Stockton a Model for Search Advocates

Stockton’s Allison Sinanan, professor of Social Work, showcased the University’s search advocate model as part of a virtual panel organized by University of Nevada at Las Vegas in September.

Sinanan is one of several faculty members who participated in Stockton's first cohort of search advocate training in 2016. The first cohort of search advocates were early adopters of Stockton’s program and remain actively involved in the program’s growth and development.

“Panelists shared the reasons why they became search advocates, moments in the role they were most proud of, techniques for working effectively with search committees, strategies to overcome challenging situations, and the impact search advocacy had at their home institutions,” Sinanan said.

She shared her knowledge and experiences as a search advocate and answered questions from attendees comprised of UNLV academic and administrative faculty who recently completed Oregon State University’s Search Advocate training.

Like UNLV, Stockton’s first cohort was trained in search advocate principals by Anne Gillies, director of Oregon’s Search Advocate Program, who developed the program there in 2008. Stockton’s first cohort piloted search advocacy on faculty and managerial searches. The search advocate role is embedded in Procedure 6101.

“At this panel, three speakers and I discussed the significant benefits of the search advocate program. It became apparent that, though Stockton’s execution of the search advocate program has not been perfect, we are progressive in requiring a search advocate for all faculty positions. Many, if not most, in attendance were impressed by this policy,” Sinanan said.

“Personally, it was imperative to highlight how faculty buy-in is a key component in having a successful search advocate program that creates an equitable hiring process. In addition, I had the pleasure of emphasizing how having a strong commitment to the inclusion and retention of faculty of color is imperative. This strong commitment has led to the growth of search advocates to over 30 faculty and staff members at Stockton. I also had the opportunity to speak about co-facilitating the search advocate summer training for the past several years,” she said. 

Panel organizer Kimberly Kendricks, director of Faculty Success at UNLV, said the goal of the discussion was to support their new search advocates. “Allison greatly enriched the panel with her knowledge and experiences, and we are grateful for her participation and perspective about the impact of search advocacy on diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Kendricks added, “Stockton University is recognized within the community as an institution with experience and success with search advocacy” through its role as co-founder of the inaugural National Search Advocate Community of Practice, earlier this year.

--Submitted by Dr. Allison Sinanan, professor of Social Work