Faculty Diversity in Colleges and Universities

As U.S. college and university missions, academic programs, structures, and student bodies diversified through the last half of the 20th century, so too did their faculties. In dramatic fashion, the demographic profile of faculty in higher education shifted, with the proportions of women, people of color, and non–U.S. citizens all growing substantially. Concurrent with this diversification was an equally dramatic shift in the nature of faculty work and employment structures. Larger proportions of part-time and nontenure-track faculty, for example, now work across the full spectrum of higher education institutions. As the early 21st century unfolds, faculties continue to diversify, but faculty diversity is not evenly distributed across the U.S. higher education system. Both faculty diversity and its unevenness have important implications for colleges and universities. ...