Summary Statement by Presidential Panel:
Jeffrey Lehman (chair), Cornell University
John Hennessy, Stanford University
Beverly Hogan, Tougaloo College
Walter Massey, Morehouse College
Jennifer Raab, Hunter College, CUNY
George Wright, Priarie View A&M University
James Wright, Dartmouth College

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Although we are experiencing some progress in increasing the number and percentage of minority faculty in higher education, that progress has been much too slow.  According to the American Council on Education’s 20th Anniversary Annual Status Report, Minorities in Higher Education, 2002-2003, the number of minority faculty grew from 58,935 or 11.5 percent in 1989-90 to 82,393 or 14.4 percent in 1999-2000.  The number of full-time African American faculty increased from 23,225 or 4.5 percent to 29,222 or 5.1 percent.  Hispanic full-time faculty expanded from 10,087 or 2.0 percent to 16,498 or 2.9 percent, while Asian American full-time faculty increased from 24,125 or 4.7 percent to 34,112 or 6.0 percent.  American Indian full-time faculty inched up from 1,498 or 0.3 percent to 2,561 or 0.4 percent.

One of the major problems facing higher education, especially at a time when a large cohort of faculty, which entered academe in the 1960s, is retiring, is the un-availability of minority scholars to replace them.  In 1989, about 24 percent of full-time faculty were 55 years or older.  By 1999, approximately 32 percent fell into that category.  Faculty at private research universities, however, are more likely to retain their positions until age 70 (about 40 percent), while faculty at public research universities are less likely to remain until age 70 (about 25 percent).  The longer tenure of faculty at private research universities poses additional problems in seeking greater faculty diversity.

Although the number and percentage of minorities receiving doctoral degrees have increased over the past decade, the growth has been woefully slow, especially in the sciences.  The growth has been best in the Life Sciences, where 190 African Americans, 213 Hispanics, 430 Asian Americans, and 21 American Indians received doctoral degrees in 2000-2001.  In the Physical Sciences, however, only 80 African Americans, 103 Hispanics, 198 Asian Americans, and 13 American Indians earned doctoral degrees.  International students (2,584) received more than six times as many doctoral degrees in the Physical Sciences as American minorities, a ratio that is duplicated in Engineering.  The United States has to rely increasingly on scholars from abroad for faculty in the Physical Sciences and Engineering.  43 percent of the doctoral degrees earned in Physical Sciences are by international students, while 56 percent of the doctoral degrees in Engineering go to international students.

Through collaborations with each other, we can increase the availability of minority scholars, especially in the sciences and engineering.  Dr. Martin Farias III, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, has noted in the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) News (Spring, 2005) that Summer Research Programs “… create a sense of belonging, a sense that you are involved in something important.”  It is that confidence that we can provide across our campuses to encourage more minority students to pursue advanced study in the sciences and engineering in particular.  Helping students to stretch themselves by becoming involved in a research experience away from their home campus and assisting them to study with top scholars and graduate students in their fields offers motivation, encouragement, and reinforcement to pursue teaching and research careers in higher education.

Aside from the influence that our collaborations have on students, they also introduce our faculty to talented prospective graduate students.  Although standard measures of achievement and preparedness such as grades, test scores, and letters of recommendation are important, the opportunity to work closely with a student during the summer offers some of the best insight into the student’s ability and aptitude for advanced study.  Moreover, letters of recommendation from faculty who have worked closely with students during the summer are invaluable documents for the graduate admission process.  For students without a tradition of advanced study in their families or among their friends, the graduate admission process can be daunting.  The networks that students develop from summer research programs and especially from the Leadership Alliance’s National Symposium helps to demystify the graduate admission process and to make it less intimidating.  The Leadership Alliance’s publication, Tips on Preparing for and Applying to Graduate School, is an excellent example of collaboration across our institutions with information, especially for students applying in the sciences but applicable to students from any discipline.  The publication alerts students to what they should consider in preparing themselves for competitive graduate applications throughout their undergraduate years and not just when they begin to think about submitting applications during their senior year.  Our summer research programs sponsor seminars in which faculty explain what they look for in applications and in which currently enrolled graduate students share their experiences.  We offer students the challenge as well as the excitement of graduate education and inform them about the differences between undergraduate and graduate education.

The Leadership Alliance’s publication, Mentoring Undergraduates in Summer Research Programs, is another fine example of collaboration.  The publication draws on almost a decade of experience in mentoring students in the sciences as well as in the humanities and social sciences.  It is valuable to all faculty and not just to faculty participating in the Leadership Alliance’s program.  The publication is a great introduction to mentoring for young faculty and an insightful reminder for seasoned veterans.  The section on “Communicating Effectively” is especially informative for faculty in their roles as mentors and as advisers.

The ability to meet with administrators and faculty from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges, and Hispanic Serving Institutions, as well as major research institutions, helps in the exchange of ideas about how to better serve students who are underrepresented in higher education.  Such networks ease communication, especially in sharing information about goals and expectations on our respective campuses.  The participants get to know each other and who to call in advancing opportunities for students.

As we move forward in our cooperation with each other, we should explore other avenues of collaboration.  The Emerging Ph.D.’s Yearbook published by the Leadership Alliance is a superb step in the right direction.  There should be a mechanism by which all our underrepresented doctoral students, who have passed their admission to candidacy examinations, are listed by discipline, with information on their research interests.  Those students would be an excellent source for publicizing dissertation and postdoctoral fellowships.  We should encourage emerging doctoral students to participate in conferences such as Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Graduate Society Symposia or Yale’s Bouchet Conference on Diversity in Higher Education, to name just two.

There should be avenues for greater exchange among faculty from the liberal arts schools and research institutions to encourage more underrepresented students to pursue advanced degrees, especially in the sciences and engineering.  The number of minority faculty in those areas on many of our individual campuses is small but collectively we can present our students with powerful role models.  We need to consider ways in which we can make underrepresented students more aware of career options across the sciences and engineering in particular.  Working collaboratively, we can increase the pipeline and the availability of minority scholars in ways that we can not do so by ourselves.