Equity Advocates (EAs) are carefully selected volunteer faculty and staff consultants who work with faculty search committees in ensuring that their search practices are aligned with mitigating the negative effects of implicit bias and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) throughout the process. EAs bring important knowledge and skills to every step of the faculty search process and are trained to offer valuable education, support, and resources to search committee members. The experience of serving as an EA is aimed to increase the advocate’s knowledge and skills related to aspects of DEI in the hiring process, such as bias recognition and mitigation, clear and effective communication, and an increased ability to locate and apply resources (e.g., professional organizations, social media, etc.) with a particular focus on attracting a large and diverse candidate pool. Becoming an EA is a great way to acquire DEI service experience and professional development that can translate beyond the context of faculty hiring.

Equity Advocates already serving on faculty search committees within their departments will not also be their committee’s EA.

The EA is not a formal, voting member of the faculty search committee. EAs participate fully throughout the search process (e.g., access and review candidate materials, participate in candidate visits and all search committee meetings) in order to provide consultation to the committee with regard to best practices for ensuring an equitable search process.

Equity Advocates must complete the initial certification process (one time), an orientation session during each year of continued participation in the program (approximately 1 hour), and one professional development session (approximately 2 hours) per academic year during each year of continued participation in the program. See FAQs below about Eligibility and Requirements for more details about certification and professional development. EAs will also be invited to complete a brief survey at the end of each academic year as a way to provide feedback about their experience. Individual support for EAs serving on search committees will be available upon request by staff in the Office of Diversity.

All UIC faculty and staff are eligible to go through the Equity Advocate certification process and serve as EAs. It is preferable, however, for faculty at the Associate Professor level or above to serve in this role.

EAs must go through the certification process, participate in the structure of the program, and commit to being a part of the program for at least one year. EAs may choose to serve up to three consecutive years. EAs will only serve on 1-2 search committees per year.

The initial certification process involves: (1) completing the campus-wide search committee training (approximately 2 hours) and (2) attending the Equity Advocates workshop series (four sessions; approximately 8 – 12 hours in total). After fulfilling these two requirements, EAs will receive a certificate of completion and be registered with the Office of Diversity.

Certification training will be offered at least once per academic year.

The EA workshop series consists of four, individual workshops ranging from 2-3 hours each. The series is scaffolded to provide individuals with the knowledge base and skills to be effective advocates for faculty search committees. General topics include: implicit bias; the core components of the search process including bias intervention strategies; advocate role and responsibilities including navigating issues of status and; advocate role playing. These workshops are highly interactive and include numerous opportunities for practice, reflection, and discussion with facilitators and fellow advocates. Readings, videos, and other resources will be assigned throughout the series for more in-depth explorations of each of the various topics. Participation in all four workshops is required in order to complete the certification process.

Ongoing professional development is a critical component of the EA Program, as it provides opportunities to update and expand necessary knowledge and skills related to your role. Fulfilling the annual professional development requirement can be done in two ways: 1) you may participate in a professional development opportunity offered by the Office of Diversity (these will be posted on the EA Program website throughout the academic year); 2) you may request Office of Diversity staff review and approve of an outside activity you believe is relevant to your EA role. The Office of Diversity will review these requests on a case-by-case basis.

Committee chairs can request the support of an EA by emailing equityadvocates@uic.edu. Please include your name, department, college and information related to the search in your email request.

If you’re interested in having an EA participate in your search, please email equityadvocates@uic.edu. It is important for EAs to be appointed to committees before the search process formally begins so they can engage fully in the process. Please request support from an advocate at the same time you are forming your faculty search committee.

If you would like the support of an EA after your search process has begun, email equityadvocates@uic.edu.