Two-Part Presentation

1. Part I: Research on the causes of minority faculty representation The Supply-Side Myth Part II: Research on institutional changes needed to improve faculty diversity Search Committee Processes Two-Part Presentation

2. Part I:The Supply-Side Myth of Minority Faculty Underrepresentation Samuel L. Myers, Jr. University of Minnesota and Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner Arizona State University

3. Summary and Overview • Many diversity efforts focus on Supply-Side • Special case of problems in higher education diversity -- Mid-America • Conventional approach examines bottom of supply chain • Focus on the bottommay be less effective than focus on the top.

4. The context of the supply side argument • Severe underrepresentation of blacks, American Indians, and Latinos in higher education • Widespread belief that this is caused by underrepresentation among these groups among Ph.D.s and high turnover among junior faculty • Conventional wisdom, then, is to focus on the bottom

5. Faculty Representation Ratios 1990-2000

6. Summary of Changes 1990-2000 • Slight improvement in representation ratios for • African Americans (.65 to .70) • Asians (.76 to .79) • Large (but questionable) increase for American Indians (.57 - .97) • Small decline for Hispanics (.75 to .74)

7. Special Case of Mid-America Midwestern states face following barriers: • Often very cold • No previous history of slavery and thus limited legal mandates for redress • Small Indigenous population, but heavily isolated on reservations with poor secondary education

8. Conventional Wisdom The problem is: A) insufficient supply of (young) minority Ph.D.’S B) high turnover at bottom

9. Institutional Survey • Survey of 871 public and private institutions of higher education in MHEC (Midwest Higher Education Commission) member states. • Focus on specific institutional commitments to minority recruitment and retention.

10. Questionnaire: Obstacles to recruitment and retention of women/minority faculty • Undesirable location • Salary competition with other higher education institutions • Salary competition with industry • Lack of start-up funds or other inducements • Low representation (low numbers of minority faculty, students and staff) • Insufficient numbers of qualified candidates.

11. Most Frequently Cited Explanation Obstacles to Recruitment: Insufficient supply of qualified minorities Response just as likely in arts and humanities as in science and engineering (59%)

12. Outcomes: Hires vs Leavers • Survey asked: How many persons did you hire in the past three years? • How many persons left in the past three years? • Measured by race and by rank • Outcome measure: ratio of number hired to number left

13. Measurement • If H/L < 1, then turnover problem causing loss of faculty • If H/L > 1, then not obviously a turnover problem or loss of faculty • Note: Averages across institutions not across individuals

14. Ratio of Faculty Hires to Faculty Leavers - Professor

15. Ratio of Faculty Hires to Faculty Leavers - Associate Professor

16. Ratio of Faculty Hires to Faculty Leavers - Assistant Professor

17. Ratio of Faculty Hires to Faculty Leavers - Instructor

18. Implications: • Hire/leaver ratio higher for minorities than whites • Hire/leaver ratio higher for lower ranked than higher ranked professors • The problem is not necessarily at the bottom…the problem may be at the top

19. Further Analysis: Multivariate regression model • Dependent variable: ratio of hires to leavers in last three years • Independent variables: • Size and type of institution • Perceptions about minority recruitment/retention • Organizational/institutional support • Financial resources

20. Findings: A high minority faculty development budget is the single most important factor to increased minority hiring. Its effect is greater than the combined effects of "excellent diversity" and increased funding for minority faculty recruitment.

21. Findings: A high minority faculty development budget is the single most important factor to increased minority hiring. Its effect is greater than the combined effects of "excellent diversity" and increased funding for minority faculty recruitment.

22. High minority faculty development budgets Excellent Diversity Efforts Increased Funding for minority recruitment Perceptions that minority hiring is adequate -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6

23. Supply Vs Demand • Supply-side factors (e.g. Insufficient qualified minorities) do not have a statistically significant impact on hires/leavers • Demand-side factors (e.g. Affirmative action efforts to retain and recruit minority faculty) have the largest impacts

24. Determinants of Minority Representation • Estimation of probability of faculty employment using PUMS 2000 data • Computation of effect on representation ratio of increases in: • Ph.D. supply • Private sector wages • Faculty wages • Controls for age, sex, family structure, immigration, language region

25. Predicted impacts of Ph.D. Supply and Wages on Representation Ratios

26. Summary of findings • Minority Ph.D. supply has increased since 1990 • Except for Hispanics, faculty representation ratios have improved • Undersupply of Ph.D.s cannot explain the remaining underrepresentation of minority faculty

27. Further Reading • Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner and Samuel L. Myers, Jr. Faculty of Color in Academe: Bitter Sweet Success. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. • Turner, Myers and Creswell, “Exploring Underrepresentation: The Case of Faculty of Color in the Midwest,” The Journal of Higher Education, Vol 70, No. 1, 1999. • Myers and Turner, “The effects of Ph.D. Supply on Minority Faculty Representation,” American Economic Review, Papers Proceedings, Vol 94, No. 2, May 2004

28. For copies of presentation Go to: http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/wilkins/presentations

29. Dr. Turner will now discuss • Institutional changes needed • To attract diverse academic workforce • To maintain diverse faculty • To retain faculty of color • The Hiring Process

30. Part II: Hiring Faculty of ColorResearch on the Search Committee Process and Implications for Practice Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner Professor, Arizona State Univerity csturner@asu.edu

31. Thank You! Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice University of Minnesota