Considering the evidence that standard physics graduate admissions practices tend to exclude women and traditionally marginalized racial and ethnic groups from the discipline, we investigate (a) the characteristics of students that physics graduate admissions committee members seek to admit to their programs and (b) the practices associated with these admissions goals. The data for this investigation are interviews with 18 faculty who chair graduate admissions committees in programs that prioritize diversity in their graduate admissions practices. We find that some express elements of an implicit theory of intelligence known as a "fixed mindset," in which intelligence is understood as an inherent capacity or ability primarily measured by standardized test scores and grades. Some also express elements of a "growth mindset," in which intelligence is understood in terms of acquired knowledge and effort. Overall, most faculty interviewed expressed elements of both mindsets. A fixed mindset in physics graduate admissions is consistent with research identifying physics as a "brilliance-required" field, whose members tend to believe that raw, innate talent is a primary requirement for success in the discipline. Such a mindset directly affects the participation of women and some racial or ethnic groups, who are stereotyped as lacking such high-level intellectual ability.

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Abstract. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) seeks to better understand physics teacher education efforts taking place at member institutions, in order to better engage and support those institutions in educating greater numbers of well-prepared physics teachers. PhysTEC also seeks to understand faculty leaders' theories about barriers to increasing the number of physics teachers at their institution, in order to foster faculty leadership and support their efforts at institutional transformation. Institutions studied exhibit four broad patterns of institutional engagement with physics teacher education ("inactive," "track," "active," and "priority"). Faculty leaders' theories about the scarcity of future physics teachers refer to both structural and cultural barriers to educating more physics teachers.

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