
The percentage of Geoscience students, faculty, and professionals from
historically under-represented minority (URM) groups has been largely
unchanged for two decades and remains significantly below general
population trends. Diversifying Geosciences, and developing an equitable
culture in the discipline requires faculty members (irrespective of
race/ethnicity) to engage actively in JEDI
(Justice-Diversity-Equity-Inclusion) efforts. Previous studies that
focused broadly on faculty experiences in academia indicate that
restructuring of existing faculty evaluation frameworks to better value
JEDI work may help more URM faculty, researchers and students feel
valued, thus enhancing diversity at all academic levels. However, such
efforts may not be significantly valued in many Geoscience departments.
To better understand faculty perspectives and motivations related to
JEDI work, including the effects of faculty evaluation systems on
behaviors, we are interviewing a range of faculty members across the US.
Preliminary interviews suggest <50% of faculty in the
Geoscience departments are actively involved in JEDI work and those who
are, are more likely to be women and/or early career professionals. To
aid to this data collection process, we will also be conducting a
nation-wide survey of Geoscience faculty to better understand the value
of JEDI activities in current faculty assessment
(evaluations/promotion/tenure/raise etc.) frameworks, and identify
potential barriers in engaging more faculty in meaningful DEI work.
Using data from the interviews and survey results, we aim to develop
example evaluation and reward structures that explicitly value JEDI work
that can be adopted/adapted by other Geoscience departments, and to
produce webinars focused on helping faculty leaders explicitly value
JEDI efforts within hiring and evaluation systems.