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Faculty diversity on the rise
FD&D report shows women, minority faculty at all-time highs
Harvard University has made steady progress toward a more diverse faculty and the numbers of women and minority members stand at all-time highs, according to the annual report of the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity (FD&D).
Overall, the number of assistant, associate, and full professors has grown by 7 percent to 1,507 in the six years that FD&D has been tracking faculty demographics. Nearly half of the new faculty members hired during that period were women, raising the total number of women faculty members by 16 percent and the number of women senior faculty by 30 percent. Minority members on the faculty grew by 23 percent.
“The University has made steady progress in building a more diverse faculty, especially in terms of the number of women professors,” said Judith D. Singer, senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity and James Bryant Conant Professor of Education. “And while the percentage of underrepresented minorities remains low, the increases in the raw numbers of black, and especially Latino, faculty are somewhat encouraging.”
Women comprise 26 percent of the faculty, while minorities account for 17 percent.
The Office of Faculty Development and Diversity serves as Harvard’s central faculty affairs office, overseeing institutional policies with regards to faculty and coordinating with the Schools to foster progress in the recruitment and retention of talented professors and researchers.
FD&D sponsors a variety of programs designed to support faculty, including mentoring initiatives and enrichment activities that introduce faculty members to their peers. And to increase diversity among the ranks of potential candidates for the faculty of the future, FD&D sponsors pipeline programs that offer research opportunities to talented students.
