Spring Break
Faculty doesn't mirror student body
Ron Pangrac
Daily Copy Editor
- Page 1 of 1
In the Fall 2002 semester - the most recent time for which statistics are available from Institutional Planning and Academic Resources at SJSU - women made up nearly
40 percent of the faculty compared to about 54 percent of the student body.
At the same time, minorities made up only about one quarter of the 806-member faculty, while more than half the student body was non-white.
While another report showed in Fall 2001 nearly one quarter of the faculty was age 60 or older, Marshall Goodman, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, said he does not see turnover as a major opportunity for change.
"There will always be an ebb and flow (from faculty leaving)", Goodman said. The issue for him is instead, "The state has not kept up with funding faculty positions ... Faculty - as well as student-faculty ratio - both of those have been lagging."
Regarding faculty diversity, in a September 2003 letter to faculty members who work on department search committees, Goodman said, "We have been successful in the past in hiring outstanding tenure-track faculty members, but I am convinced we can do better especially in terms of recruiting a faculty that better reflects the diversity of our region and our student population ... We expect that search committees will make proactive efforts to expand the applicant pools from which we hire."
Rising numbers
Percentages of female and minority faculty members increased overall in the three-year period from Fall1999 to Fall 2002.
Women on the SJSU faculty increased from 36.8 percent in 1999 to 39.3 percent in 2002. The student population in Fall 2002 was 53.9 percent female.
The percentage of minorities on the faculty increased from 24.7 percent in 1999 to 27.4 percent in 2002. At the same time, minorities made up 58.7 percent of the student population.
However, the number of Hispanic faculty members went down in those three years. Statistics show that Hispanics made up 6 percent of the faculty in Fall 1999 but only 4.2 percent in Fall 2002.
The student population in Fall 2002 was 14 percent Hispanic.
Breaking the Fall 2002 numbers down further, two colleges had a faculty mix that was less than 50 percent female or minority.
In the College of Business, 56 of the 85 faculty members (56.9 percent) were white men. In the College of Science, 87 of the 148 faculty members (58.8 percent) were white men.
"Distribution is an important issue," Goodman said. "We can be diverse across the university, but colleges and departments may have shortages."
Recruitment
David Conrath, dean of the College of Business, said he wants to see candidates who will be valuable to his college over the long term.
"I don't want to hire people who are very narrowly defined," Conrath said. "I want to see diversity in a skill set."
Goodman said he is aware hiring the best-qualified candidate may seem to conflict with a concern for adequately diverse representation on the faculty. A key element, he said, is to ensure that future search committees develop a broad pool of candidates for a position.
"I charge deans, and they charge search committees, to ensure the selection process has encouraged diversity," Goodman said. "Committees are usually fairly broad in terms of make up. We try to put in checks and balances to make sure discrimination of any kind doesn't enter in."
Conrath said he seeks to develop "an internal culture that has little or virtually no prejudice." He also said he wants "a high level of collegiality" within the college.
One constant challenge, however, is finding a sufficient number of candidates, he said.
"When recruiting, it's a small pool to begin with. The supply of Ph.D.s is small," Conrath said. "We want to look under every rock."
Goodman said departments should be proactive in looking for potential candidates.
A number of academic associations meet in August. He said those meetings are among the best places for identifying prospects.
"We put ads in a lot of the national journals," Goodman added. "And we get on the phone. A lot is through contacts and sharing information between universities."
When recruiting candidates, SJSU has some disadvantages compared to other institutions of higher education.
"Some institutions grow their own (Ph.D.s) and hire internally ... That person never gets into the job market," Goodman said. "We always have to go out for Ph.D.-level candidates."
Conrath said another restriction is a lack of flexibility with salary offers.
"We are limited by a unionized salary structure CSU-wide," he said.
Salary was a factor when one female Hispanic candidate recently withdrew from a search and accepted a position in Boston, Conrath said.
"She received an offer we could not match," he said.
In that environment, he said, people will often come here for other reasons, such as the diversity of the community, the weather, their spouse or the Silicon Valley atmosphere.
Conrath said, however, "We had five new faculty (members) this year - all are women, and three are minorities."
Scott Myers-Lipton, an associate professor of sociology, has served on search committees for the College of Social Sciences.
He said when candidate pools are developed and when finalists are selected, the decision-makers need to be open-minded.
"They need to be open to all sorts of differences, (racial) diversity being one element," Myers-Lipton said. "I think a search committee has to have the question, 'Are we having diversity in the pool, diversity of thought, of gender?' "
It is not just what the candidate brings that should be considered either, Lipton-Myers said.
"An open question when down to four to five candidates (is), 'Are they going to work well with a diverse student body?' " he said.
Retention
Obstacles to increasing faculty diversity do not end once a person is hired.
Conrath said some professors find the cost of living in the Bay Area prohibitive.
"We lose people in the first year or two," he said. "If they stay past three years, they'll stay."
Myers-Lipton said he sees other reasons why some do not stay.
"This (SJSU) can be a hostile place, for a whole host of reasons," he said.
A person's field of research can affect how they are received in a department or college.
"Quantitative research is valued more highly than participant-action research," Myers-Lipton said. "If it's not numbers, it's not regarded as highly."
He also said faculty members do not all receive the same level of mentoring.
"They need a mentor to guide them through the tenure process," Myers-Lipton said. "They need an advocate. They need guidance toward what journals to pursue, what committees to serve on."
In addition to more one-on-one mentoring, he said, the institution needs to provide an environment supportive of all seeking tenure.
Myers-Lipton said he would also like to see the university implement more diversity training.
He said that when he started at SJSU five years ago, "I got 90 minutes of diversity training at faculty orientation."
Perceptions
How students perceive the diversity of the SJSU faculty will depend in part on how sensitive they are to such issues, said Dawn Lee, activities coordinator for Mosaic Cross Cultural Center.
"If students are more aware, they'll notice," Lee said. "Perception will (also) be influenced in part by their major and their department."
Glenna Hobbs, a senior majoring in social work, said in her four years at SJSU she has had a diverse mix of teachers.
"I only had two black teachers," said Hobbs, who is black. "I'm used to it, not seeing many black students or teachers."
In terms of gender, however, Hobbs said, "I had maybe two or three guy teachers. Otherwise, all women."
Because people have different perceptions on such sensitive matters, issues around adequate faculty diversity will remain. Some might see an atmosphere of discrimination where others see reverse discrimination.
" 'How fair was it?' That's always a concern with any personnel decision," Goodman said.
