Steinhardt’s Faculty First-Look serves as a model across NYU to help minoritized groups learn the unwritten rules of careers in academia.
Faculty First-Look (FFL) is a groundbreaking program that seeks to increase underrepresented populations in the Academy by helping talented scholars from around the world understand what it takes to prepare for future faculty careers.
Five of the 2023–2024 FFL scholars with Maria Williamson
Charlton McIlwain, Steinhardt’s former associate dean of faculty development and diversity, launched FFL in 2017 to overcome the challenge of not enough minoritized and underrepresented scholars applying to faculty positions at the School. McIlwain is now NYU’s vice provost for faculty engagement, pathways, and public interest technology; leads the Center for Faculty Advancement (CFA); and is a professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at Steinhardt.
“Charlton developed what was essentially a professional development program for terminal degree candidates of color,” says Maria Williamson, senior director of diversity, equity, and belonging at Steinhardt; FFL is a program in her portfolio. “FFL allows participants to peek behind the veil at some of the unwritten rules of academia through information sessions about resume and cover letter writing, salary negotiations, research methodology, mock interviews, and more.”
Since its inception, FFL has cast a wide net for its participants. Scholars come from many different groups, including Black, Hispanic, Asian, indigenous, and international students, as well as those who identify as LGBTQ+. Participants must be in a terminal degree program studying a discipline related to Steinhardt’s academic offerings, which covers a wide swath given the School’s interdisciplinary nature.
2017–2018 Faculty First Look scholars
Each FFL cohort includes approximately 20 to 25 scholars. FFL offers programming in a hybrid modality to increase participation for those who can’t travel to New York City for several days each semester, such as parents or caregivers. Scholars are also all invited to an in-person, multi-day summer session at Steinhardt for networking.
Scholars learn directly from Steinhardt faculty, and last year FFL piloted inviting program alumni that have gotten jobs in academia to participate as mentors. “One of Steinhardt’s tenets of equity is that everybody should get paid for their labor, so all participating faculty and alumni mentors in FFL receive a stipend for their time and expertise,” says Williamson.
Feedback from the more than 150 FFL participants has been overwhelmingly positive, with some scholars citing the program as the reason they feel they were offered a faculty position—whether that’s at NYU or elsewhere. This year for the first time, the applicant pool was so strong that the program chose to defer several participants to next year’s cohort.
A Model Across NYU
The success of FFL at Steinhardt has led to expansion across the University, with each school or college offering a program designed around its particular needs and disciplines, such as the Graduate School of Arts & Science’s FFL program and Tandon School of Engineering’s FFL program. Stern School of Business also has a Diverse Pathways in Academia program that will welcome its next cohort in 2026.
“These programs look a little different across the different schools, but they have some fundamentals in common,” says Usheevii King, assistant vice provost for faculty engagement and development at the CFA. “They all come from the mindset of providing an experience for marginalized groups and underrepresented communities to learn these unspoken rules of engagement and norms in academia that not everyone knows.”
Future plans for FFL programs include expanding to NYU Shanghai, NYU Abu Dhabi, and the Silver School of Social Work, among others. The CFA also encourages recruiting universities to consider FFL alumni by providing more information on their backgrounds and talents.
“All of the FFL programs are supported by the Provost’s Office and the CFA, and the goal is to have all of NYU’s schools and colleges adopt something similar,” says King. “University funding is key to making that happen so that these schools can afford to extend their reach to scholars from all over the world; there must be a vested interest in continuous financial support to drive this important impact in academia.”
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