DORA is committed to supporting the development of new policies and practices for responsible research assessment. This tool compiles searchable criteria, hiring standards, review, promotion, and tenure from academic institutions.

Institution Profile: James Madison University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

LocationUnited States of America
Type of InstitutionComprehensive University or equivalent
Academic DisciplinesLife sciences
  • In 2021, James Madison University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry implemented an anonymized and scaffolded faculty search process.
  • The ambition of the policy was to create a search process that reduced the biases of the committee, increased the transparency of the process, improved accessibility to people outside of academe, and elevated the candidates’ strengths.
  • Candidates were asked to submit a cover letter and CVs which were redacted and reviewed using a rubric, as well as submit anonymized teaching, diversity statements and/or research statements (depending on position). Those who scored highly participated in a masked phone interview, and only top applicants were brought to campus for on site
    interviews.
  • Compared to the old approach, the candidate pool had a larger percentage of women and members of underrepresented groups at each stage in the process. Search committee members reported that they were better able to focus on the proposed research and teaching and focus on the candidates’ merit

Related Resources

Lessons learnt from anonymized and scaffolded faculty search 1

This article details the procedure and lessons learnt from an experiment with anonymized faculty search at James Madison University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
James Madison University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
United States of America (Comprehensive University or equivalent)
Topics:
AnonymizationEquity and inclusion
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Search files supporting anonymized search in faculty hiring 1

This website provides search files (evaluation materials and instructions, student evaluation surveys) used in the anonymized faculty search at James Madison University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
James Madison University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
United States of America (Comprehensive University or equivalent)
Topics:
AnonymizationEquity and inclusion
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Did you find this profile useful? Let us know below.

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