Factors influencing underrepresented geoscientists' decisions to accept or decline faculty job offers in the US

Margaret L. Duffy; Liza Y. Barnes; Christopher D. Wirz; Meghana Ranganathan; Mara A. Freilich; Lyssa M. Freese; Ellen Lalk; Julia Wilcots

doi:10.1038/s43247-025-02052-3

Factors influencing underrepresented geoscientists' decisions to accept or decline faculty job offers in the US

Margaret L. Duffy
, Liza Y. Barnes
, Christopher D. Wirz
, Meghana Ranganathan
, Mara A. Freilich
, Lyssa M. Freese
, Ellen Lalk
, Julia Wilcots

Drexel University
The University of Chicago
Brown University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Princeton University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Web of Science)

Abstract

Many geoscience departments in the United States (US) are working to recruit faculty from underrepresented groups. However, there is little information about how hiring practices are perceived by candidates. Here we address this gap by interviewing 19 geoscientists who identify as an underrepresented race, ethnicity, or gender who recently declined a tenure-track faculty job offer in the US about their faculty job searches, with an emphasis on their decisions to accept or decline an offer. We find that many participants experienced hiring practices inconsistent with existing recommendations to increase faculty diversity, and some participants were subject to uncivilized, even potentially discriminatory, practices. Therefore, we leverage our results to provide actionable recommendations for improving faculty recruitment efforts. We highlight that departments may doubly benefit from improving their culture: in addition to benefiting current members, it may also help with recruitment. Overall, our findings emphasize the need for continued evaluation of faculty hiring practices.

Original language	English
Article number	65
Number of pages	14
Journal	Communications Earth and Environment
Volume	6
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02052-3
State	Published - Jan 29 2025

Funding

We are extremely grateful to the 19 geoscientists who participated in interviews; each and every participant gave responses which contributed to this study. We are also grateful to the geoscientists who filled out our recruitment survey, including those who did not participate in an interview. We could not have done this work without them. Publication support was provided by the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) Education, Engagement, and Early Career Development (EdEC). We are thankful to Scott Landolt (NSF NCAR), Anais Llorens, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful feedback on our paper. We are thankful to Rohini Shivamoggi for helpful discussions. This material is based upon work completed at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. 1852977. The work of MLD was funded by NOAA MAPP under award NA20OAR4310392. The work of LMF, while at Carnegie, was funded by a gift from Gates Ventures LLC to the Carnegie Institution for Science; and was in part supported by the NIEHS Toxicology Training Grant no. T32-ES007020 when at MIT. The work of MAF was funded by a Scripps Institutional Postdoc fellowship while at University of California San Diego.

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation (NSF)
NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) Education, Engagement	1852977
National Science Foundation	NA20OAR4310392
NOAA MAPP
Carnegie Institution for Science
NIEHS Toxicology Training Grant - Scripps Institutional Postdoc fellowship while at University of California San Diego

Keywords

Diversity
Gender-differences
Interviews
Recommendation
Saturation

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10.1038/s43247-025-02052-3

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title = "Factors influencing underrepresented geoscientists' decisions to accept or decline faculty job offers in the US",

abstract = "Many geoscience departments in the United States (US) are working to recruit faculty from underrepresented groups. However, there is little information about how hiring practices are perceived by candidates. Here we address this gap by interviewing 19 geoscientists who identify as an underrepresented race, ethnicity, or gender who recently declined a tenure-track faculty job offer in the US about their faculty job searches, with an emphasis on their decisions to accept or decline an offer. We find that many participants experienced hiring practices inconsistent with existing recommendations to increase faculty diversity, and some participants were subject to uncivilized, even potentially discriminatory, practices. Therefore, we leverage our results to provide actionable recommendations for improving faculty recruitment efforts. We highlight that departments may doubly benefit from improving their culture: in addition to benefiting current members, it may also help with recruitment. Overall, our findings emphasize the need for continued evaluation of faculty hiring practices.",

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AU - Duffy, Margaret L.

AU - Barnes, Liza Y.

AU - Wirz, Christopher D.

AU - Ranganathan, Meghana

AU - Freilich, Mara A.

AU - Freese, Lyssa M.

AU - Lalk, Ellen

AU - Wilcots, Julia

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.

PY - 2025/1/29

Y1 - 2025/1/29

N2 - Many geoscience departments in the United States (US) are working to recruit faculty from underrepresented groups. However, there is little information about how hiring practices are perceived by candidates. Here we address this gap by interviewing 19 geoscientists who identify as an underrepresented race, ethnicity, or gender who recently declined a tenure-track faculty job offer in the US about their faculty job searches, with an emphasis on their decisions to accept or decline an offer. We find that many participants experienced hiring practices inconsistent with existing recommendations to increase faculty diversity, and some participants were subject to uncivilized, even potentially discriminatory, practices. Therefore, we leverage our results to provide actionable recommendations for improving faculty recruitment efforts. We highlight that departments may doubly benefit from improving their culture: in addition to benefiting current members, it may also help with recruitment. Overall, our findings emphasize the need for continued evaluation of faculty hiring practices.

AB - Many geoscience departments in the United States (US) are working to recruit faculty from underrepresented groups. However, there is little information about how hiring practices are perceived by candidates. Here we address this gap by interviewing 19 geoscientists who identify as an underrepresented race, ethnicity, or gender who recently declined a tenure-track faculty job offer in the US about their faculty job searches, with an emphasis on their decisions to accept or decline an offer. We find that many participants experienced hiring practices inconsistent with existing recommendations to increase faculty diversity, and some participants were subject to uncivilized, even potentially discriminatory, practices. Therefore, we leverage our results to provide actionable recommendations for improving faculty recruitment efforts. We highlight that departments may doubly benefit from improving their culture: in addition to benefiting current members, it may also help with recruitment. Overall, our findings emphasize the need for continued evaluation of faculty hiring practices.

KW - Diversity

KW - Gender-differences

KW - Interviews

KW - Recommendation

KW - Saturation

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ER -

Factors influencing underrepresented geoscientists' decisions to accept or decline faculty job offers in the US

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