Excellence Through Diversity

Report of the Council on Faculty Diversity and Inclusion 2008

Background Data

Demographics

One of the major tasks of the Council was to determine the current status of women and minorities at Boston University. In doing so, the Council was guided by the metrics and benchmarks outlined in the recent report of the National Academies Committee on Women in Science and Engineering as being important indicators of success in attracting and retaining a diverse faculty. In particular, we were interested in current data concerning the number and percentage of females and minorities, their academic rank, their distribution across the colleges and schools and in the sciences and engineering, and, where possible, comparisons with national data and data from our peers. We were also interested in historical data that provide important indicators of progress in diversifying the faculty over the past decade. These include changes in the demographic profile of the faculty, faculty retention rates, and the demographic profile of new hires. We should state at the outset that due to the very small number of minorities (and particularly underrepresented minorities), in many cases we are only able to present data concerning gender. In addition, the data presented in this report are limited to full-time faculty.

Representation of Women
University Overview and Comparative Data

Displayed in Figure 1 is the percentage of female faculty at each rank at Boston University in comparison to that found at US private category 1 universities, based on data reported to the AAUP as part of its annual national faculty survey¹. As seen in this graph, the pattern at Boston University—characterized by greater representation of females at the lower ranks—is similar to the overall national trend.

Table 1 presents 2008 data comparing Boston University to several universities that it considers among its peers. As seen in the table, BU’s representation of females at the rank of Assistant and Associate Professors is better than some of its peers and poorer than others. At the rank of Professor, the percentage of females at Boston University is lower than at 7 out of 9 of its national peers.

Cells in blue represent percentages lower than Boston University. Universities in blue shaded rows have lower F:M ratios than BU across all ranks. Those in gray shaded rows have higher ratios at all ranks.

Charles River Campus

Figure 2 shows the number of male and female faculty who are tenured or on the tenure-track (henceforth “T/TT”) and Figure 3 shows the number of male and female non-tenure track faculty on the Charles River Campus. Sixty-six percent of males and 48% of females are on the tenure track. Overall, females make up a decreasing proportion of the faculty as faculty rank increases – 58% of Instructors, 42% of Assistant Professors, 35% of Associate Professors, and 19% of Professors are females. Males are three times more likely to be Professors than are females. Female faculty are most highly represented in the professional schools for which women have traditionally dominated in the profession (e.g., Education, Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Social Work) and least in professional schools in which males are more highly represented in the profession (e.g., Engineering).

Table 2 shows the percentage of tenure-track hires in the past decade that were female. There has been a substantial increase in the last three years in the percentage of new faculty who were female.

Representation of Minorities²

University Overview and Comparative Data

In order to determine the current status of minorities at Boston University, the Council obtained data concerning the number of non-Caucasian faculty, as well as the number of Asian and underrepresented minorities (Black, Hispanic, American Indian). Table 4 compares the data for Boston University to some of our national and local peers. Although we are far below some of our national peers (e.g., USC), the percentage of minority faculty at Boston University is similar to that at many local institutions.

Charles River Campus

Eleven percent of T/TT faculty and 9% of the non-tenure track faculty on the Charles River Campus are non-Caucasian. Furthermore, the vast majority of non-Caucasian faculty are Asian. The percentage of underrepresented minorities (Black, Hispanic, American Indian) has remained constant at around 3% from 1997 to 2008.

Medical Campus

The percentage of non-Caucasian faculty is larger on the Medical Campus than on the Charles River Campus. Thirteen percent of faculty are Asian and a further 6.7% of faculty are underrepresented minorities. The greatest percentage of minorities is in the School of Dental Medicine.