ACE Study Examines Diversity “On the Pathway to the Presidency"

In January 2008, the American Council on Education (ACE) released On the Pathway to the Presidency: Characteristics of Higher Education’s Senior Leaders, a study conducted in conjunction with the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR). Spurred by the 2007 American College President report, which indicated that a wave of presidential retirements may be imminent, this follow-up study set out to identify the demographic characteristics of those most likely to ascend to the presidency.

Because the 2007 American College Presidency report found that most presidents (61 percent) held senior administrative positions within higher education before entering their current positions, On the Pathway to the Presidency focused primarily on senior administrators as the most likely candidates for future college and university presidencies. In examining this pool to determine whether the presidency is apt to be more diverse in the future, the study found reasons for both optimism and concern:

• Women have achieved significantly higher representation among senior administrators (45 percent are women) than among presidents (23 percent are women). Women are more likely to be chief diversity officers (56 percent are women) than chief academic officers or provosts (38 percent are women).
• People of color have achieved only marginally higher representation among senior administrators (16 percent are people of color) than among presidents (14 percent are people of color). People of color are far more likely to be chief diversity officers (82 percent are people of color) than chief academic officers (10 percent are people of color).
• Only 7 percent of all senior administrators are women of color, and only 3 percent of chief academic officers are women of color. This latter statistic is particularly significant as 40 percent of presidents ascend to the presidency from the CAO or provost position.

The full report, written by Jacqueline King and Gigi G. Gomez, includes detailed statistics broken down by institutional type and comments on what these findings mean for the future of the presidency. To order the report, visit store.acenet.edu/.

Women and Minority Faculty in Elite Science and Engineering Programs

In October 2007, Donna J. Nelson published a new study, “A National Analysis of Minorities in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities,” which she conducted with the aid of researchers Christopher N. Brammer and Heather Rhoads. Nelson, Brammer, and Rhoads surveyed the top one hundred science and engineering programs (as ranked by the National Science Foundation) and compared their employment demographics to those of students and the general population.

Underrepresented minority (URM, defined as black, Hispanic, or Native American) representation among doctoral recipients in the STEM disciplines increased by 2.5 percent between 1986-1995 and 1996-2005, with women of all races experiencing a 5.9 percent increase during this time period. But Nelson’s data indicate that fewer women and people of color appear at each step of the faculty pipeline in most disciplines. In fact, Nelson discovered that the “disparity between faculty versus student body racial/ethnic compositions is increasing” rather than decreasing as the population of the United States becomes more diverse.

Nelson discovered that trends in certain disciplines were relatively consistent for both women and underrepresented minorities (with both groups including data on women of color). Some fields showed progress: women in particular have reached a “critical mass” (15-30 percent representation) as faculty in the top one hundred social sciences, life sciences, and astronomy departments. URM representation in the top fifty schools was highest in sociology, at 13 percent. Meanwhile, in chemistry, psychology, and biological sciences, women’s representation at the assistant professor rank is relatively low compared to the rates at which women earn doctoral degrees (with an apparent 65-76 percent of recent PhD recipients in these disciplines entering the assistant professorship).

Nelson concludes that the United States needs to better utilize the untapped pool of female and URM talent in order to keep pace with global competition in the twenty-first century. She underscores that men and women of color and white women need more role models with whom they identify in order to improve their likelihood of pursuing careers in the sciences.

The full report, including data disaggregated by race or ethnicity and gender, is available for download on the University of Oklahoma’s Web site: cheminfo.chem.ou.edu/faculty/djn/diversity/Faculty_Tables_FY07/07Report.pdf.

European Commission Releases New Report on Women in Research

In April 2008, the European Commission released a new report on the state of gender equity in scientific research. Mapping the Maze: Getting More Women to the Top in Research reviews science programs in fifteen European Union countries to determine why women are underrepresented in influential positions, and why women’s underrepresentation represents a problem for the scientific community at large.

Emphasizing that quality and equality are inextricable, the report argues that in order for the scientific community to reach its full potential, it must deliberately utilize the creativity of a diverse group of thinkers. Women, however, currently represent only 15 percent of senior academics in the European Union, and their leadership within scientific decision-making bodies is severely limited. The report combines recent data on women’s participation with gender analysis of scientific programs and practices to argue that profound cultural and policy changes are needed.

