Good morning, colleagues:

I am reaching out to announce an anticipated addition to the search process and the current availability of a training opportunity. In alignment with UIS’s commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, individuals involved in search and hiring processes will soon be required to complete an online training on the topics of inclusive hiring practices and recognizing and mitigating bias. We anticipate announcing this requirement, along with the types of searches for which training will be required, during the Fall 2022 semester, dependent upon the implementation timeline for our training provider.

Many of you have expressed a strong desire to provide training to your search committees on the topics of inclusive hiring practices and mitigating bias. To meet the immediate need for such training, I am sharing information about a wonderful training available through Academic Impressions. “Inclusive Hiring Best Practices: Removing Barriers and Mitigating Search Committee Bias” is currently available to all UIS employees at no cost to your department. This training is formatted in a way that allows individuals to pick and choose the topics that are most relevant to their role in the search and hiring processes. Although AEO is not requiring all hiring managers and search committees to complete this training at this time, hiring managers and search chairs will be highly encouraged to participate in this training, as well as assign and require their search committee members to complete the relevant modules. An outline of training topics, speaker bios, and instructions on accessing this course can be found here:

Some of you may wish to convey your commitment to engaging in inclusive hiring practices and get ahead of the upcoming training requirement. All individuals who complete this training prior to the roll-out of the training requirement for search committees will automatically be considered in compliance with the training requirement. In other words, if you complete the “Inclusive Hiring Best Practices: Removing Barriers and Mitigating Search Committee Bias” training this summer, you will not be required to complete the additional training in order to serve on search committees during the Fall 2022 and/or Spring 2023 semesters.

If you have any questions or if you would like additional information, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at aeo@uis.edu or 217-206-6222.

Many thanks for your ongoing commitment to engaging with best practices for conducting inclusive and equitable search and hiring processes.

Shelby

Shelby Bedford

Assistant Director of Access and Equity

Title IX Coordinator

Equal Employment Opportunity Office