Workshop: Applications to Interviews (A2I) - Preparing for the Faculty Job Market

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Construction engineering and management faculty nationwide lack diversity, which reflects the construction industry. Research documents that students are more likely to pursue careers where they have visible role models. Beyond the lack of visible role models of the same race and/or gender, however, research also documents that females and other underrepresented minorities tend to have fewer and shorter meetings with their PhD advisors. Therefore, these students may not receive the same support as they prepare application materials for faculty positions. By extension, these same students may be under-prepared for the interview process. A preliminary review of recent construction engineering and management faculty searches at one university reveals that while women and underrepresented minorities might be short-listed for phone interviews, they do not receive invitations for campus interviews at the same rate as their majority male colleagues. The Applications to Interviews (A2I) workshop intends to address the interview preparation gap for women and underrepresented PhD students considering faculty careers in construction engineering and management. The workshop provides a unique and interactive forum for sharing and discussing motivations for pursuing faculty positions, as well as strategies to successfully prepare to apply and interview for such positions. The A2I workshop will be held at Arizona State University in conjunction with the Construction Research Congress (CRC) 2020 Conference. Participants include Ph.D. students as well as junior and senior faculty in construction engineering programs from a variety of institution types ranging from two-year colleges and research extensive universities to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities. A focus will be to recruit participants from historically underrepresented groups in construction engineering and management. Small group activities and panel discussions will be used to facilitate professional development related to applying and interviewing for faculty positions. Near-peer mentoring between junior faculty and PhD students will catalyze the interest in, and pursuit of, faculty positions as well as the formation of professional networks. Engaging a more diverse faculty is a critical step to attract underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students to construction engineering and management programs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.