The University of Wisconsin-Madison is considered the pioneer of cluster hiring, starting its program in 1998, but only in the last five years or so has the process seemed to take off more broadly. Universities are increasingly exploring the method as a way to create interdisciplinary cooperation across large institutions and improve campus climates, including on measures of diversity.
A new report from the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Advisory Committee on Faculty Cluster Hiring examines the practice, which calls for hiring faculty across departments and specialties to work on a single theme in a unified “cluster.” The report offers several tips for anyone considering the process, allowing universities just now designing clusters to learn from the experiences of their peers.
One major area of focus in new programs, according to the report, should be policy infrastructure. To avoid situations where jointly-appointed faculty feel overworked or cluster hires are disincentivized by the tenure process to do interdisciplinary projects, universities must get their policies and expectations in order.
Laura Severin, a professor of English, manages North Carolina State University’s cluster hiring program after years of research into the practice, including as an ACE Fellow. NC State already had a process in place to identify a faculty member’s workload breakdown when it decided to create 12 new clusters across its departments. It added a second level of documentation for cluster hires outlining how they would be evaluated based on interdisciplinary work to make sure everyone’s expectations were in line from the beginning.
Severin said an existing tenure process that allowed faculty to pull together an interdisciplinary committee helped NC State see early success with its initial clusters. Just three years after its first cluster hires, the university is seeking new faculty for an additional eight clusters.
“It really is a mechanism for institutional change,” Severin said. “It really provides a net over the university, a connective net, where people can start working together with greater ease and greater support.”
One cluster at NC State works on forensics. Faculty members from the chemistry department study dyes in fabrics and help identify the clothing on victims and perpetrators. Researchers in entymology study bugs’ effects on decomposing bodies. An anthropologist looks at human remains and adds insight based on the recovered bones of victims. And the cluster as a whole collaborates with the state bureau of investigations, lending its expertise to current investigations.
Clusters work best with early buy-in from campus leaders. Deans, department heads, provosts, and chancellors need to see the value in cluster hiring and give some commitment to the effort. Research topics for clusters generally come from faculty and build on existing expertise within an institution — in fact, the USU/APLU report encourages administrators interested in cluster hiring to follow the lead of their own faculty. But when it comes to longevity, programs need support from the top, and they need a plan to help clusters weather any leadership changes on campus.
Severin said institutions with strong support for cluster programs from all levels over many years have the best chances of success.
“Cluster hiring is really a long-term vision,” Severin said. “It takes many years to come to fruition.”
A more recent goal and newly studied effect of cluster hiring is on diversity. The USU/APLU report found many programs hired more women through clusters or developed clusters specifically with diversity goals in mind. As universities continue to seek ways to improve institutional climate and make faculty demographics better reflect the demographics of students, cluster hiring can be another tool in the belt.
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