Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Enhancing Compositional Diversity

Efforts to attract and retain underrepresented groups to our student, faculty and staff ranks continue to be a priority. 

  • Former Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren notes that the School of Arts and Sciences has made significant improvements in increasing faculty diversity. In her summer 2017 update, she suggested the following: “Over the past year we have taken a variety of approaches to increase faculty diversity on campus, including working through our normal search processes, hiring through the newly re-defined Target of Opportunity process, hiring diverse faculty into faculty-level postdoctoral positions, and aggressively seeking to retain our highly recruited faculty of color. Our commitment to these processes has resulted in success in three out of five Target of Opportunity offers for tenure-line faculty, retention of 75% of our faculty of color who were recruited to other universities, and the addition of African American, Latinx, Asian-American, and women faculty across the Humanities, Social Sciences, Creative Arts, and the Sciences.” 

  • Though information on the progress of faculty recruitment below relates to the Ford Hall 2015 time period and agreement,1 it is important to recognize Brandeis has historically had a commitment to the diversification of its faculty and staff. This commitment has been supported by the administration, Board of Trustees and through numerous faculty departmental open notices. Currently, changes in the racial composition of faculty and staff show improvement from fall 2015.2 There has been significant progress to the faculty recruitment goal, but more remains to be done. Specifically, this effort has continued, and we need to keep this progress going. 

    • For full-time Black faculty, the base line in AY2015 was 14 faculty members (10 from A&S, four from Heller and zero from IBS). The number for AY 2018 is 20 faculty members (14 from A&S, four from Heller and two from IBS), an increase of 6 faculty (a 43 percent increase).3

    • For full-time Latinx faculty, the baseline in AY2015 was 15 faculty members (eight from A&S, 4 from Heller and three from IBS). The number for AY 2018 is 17 faculty members (10 from A&S, five from Heller and two from IBS), an increase of two faculty (AY13 percent increase).4

    • For full-time Asian American faculty,  the base line in AY2015 was 31 faculty members (26 from A&S, three from Heller and two from IBS). The number for AY 2018 is 37 faculty members (31 from A&S, three from Heller and three from IBS), an increase of six faculty (a 19 percent increase).

    • The combined number of underrepresented faculty of color went from 29 to 36, an increase of seven faculty (a 24 percent increase). When including Asian American faculty, the number went from 60 to 73 faculty members, an increase of 13 faculty (a 22 percent increase). Though there was no specific numeric goal for staff, significant progress has been made here as well. 

  • Following a reorganization, the dean of admissions and financial aid for undergraduate admissions directly reports to the dean of arts and sciences. This new structure allows for direct progress reports to the Dean, Provost and President periodically on efforts to recruit students of color into the undergraduate applicant pool.

  • The CDO is currently in conversation with the various directors of admissions for A&S, Heller and IBS for information on increasing the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students of color.

Footnotes

  1. Part of the Ford Hall 2015 negotiations was agreement on the goal to double the number of full-time underrepresented faculty where “underrepresented faculty” meant Black, Latinx, and “Two or More races” faculty, specifically. The benchmark starting point is October 2015. Thus, this goal will be measured until October 15, 2021.
  2. The figures presented below are not the same as those shown in IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System). The reason they are different is that a) unlike IPEDS that captures all faculty numbers across race (including part-time faculty), we are only reporting full-time faculty, and b), IPEDS follows the federal racial categories that do not easily reflect faculty who change from one employment status to another. For example, the figures below count faculty members who may have been a post-doc operating as a full-time faculty person who then became an assistant professor or a faculty member who was from an international location, but has since changed citizenship status. In essence, these figures attempt to provide nuanced information about who is actually here at Brandeis operating as a full-time faculty member.
  3. This figure for Black faculty includes a faculty member who identifies as Black and Latinx. Thus, this person is double counted for “Black” and “Latinx,” but is not counted twice for the overall total.
  4. This figure for Latinx faculty includes a faculty member who identifies as Black and Latinx. Thus, this person is double counted for “Black” and “Latinx,” but is not counted twice for the overall total.