Implicit Bias Workshops

Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE Program offer 90-minute implicit bias workshops designed for faculty.

As of October 2016, the Institute established the requirement that all faculty who serve on reappointment, promotion, and/or tenure committees and faculty search committees are required to participate in an Implicit Bias (IB) workshop. In July 2021, the Institute renewed its requirement per Provost Steven McLaughlin's memo to all academic leaders.

Faculty should refresh their IB training every four years. If you have participated in an Implicit Bias workshop during the past four years (Fall 2017 - Spring 2021), you are exempt from this requirement and will not need to participate again until after Spring 2022 at the earliest (depending upon the semester and year of previous training). (Research faculty are welcome to attend as space permits.)

Implicit bias workshops will also be available for non-tenure track faculty, staff, and other academic professionals serving on search, hiring and promotion committees. Details and dates of these workshops are forthcoming, and can be found here.

The goals of these workshops are to increase awareness of the impact of implicit bias and to facilitate equitable decision-making across myriad processes related to faculty evaluations.

As a participant in the workshop, you will learn the following:

• An introduction to the concept of implicit bias and how these unconscious, automatic mental processes may impact behaviors such as evaluating candidates during faculty search and/or RPT processes.
• Empirical research on vitaes, letters of recommendations, and teaching evaluations to illustrate the impact of implicit bias on decisions.
• Effective practices and strategies for faculty search and RPT committees.​

Please see below to register for a fall 2021 workshop:

• Tuesday, August 31, Noon – 1:30 p.m. (VIRTUAL)
• Friday, September 17, Noon – 1:30 p.m.  (VIRTUAL) - FULL
• Tuesday, September 21, Noon – 1:30 p.m. (VIRTUAL) - FULL
• Tuesday, October 5, Noon – 1:30 p.m. 
• Wednesday, October 20, Noon – 1:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, October 26, Noon – 1:30 p.m.

Paul Benkeser, senior associate chair and professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, serves as the senior faculty lead of the implicit bias facilitation team, that includes: Harris Dimitropoulos, associate professor, School of Architecture; Robert Kirkman, associate professor, School of Public Policy; Mark Mitchell, associate director, Georgia Tech Research Institute; and Michelle Rinehart, associate dean for academic affairs and outreach, College of Design.

Note: GT employees, please contact Tamara Ballou (tamara.ballou@gatech.edu) with any questions.

Note for GTRI faculty ONLY: GTRI Research Faculty should register for a GTRI Implicit Bias workshop, via Quest LMS. For assistance, please contact TMD, Sarah Cockrell (sarah.cockrell@gtri.gatech.edu) or Course Facilitator Monique Johnson (Monique.johnson@gtri.gatech.edu).