We are all aware that there are significant gender and diversity imbalances in our IT workforce; this is a problem across the IT industry, not just at UC Berkeley. Take a look at the IT Workforce infographic from EDUCAUSE below which underscores the importance of diversity and provides a snapshot of higher ed statistics.
Achieving a more diverse campus IT workforce will take time to accomplish; we are approaching the challenge from a number of different angles to move as quickly as possible. These include reviewing our end-to-end recruitment process and making a number of changes, from finding different ways to source applicants to ensuring hiring managers and members of hiring committees have received implicit bias training (e.g., there is a UCOP implicit bias class called “Managing Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process” that will be required for all OCIO/IST hiring managers and members of hiring committees to take).
We are also planning to purchase a software package to help 'de-bias' job description and job posting language, as well as to remove bias from other components of the recruitment process. This is an issue that we are also partnering with campus on, as the goal of achieving greater diversity and belonging across Berkeley’s workforce is a key strategic goal of our Chancellor.
