Next Workshop Dates
Fall Search Advocates dates coming soon!
For questions, please email employeebelonging@ewu.edu
Search Advocates Program- Feedback Form: HERE
Program Details
The Search Advocates program strengthens fairness, transparency, and consistency in university recruiting and hiring. Preparation includes an eight-hour workshop covering current research on implicit bias, the evolving legal landscape in hiring, equitable employment practices, strategies for each stage of the search process, and effective ways to serve as an advocate on a search committee.
The Search Advocate plays an important role in position development, recruitment, screening, interviews, reference checks, evaluation, and welcoming the new faculty or staff member to the institution.
Search Advocates are external (outside of your department), non-voting committee members, who advance inclusive excellence and increase faculty diversity by helping the search committee:
- Test thinking
- Promote practices that support fairness and broaden candidate pools
- Work to minimize impact of cognitive and structural biases
- Explore assumptions, norms and practices often overlooked
- Play a vital role in position development and all phases of recruitment
The Search Advocates program:
- Provides initial training for volunteers to become Search Advocates and ongoing support
- Maintains a list of trained Search Advocates willing to serve on search committees
- Recommends that Search Advocates serve on only one to two screening committees per year
It is preferable that faculty will serve in the Search Advocate capacity on searches outside of their own departments.
