Faculty Hiring Resources

CHSS Inclusive Search Process

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences has launched a new faculty and postdoctoral teaching and research fellow search process. The college seeks to achieve three interrelated goals with the new process:

1. Actively pursue evidence-based methods to “increase the proportion of instructional and research faculty to better reflect the diversity of our student body” as articulated in in the university’s strategic plan (goal #8), the CHSS strategic plan (goal #11), and the goals articulated by the university’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence taskforce and CHSS Inclusive Excellence Plan.
2. Update and standardize the search process across the College according to effective practices in inclusive I/R faculty hiring.
3. Create training and reporting structures that support greater mindfulness and transparency in the search process.

CHSS is engaging a multi-pronged approach to achieve these goals with: 

• A new CHSS faculty search training 
• The CHSS Faculty Recruitment Guide 
• Customized conversations and support for each search committee 
• Updated CHSS Inclusive Faculty Search Plan

On this page, you will find links to the memorandum describing this new process, to the sign-up for the required CHSS faculty search training, the Faculty Recruitment Guide, the Inclusive Search Plan template, and a CHSS Faculty Search Checklist that search committees can use to keep track of where they are in the process.

Please reach out to the Interim Director of Faculty Diversity with any questions (Dr. Xiaomei Cai, xcai@gmu.edu).

CHSS has also curated a faculty hiring guide with resources from research-based effective hiring practices.

Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

The overarching goal of the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in CHSS is to provide enhanced professional development and research training support to postdoctoral researchers and teaching fellows in CHSS. The learner-centered program offers training, mentoring, and guidance to prepare postdoctoral fellows for careers in and beyond the academy. When appropriate, this program will also seek to recruit and support postdoctoral researchers and teaching fellows who contribute to issues related to diversity and inequality within their respective disciplines or reflect the student body in a way that will enhance a department/programs ability to mentor diverse students.

Diversity Cluster Hires

George Mason University is currently the most diverse public research university in the Commonwealth, and a key element of the University’s anti-racism and inclusive excellence work and 6-year strategic planning goals is to “create an inclusive and diverse academic community that reflects the diversity of the National Capital Region.”

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) has an opportunity to lead the university’s efforts in this regard, not only because of our current degree completion demographics, but also through our faculty hiring in relation to academic programming that addresses issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity in both U.S. and global contexts.

The goal of a CHSS FY23 diversity and inclusive excellence cluster hire, now in year 3 of this initiative, is to create a second network of faculty across departments who: (a) contribute to the study of issues related to diversity and inequality within their respective disciplines, (b) can support and engage with interdisciplinary programs, (c) can contribute to the development of new degree programs and/or other curricular opportunities, and (d) can enhance our ability to mentor a majority-minority student population. The focus is on faculty whose scholarship centers on issues related to inequalities; underrepresented regions of the world; underrepresented languages; underrepresented, underserved, or otherwise vulnerable populations; histories of race and racism and their ongoing cultural effects; intersectional approaches to difference, diversity and social justice; or other forms of diversity.

For additional information on the CHSS Diversity Cluster Hire initiative, please email Mohammad Salama, Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Strategic Initiatives, msalama2@gmu.edu. For more information regarding Faculty Search Training, please contact Xiaomei Cai, xcai@gmu.edu.