Excellence Through Diversity

Report of the Council on Faculty Diversity and Inclusion 2008

Background

Excellence Through Diversity

In the fall of 2005, shortly after becoming the 10^th President of Boston University, President Brown began a strategic planning process with the goal of establishing the institutional priorities for Boston University over the next decade. Over the course of the next two years, with input from the 17 colleges and schools comprising Boston University and from the broader Boston University community, a strategic plan entitled “Forging Our Future by Choosing to be Great” emerged¹. The plan outlined a set of concrete goals based on the commitment of further fostering excellence. A central goal was “to support and enhance a world-class faculty whose members are dedicated to teaching and engaged in research, scholarship, and their profession.”

A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine² highlights the importance of faculty diversity and inclusion in achieving excellence. The central view expressed in this report is that “the United States must aggressively pursue the innovative capacity of all of its people—women and men” in order to maintain its leadership in the face of increasing economic and educational globalization. This position is similar to that outlined by the American Association of Colleges and Universities³ who view “diversity and inclusion as a multilayered process through which we achieve excellence in learning; research and teaching; student development; institutional functioning; local and global community engagement; workforce development; and more.”

With the goal of increasing excellence, in the fall of 2006 President Brown appointed a Council on Faculty Diversity & Inclusion. In a letter to the faculty, President Brown indicated “one of the most important objectives for the University is to increase the diversity of our students and faculty and to improve the inclusiveness of our community for all of its members.” He outlined the charge to the Council as being to recommend policies and actions to the President and Provost “to best ensure that salaries, promotions, and leadership opportunities are given equitably to all faculty on the basis of merit”, …to “examine policies and practices for faculty hiring and promotion and make recommendations on how to enhance the recruitment and retention of women and minority faculty members…as well as to recommend policies and programs that are sensitive to the need to balance the academic careers and family life of faculty members.”

Initial Considerations and Scope of Work

At the outset, the Council drafted the following diversity statement that acknowledges the multidimensional nature of diversity, emphasizes the role of diversity in faculty excellence, and recognizes Boston University’s commitment to diversity and equal opportunity.

Boston University is committed to fostering a diverse University community, where differing views can be expressed freely within a supportive and respectful environment. We believe that faculty development is essential to our success as a leading research University with a global reach, and that diversity is an integral component of faculty excellence. Diversity is multidimensional and may encompass life experience, gender, sexual orientation, race, national origin, ethnicity, physical ability, spiritual beliefs, and intellectual approach. As students and faculty engage and are challenged by one another, diverse perspectives will enhance the quality of intellectual exchange and the creation of knowledge. 

A University that develops and sustains a diverse community must support the varying needs of community members so that they can participate in University life to their fullest capacities and with wholehearted dedication. Faculty, staff and students need to feel respected and valued for who they are and the talents they bring to their work. Respect for a diverse faculty includes respect for all aspects of faculty identities including their community, family, and religious roles, as well as faculty roles and identities as scholars and teachers.

A University that fosters diversity must support the quality of life of its faculty members in order to maximize their productivity and the caliber of their scholarship and intellectual contributions. The University is committed to providing opportunities for professional advancement and leadership roles to its faculty that reflect and sustain the values of diversity and inclusion.

The Council recognized that in order to make recommendations regarding an environment that would attract and sustain a diverse faculty, it would be essential to obtain input from the faculty, and to work with the Faculty Council, the leadership of the schools and colleges, department chairs and the senior administration. In addition, the Council recognized that it needed to take a data-driven approach that would allow a discussion of well-documented issues with the leadership at the department, school and University levels.

To this end, input from the faculty and the administration was obtained in several ways. Faculty were asked about their satisfaction with various aspects of faculty life through 2 climate surveys—the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey for junior faculty and a climate survey for all faculty on the Charles River and Medical campuses.  Members of the Council attended meetings of the department chairs in each of the 17 schools and colleges to provide an overview of the goals of the Council and to obtain their perspectives on important issues for the Council to address. Regular updates about the work of the Council were presented at the Council of Deans. In addition, an overview of work in progress was given to the University Leadership group and to the Faculty Assembly, a presentation of the results of the climate surveys was made to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees, and a presentation of preliminary findings and recommendations was presented to the Faculty Assembly in May 2008.

The Council focused on four areas that it believed would have the greatest impact on creating an environment that would attract and support a diverse faculty. These included: hiring and retention, compensation, University leadership and governance, and family policy. The Council made several recommendations during the course of the two years during which the data in this report were collected and analyzed.

The findings of the Council led to recommendations in six key areas: Oversight and Support Structures, Data Collection and Dissemination, Faculty Recruitment and Retention, Compensation, Leadership and Governance, and Family Policy. Relevant background data are briefly outlined below followed by the major recommendations of the Council. A complete report, with expanded recommendations and supporting data, was provided to the President and Provost.