Iowa State is helping to lead a regional effort aimed at enhancing faculty and staff diversity, and assisting dual-career couples through the hiring process.
The Central Midwest Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC), a collaborative effort with the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and 11 other member institutions, is intended to help attract a diverse pool of job seekers to higher education jobs across the region.
"Iowa State's colleges and units are committed to increasing diversity among faculty and staff, and HERC is a tool that will help us achieve our goals," said senior vice president and provost Jonathan Wickert. "It's a great example of the higher education community working together to ensure opportunities reach the broadest possible audience."
According to Kristi Darr, interim vice president for university human resources (UHR), a primary feature of the HERC is its regional jobs website, which provides job seekers access to more higher education jobs than any other website.
Features of the jobs website
All Iowa State faculty and professional and scientific positions post automatically to the HERC job board at no cost to departments. The search engine is free to anyone seeking employment in higher education and other for- or nonprofit organizations. Job seekers also can receive automatic email notifications when positions in their fields are posted on the site.
The HERC website features a dual-career job search function, as well as numerous resources and professional development opportunities for members, partners and job seekers.
The Central Midwest HERC includes member institutions in Iowa, eastern Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota and the Quad Cities metro area. The consortium also will target for- and nonprofit associate members to join as partners in supporting recruitment, diversity and dual-career couples.
Iowa State's HERC involvement is led by university human resources; the offices of the senior vice president and provost, vice president for diversity and inclusion, and equal opportunity; with additional support from the ISU Research Park.
Nationwide, more than 700 colleges, universities, hospitals, research labs, government agencies and related organizations are members of a regional HERC (18 to date), and more than 88,000 job seekers have registered. All regional sites tie into the national HERC website.
Questions about the Central Midwest HERC, including how to access services, may be directed to Dana Rasmussen in UHR, 294-4977.
