Making Meaning of Institutional Commitments to Diversity: A Case Study Exploring Higher Education Administrative Search Committee Processes

Autor/in	Aho, Rachel Elizabeth
Titel	Making Meaning of Institutional Commitments to Diversity: A Case Study Exploring Higher Education Administrative Search Committee Processes
Quelle	(2022), (212 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Utah
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
ISBN	979-8-3719-9709-8
Schlagwörter	Hochschulschrift; Dissertation; Higher Education; Diversity (Faculty); Administrators; Personnel Selection; Search Committees (Personnel); Public Colleges + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Thesis; Dissertations; Academic thesis; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Personalauswahl; Personalentscheidung; Auswahlgespräch
Abstract	Many institutions within higher education are committed to hiring a diverse and representative body of faculty and staff, yet few institutions have realized this commitment. Instead, administrative staff demographics have not significantly changed over recent decades. To examine the intersection of institutional commitments and outcomes, this study investigates the most commonly utilized entity in higher education hiring processes: search committees. A relatively new phenomenon within the past 70 years, search committees continue to prevail as the most prevalent method by which higher education staff are hired, yet their role in advancing institutional commitments to diversity is unknown. The following qualitative research study explores the experiences of search committee members by asking the following research question: How do administrative search committee members experience and make meaning of their roles in contexts where commitments to inclusive and diverse hiring are espoused? To answer this question, this study employs an instrumental, holistic case study to examine an administrative-level search process from beginning to end at a 4-year public institution. Data from search documents, committee observations, and participant interviews inform the study's findings. Findings indicate that search committee members made meaning of their roles and navigated institutional commitments to diversity through five primary lenses. These lenses include (a) past experiences, (b) stage setting, (c) perceived constraints, (d) relationships, and (e) personal identities. Each of these lenses both framed and informed the ways participants understood their roles, responsibilities, and ability to enact commitments to diversity. Accordingly, each lens also influenced how much agency and discretionary action search members perceived themselves as having and how they chose to use their discretion. Findings revealed that search committee members often overrelied on past search experiences to make meaning of their responsibilities, lacked proper preparation to fulfill their roles, lacked time to implement creative recruitment strategies, and deferred to others when making decisions. To combat agentic-based deterrents, recommendations in this study suggest increasing demographic data collection, mandating committee training, stipulating minimum search timeframes, improving committee accountability and positional knowledge, maximizing recruitment efforts, and encouraging committee discretion and creativity. These recommendations support possibilities for more equitable staff representation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.] (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01