Dickinson College
PA-7: Support for Future Faculty Diversity

First, Dickinson is a member of the Consortium for Faculty Diversity in Liberal Arts Colleges. In particular, Dickinson brings potential future faculty to campus by means of The Dissertation Fellowship program:

The dissertation fellowship is intended for scholars who have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. or the M.F.A. except the dissertation; this fellowship is intended for scholars in the final stage of their dissertation and aims, above all, to help the fellow complete the final requirements for the degree during the year of residency. Dissertation fellowship recipients will receive compensation equivalent to the compensation of a starting one-year instructor at the host institution. Modest funds will be made available to finance proposed research and mentoring of teaching and scholarship will be provided, subject to the usual institutional procedures. Dissertation fellowship recipients will be expected to teach the equivalent of one semester-long course during the academic year, to participate in functions such as departmental seminars, and to interact regularly with students.

The Consortium invites applications for dissertation fellowships and post-doctoral fellowships from those who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents who will contribute to increasing the diversity of member colleges by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximizing the educational benefits of diversity, and/or increasing the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of students.

Dickinson joined the Consortium in 2004 and brought two dissertation fellows to campus. Dickinson sponsored one fellow in 2005, one in 2007, and one in 2008. Of these five fellows, four are still at Dickinson as tenure-track assistant professors.

Additionally, to encourage hiring departments to give serious consideration to qualified candidates from under-represented groups, departments with at least one diversity candidate are automatically allowed to bring three candidates for campus visits rather than the standard two candidates.

Finally, in addition to efforts to increase faculty diversity through new hires from under-represented groups, Dickinson also has a robust program to bring visiting international scholars to Carlisle as part of the College’s efforts to internationalize its curriculum; this effort is rooted in the College’s nationally recognized program in Global Education.

The length of time that short-term international scholars are in residence at Dickinson varies from six days (lectures) to three months (residency); the median stay is around four weeks.