Diversifying the faculty initiative

information on the opportunity hire program

Most colleges and universities, including Indiana State University,
seek new faculty through standard search processes in which a
position is posted, committees are formed to consider candidates,
semi-finalists and finalists are identified from the pool of applicants,
and ultimately an offer is made and hopefully accepted. On occasion, however, institutions employ adjusted/adapted techniques to pursue persons of particular importance to an institution through an
opportunity hire process. These persons are also typically highly
sought after by other institutions. One common category of
opportunity hire are faculty who are historically underrepresented in higher education, persons who not only serve as role models and
mentors to students who are underrepresented at the institution,
but also provide great benefit to members of the majority community
as well - students, faculty, and staff.

For a second year, Indiana State University is deploying an
opportunity hire program for faculty in our colleges and the library,
in part stimulated by our large and growing African American
population - almost 15% of our students are African American and
more than 1/4 of the entire  student body reflects domestic or international diversity.  Hence, while Indiana State University values diversity in all of its forms and seeks it through its various hiring mechanisms, the opportunity hires program specifically emphasizes racial and ethnic diversity, particularly African American.

Candidates interested in applying through the Opportunity Hire Program and to see a list of the academic departments and programs at the university should do so through the Faculty – Opportunity Hire Program portal.

                            Opportunity Hire Guidelines