Ask Your Interviewers
Questions I had to ask during my interview for a second position for a TT position
I am not a blogger, at least not yet. I decided to use my first entry to share some of the questions I had to ask during my interviews for a second position as a tenure track faculty. I am not yet ready to write a post about my previous experience; suffice to say, I now know what I need to thrive as a faculty member. The following questions were informed by this experience and a conversation with my friend from graduate school, a Black faculty in Biological Sciences.
It never crossed my mind to ask some of these questions, as I was so naive about the realities that faculty of color, especially Black women faculty, face. I hope that sharing them will help you prepare for your interviews, whether you are an applicant or a recruiter. Remember this list is not exhaustive, but I managed to ask all my questions. You will find the questions that I cared about the most in bold. I knew what type of answers I would be satisfied with. And that is for you to decide.
Questions for Dean
1. Are faculty on a 9- or 12-month salary?
2. Is summer salary provided? If so, for how many summers?
3. Is there a subsidy for housing or rental assistance? for moving my lab? for relocation?
4. What is the sabbatical structure?
5. What are the major trends in faculty hiring?
6. What has changed recently in your efforts and commitment to diversify, retain, and promote historically marginalized faculty?
7. What is your understanding of the implicit and explicit taxes on faculty of color?
8. Are thee protections for junior faculty from committee service? What are they?
9. Are efforts in promoting social justice and DEI count toward service? If one were to devote substantial time to creating programs, what mechanisms exist to alleviate the workload?
10. Are students who work closely in the lab allowed to write support letters for tenure?
11. What are the current structures for supporting research, grant writing?
12. Do faculty get discretionary funds to support social activities for their lab?
13. If a faculty runs a summer research program, does it count as service or research?
14. Does salary increase yearly?
15. What are the major benefits for faculty?
Questions for the Chair
1. How are courses assigned?
2. How often do you have faculty meetings?
3. How are student evaluations used to assess faculty instruction?
4. Do you have regular peer evaluation for junior faculty? How does it work?
5. Does the department have a mentoring program? If so, how is it structured?
6. How do you view your role as Chair?
7. Have you thought about what it would mean to tenure a faculty of color, especially who is a Black woman?
8. What are the requirements for tenure? Is there a checklist or a roadmap specific to the department?
9. How often are probationary faculty evaluated before tenure?
10. Are students who work closely in the lab allowed to write support letters for tenure?
11. What are the major trends in faculty hiring in the department?
12. What has recently changed in the department's efforts and commitment to diversify, retain, and promote historically marginalized faculty?
13. What is your understanding of the implicit and explicit taxes on faculty of color?
14. How does the department deal with advising and service distribution?
15. What kind of department do you aspire to lead?
16. What would you describe as the top three values of this department? How do you hold every faculty accountable for promoting these values?
17. How are conflicts between faculty or between student/ faculty handled?
Questions to faculty (seniors and juniors)
1. How has the university changed since you've been here?
2. How would describe the support you received from the office of research support at the time? Would you say it has improved? If so in what ways?
3. As a former chair/senior faculty, how do you think the department is evolving? What was your philosophy then? What expectations did you have of faculty?
4. What do you think is/should be the #1 priority of the department?
5. How many first-gen/Black/URM would you say are at your school or majors in the department? Has the number dwindled on increased? How can one participate in [program targeted to first gen/BIPOC in STEM]
6. How has your experience as a former student at this institution shaped your career as a faculty here?
7. How would you describe the interdepartmental interactions at this institution?
8. Do you think the department will be open to workshops on anti-racist pedagogy led by a probationary faculty?
9. What are the expectations for tenure? Are these expectations clearly defined and/or regularly revised?
10. Does the department have a tenure and promotion reference document?
11. Have you found the feedback from the review of probationary faculty useful /constructive? Do you know what you have left to do to get tenure and promotion?
11. How do you promote student-centered strategies, inclusive teaching, metacognition in your courses?
12. How has your experience been working in the animal facility? with shared equipment and lab space? with shipping and handling? with ordering? with administrative tasks
13. How does the institution handle it when you get a grant?
14. Is there institutional support for summer research students?
15. What has been your experience working and engaging with senior faculty? with other junior faculty? with lecturers? with supportive staff?
16. What have you found to be particularly indispensable for your research, teaching, and success at this institution?
17. How would you describe the students at this institution?
18. Would you consider the existing programs that support undergraduate research and faculty mentors adequate? How could they be improved?
Miscellaneous
1. Who is responsible for equipment maintenance? -
2. Can the research labs access general media and solutions for the teaching labs?
3. What types of training students and faculty are required to complete?
4. Shipping and handling of animals and lab reagents?
5. Autoclaving and lab space cleaning?
