Bowdoin College
PAE-9: Support Programs for Future Faculty

Bowdoin has long been committed to the goal of increasing the range of backgrounds and differences represented in the faculty as part of a larger goal of creating a community characterized by as much cultural and intellectual variety as possible. A variety of initiatives and efforts over the years reflect this. In a series of recent votes, the Faculty approved important measures to support and strengthen faculty diversity. This included the approval of a target-of-opportunity hiring policy in 2008, the approval of a Policy on Increasing Faculty Diversity in 2009, and the creation of a Committee on Faculty Diversity in 2010. The 2009 policy, developed and enacted by the Faculty, reaffirmed the commitment to increase the diversity of the faculty and to implement specific practices for the recruiting, hiring, supporting, and retaining faculty in ways that directly impact that goal. As stated by the faculty group which initiated this renewed policy, “enhanced diversity among the faculty is an essential component of [Bowdoin’s] mission.” Now, every search for a new or replacement faculty position adheres to specific practices aimed at maximizing the diversity and excellence of candidate pools. The Committee on Faculty Diversity is comprised of five tenured faculty members, whose charge is “to promote the hiring and retention of a diverse faculty at Bowdoin by serving as outside members on tenure-track searches, and by undertaking other activities to increase the diversity of the faculty.” In addition, for many years, Bowdoin has participated in the Consortium for Faculty Diversity, successfully recruiting and hiring four to six postdoctoral fellows each year. This is one of three programs at Bowdoin to bring postdoctoral teaching fellows to campus which contribute to the vitality and diversity of our campus community in numerous ways. Once hired, Bowdoin faculty are supported through various efforts, including ongoing individual and group mentoring with the Associate Dean for Faculty and the Ongoing Learning Evaluation (OLE), a voluntary program in which faculty members may have a colleague observe their in-class teaching and provide constructive feedback, which has been especially helpful for faculty members from a different type of institution or background. Bowdoin faculty are also supported by a number of institutional structures such as the Advisory Committee for a Diverse Community, a standing committee “in charge of supporting the diverse identify groups that constitute our campus community” and College policies that reflect and protect Bowdoin’s distinctive values as a diverse learning community.