On April 15th, Garth Covernton (post-doctoral fellow, Rochman Lab) led an interactive discussion about equitable hiring practices in academia. Garth presented data on representation in academia from the undergraduate to faculty level, highlighting areas for improvement. Notably, he shared that, although academia has improved in terms of increasing representation, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology departments are lagging, especially in ensuring PhD graduates from under-represented groups make it though the postdoctoral stage to a faculty position. He then engaged in an interactive discussion of what policies and strategies can be used by EEB and other departments alike to improve representation at all career levels. Some highlights included open and competitive recruitment of grad students, postdoc to faculty tracks, cluster hires, and improved departmental climate and active recruiting of faculty with diversity in mind. Improving equitable hiring practices may help to address EDI issues within academic departments.