Interactive theater: an effective tool to reduce gender bias in faculty searches

• Date: 11 March 2019
• Pages: 178-187
• Published date: 11 March 2019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-09-2017-0187
• Author: Christine M. Shea,Mary Fran Fran T. Malone,Justin R. Young,Karen J. Graham
• Subject Matter: Hr & organizational behaviour

Interactive theater: an effective

tool to reduce gender bias in

faculty searches

Christine M. Shea

Paul College of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire, Durham,

New Hampshire, USA

Mary Fran Fran T. Malone

Department of Political Science, University of New Hampshire, Durham,

New Hampshire, USA

Justin R. Young

Department of Institutional Research, University of Maine System,

Augusta, Maine, USA, and

Karen J. Graham

Department of Mathematics/Statistics, University of New Hampshire, Durham,

New Hampshire, USA

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, implementation and impact

evaluation of an interactive theater-based workshop by the ADVANCE program at the University of

New Hampshire (UNH). The workshop is part of a larger institutional transformation program funded by the

National Science Foundation.

Design/methodology/approach –This institutional transformation program relied upon a systems

approach to diagnose potential causes for the underrepresentation of women faculty in certain disciplines.

This revealed that increasing awareness of, and reducing, implicit gender bias among members of faculty

search committees could, in time, contribute to increasing the representation of women faculty at UNH.

A committee charged with developing a faculty workshop to achieve this change identified interactive theater

as an effective faculty training approach. The committee oversaw the development of customized scripts, and

the hiring of professional actors and a facilitator to implement the workshop.

Findings –The workshop’s effectiveness in fulfilling its goals was assessed using faculty hiring and

composition data, program evaluations, participant interviews and questions in an annual faculty climate

survey. Findings indicate that the representation of women faculty increased significantly at UNH since the

implementation of the interactive theater workshop. Analysis of the multiple sources of data provides

corroborating evidence that a significant portion of the increase is directly attributable to the workshop.

Originality/value –This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of interactive theater-based workshops in an

academic environment and of the systems approach in diagnosing and solving organizational problems.

Keywords Gender, Recruitment, Higher education

Paper type Case study

How can universities increase the representation of women in fields in which they have

traditionally been underrepresented? This is one of the questions at the core of the

University of New Hampshire (UNH) ADVANCE program. After receiving a National

Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Institutional Transformation award in 2012, UNH

ADVANCE launched a series of initiatives to improve the representation of women faculty

in STEM disciplines as part of its larger goal of institutional transformation. A centerpiece

of the UNH ADVANCE program, the Gender Equity and Recruitment of Underrepresented

People (GEAR UP) interactive theater workshop was designed to improve the search

committee process by increasing transparency at all stages of the search process and

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 38 No. 2, 2019

pp. 178-187

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-09-2017-0187

Received 15 September 2017

Revised 9 January 2018

3July2018

Accepted 4 August 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

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