In its 2007 report, Beyond Bias and Barriers, the National Academy of Sciences argues that the United States must aggressively pursue the innovative capacity of all of its people– women, men, trans, nonbinary, minority and non-minority– to maintain leadership in the global marketplace.

The challenges of recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty vary by discipline. Campus efforts to increase the representation of women* and under-represented minorities on the faculty have resulted in limited progress. An overview of the current data reveals these challenges.

  • Over the last ten years, women have accounted for an average of 37 percent of UC’s Professorial Series new appointments. There is slight progress over the ten-year period, from 36 percent in 2004-05 to 40 percent in 2014-15, although availability of women in all disciplines has increased (see 2016 Accountability Report, Metric 5.3.3). At a time when the nation’s pool of doctoral degree recipients is showing increasing numbers and percentages of women, outreach and recruitment efforts are not resulting in faculty hires that reflect the changes in national availability pools.
  • In 2016, 33 percent of UC’s Professorial Series faculty were women, with the highest percentage in Education (56 percent) and the lowest percentages in Engineering/Computer Sciences (16 percent), and Mathematics (15 percent). Women continue to be represented at low levels in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.
  • Data for under-represented minorities (American Indian/Alaskan Native, African American, Chicanx/Latinx) shows that UC has hired from these pools of potential faculty at a rate over availability in selected areas (Arts/Humanities, Life Sciences, Education) (see 2016 Accountability Report, Metric 5.3.1). Overall, from 2011-12 to 2014-15, under-represented minorities accounted for 12 percent of the pool of nationwide doctoral degree recipients and 13 percent of UC’s new general campus Assistant Professor hires. In the hiring of new Professorial Series faculty over the last decade, under-represented minorities have accounted for an average of 12 percent and Asian Americans 18 percent of UC’s Professorial Series new appointments.
  • In 2016, 10 percent of UC’s Professorial Series faculty were under-represented minorities and 16 percent were Asian Americans.

Recruitment of both new and established faculty at the University of California draws from a national and international pool of talent; the hiring of assistant, associate, and full professors draws from foreign nationals educated abroad as well as from U.S. and international scholars educated in the U.S. Out of these populations, UC remains dedicated to building a more diverse faculty, particularly those from under-represented racial and ethnic populations in the U.S. In the coming decades, a more diverse faculty will be an increasingly important measure of a great university.

*Note: UCSB recognizes the diversity of women, including cisgender women, trans women, and others who consider themselves part of that category.  However, existing demographic data does not reflect this recognition.

For additional information on the value of inclusive excellence in academia, see the additional resources.