After surveying best practices for gender equity around the globe, the report concludes with a series of policy recommendations that would promote and reinforce gender equity across the European Union. These include recommendations to collect data on women in science, to implement policies that promote a healthy work-life balance, and to institute anti-gender-bias training. While specifically geared toward the European audience, the report and its conclusions are of interest to anyone concerned with gender equity in scientific leadership.

The full report is available for free download at www.eua.be/index.php?id=241&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=529.

U.S. Census Bureau Reports 2007 Educational Statistics

In January 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau released a new series of tables, “Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007,” that provide updated statistics on the changing demographics of degree holders in the United States. According to the report:

• Among persons aged 25-29, 33 percent of women and 26 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Among persons aged 25 and older, 28 percent of women and 30 percent of men hold at least bachelor’s degree.
• Among Hispanics of all races aged 25-29, 15 percent of women and 9 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Among Hispanics of all races aged 25 and older, 14 percent of women and 12 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree.
• Among African Americans aged 25-29, 20 percent of women and 18 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Among African Americans aged 25 and older, 19 percent of women and 18 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree.
• Among non-Hispanic whites aged 25-29, 39 percent of women and 32 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Among non-Hispanic whites aged 25 and older, 31 percent of women and 33 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree.
• Among Asians aged 25-29, 60 percent of women and 58 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Among Asians aged 25 and older, 49 percent of women and 54 percent of men hold at least a bachelor’s degree.

The complete tables are available for download at www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/education/cps2007.html. The U.S. Census Bureau press release is available at www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/011196.html.

Title IX at 35: Beyond the Headlines

In January 2008, the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education released Title IX at 35: Beyond the Headlines, a report on gender equity in education since Title IX’s passage in 1972. The report examines progress and continuing challenges and provides policy recommendations in six areas.

• Athletics: Women’s participation in high school and college athletics has increased since Title IX’s passage, but so has men’s participation. Nevertheless, the Department of Education has “undermined” Title IX through such measures as the March 2005 “Additional Clarification,” which allows schools to use women’s nonresponse to an email survey as proof that they are not interested in athletics.
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics): Women’s participation in many STEM disciplines has increased since the passage of Title IX, and standardized tests reflect that girls’ aptitude is now nearly equal to boys’. However, girls and women continue to face significant discrimination in the STEM disciplines, and few realize that Title IX offers protections in this area.
• Career and Technical Education: Title IX’s effect in vocational education programs has been minimal, with ongoing overt and covert discrimination and limited enforcement of Title IX regulations. Enrollment in vocational classes continues to follow traditional gender norms, with significant economic consequences for women who pursue low-wage jobs in traditionally “feminine” fields.
• Employment in Educational Institutions: Despite several high-profile attempts to improve circumstances for women employed at academic institutions, women continue to lag behind men in terms of both tenure and compensation. In 2005-06, 26.7 percent of full professors were women, and these women earned 88 percent of the salaries earned by their male counterparts.
• Sexual Harassment of Students: The Supreme Court has established that Title IX protects students from sexual harassment perpetrated both by educators and by peers in educational settings. However, sexual harassment is a pervasive problem experienced by both sexes beginning as early as elementary school and continuing through college.
• Single-sex Education: Although single-sex education has always been permissible under certain circumstances, changes to Title IX regulations implemented in 2006 have loosened the strictures regulating gender segregation. These changes have created the opportunity for an alarming increase in gender-segregated programs.

Both the Executive Summary and the full report are available online at www.ncwge.org/pubs-reports.html.

NASPA Releases Inaugural Issue of Journal About Women in Higher Education

In March 2008, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) released the inaugural issue of its new annual journal, the Journal About Women in Higher Education. Sponsored by NASPA’s Center for Scholarship, Research, and Professional Development for Women, this blind peer-reviewed journal will be published each March and is available by subscription at a rate of $59.00 for NASPA members and $89.00 for nonmembers. The inaugural issue includes articles by:

• Lynn Gangone on the history and legacy of the now-defunct National Association for Women in Education
• Linda J. Sax and Emily Arms on differences between male and female students’ financial background, academic self-confidence and engagement, and degree, major, and career aspirations
• Adrianna Kezar and Jaime Lester on mobilizing feminist leadership in higher education across intergenerational divides
• Julia Colyar on gendered patterns of discourse and female students’ experiences in Information Technology classrooms
• Jennifer R. Wolgemuth and Clifford P. Harbor on how the dissertation process can reveal and disrupt the masculine biases of academic culture

For more information about the journal, including submission guidelines, visit www.naspa.org/programs/centerforwomen/jawhe.cfm.