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The Office of the Provost and the Office of Equity and Inclusion have announced that registration for STRIDE (Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Improve Diversity and Excellence) workshops is now open for librarians, tenure-track, and non-tenure-track faculty members who play important roles in faculty recruitment efforts and search committees. The weekly workshops for the spring semester will begin Feb. 5 and run through April 9.

Additionally, the Office of the Provost’s Faculty Diversity team, in collaboration with UMass ADVANCE and in consultation with the Office of Faculty Development and the Academic Personnel Office, will offer STRIPE (Strategies and Tactics for Retention through Inclusive Promotion Evaluation) workshops for members of college, school and department personnel committees. This initiative aims to address barriers to faculty retention and foster a more diverse and inclusive UMass Amherst community. STRIPE Workshops are also open for registration and will take place Feb. 10 - April 3.

UMass Amherst is committed to the recruitment and retention of faculty and librarians, which is why the STRIDE and STRIPE Workshops are vital in helping search committees and personnel committees drive change. The workshops review research-driven best practices for recruiting diverse and excellent candidates across every stage of the search process and focus on strategies for evaluating, promoting, and retaining top talent.

STRIDE Workshops focus on increasing faculty diversity through interactive small-group discussions. These sessions aim to deepen the understanding of implicit biases in the faculty recruitment and retention process and provide strategies to mitigate their effects. Participants will learn to create effective search ads, produce diverse candidate pools, conduct successful searches to attract top applicants, manage candidate visits and effectively choose and attract the best candidates. Access to candidate files will only be granted upon completion of the training.

STRIPE Workshops address the specific challenges in the faculty evaluation and promotion process. The training goals include developing strategies and best practices to reduce inequities, counteract unconscious bias and promote inclusion within faculty promotion and tenure cases. These measures are designed to improve faculty retention, particularly for women and faculty from historically underrepresented groups in academia.

Both STRIDE and STRIPE are two-hour, faculty-led workshops held in the Campus Center. While STRIDE training is mandatory for all faculty and librarians who plan to serve on a search committee, participation in STRIPE is optional. STRIDE and STRIPE training is valid for three years, after which they must be renewed.

For more information and to register, visit the Office of the Provost’s faculty diversity web page to view the spring 2025 workshop schedules. For any questions, contact facultydiversity@umass.edu.