Methodology
To create the partner hire scorecard, our research team collected and analyzed the dual-career policies, materials, and resources of every R1 institution in the United States. Data collection took place from July 10 to October 11, 2023. We focused exclusively on documents that were publicly available on university websites, for these would be the same documents accessible to jobseekers.
We ordinally ranked institutions from “best” to “worst” based on the data available. Our primary criterion was whether universities create faculty positions for partner hires.
We color-coded the universities:
- Green if there was clear evidence they did create faculty positions
- Orange if it was unclear whether they created faculty positions
- Red if they explicitly stated they do not create faculty positions
- Gray if no materials were available
Our grading rubric included dozens of other elements as well. These ranged from processes for making partner-hire requests, to details about funding arrangements, to the presence of dual career offices and programs, to job-placement services being provided, to guidance for search committees and for the drafting of job ads. Our scoring makes no assumptions about actual practices at the universities being scored. That said, we do place value on the presence of documented and well-supported dual-career programs at academic institutions.
Detailed information about our methodology can be found in our accompanying report.
