After almost a yearlong review of departments' faculty hiring and other practices, the Subcommittee on Diversity in Hiring released findings that indicate differences in the number of female and minority faculty members across departments, notably the Division of Biology and Medicine.
The SDH's report was released in April and discussed at the Oct. 3 faculty meeting.
The SDH is a subcommittee under the Faculty Affairs Committee and works with various deans and departments to assess and increase diversity on campus and perform other functions, according to the Web site for the Office of Institutional Diversity.
From July 1, 2005, to April 19, 2006, the SDH, along with Associate Provost and Director of Institutional Diversity Brenda Allen, worked to review monthly reports of faculty searches and to articulate goals for attaining a more diverse faculty, according to an April 20 letter sent by the SDH to the Faculty Executive Committee.
The SDH's report stated that of the University's 629 regular faculty members, 106 were minorities and 192 were women, accounting for 17 percent and 31 percent, respectively, of the total number. According to a document detailing the SDH's findings that was distributed at the Oct. 3 faculty meeting, collected data indicate "large disparities in diversity among different divisions."
According to James Valles, professor of physics and chair of the committee, of the total faculty in the Division of Biology and Medicine, 12 percent were minorities and 28 percent were women. Valles said while these numbers were not drastically different from those of the regular faculty, they still represented a notable difference.
One member of the committee, Professor of Medical Science Chi-Ming Hai, became aware of the differences and expressed concerns to the SDH about them, according to Valles.
Valles said he thinks the number of women and minorities in this division might be lower than in others because they might comprise a smaller portion of the applicant pool.
"The pool of possible candidates may have lower percentages, so when they put an advertisement they get smaller numbers of responses than the number of people on campus," Valles said.
The differences in percentages in the Division of Biology and Medicine compared to other fields might be misleading because there are only 65 faculty in the division, according to Valles.
In order to make the numbers in the division reflect those of the overall campus population, "you would only need to add two women and three minorities," he said.
Valles said one of the committee's tasks is to work with Allen to review the diversity of the applicant pool as well as the shortlist of applicants generated by departments during the hiring process.
"There were no obvious disparities" between these two sets of numbers, Valles said.
Allen could not be reached for comment.
The SDH's report states the committee "looks forward to working with (the) Associate Provost to achieve a more diverse faculty in (the Division of Biology and Medicine)."
The SDH is just deciding what efforts will be taken to change the makeup of the faculty in the division to make it better reflect that of the overall faculty, Valles said, noting that the SDH will work with the Division of Biology and Medicine to address these problems.
"We need to start talking to the BioMed division," Valles said. "There are five different departments within Biomed, so it can be hard to coordinate with all of them."
Some of the questions the committee plans to look at include whether there are ways the division could attract more women and minorities and what figures for women and minorities in similar divisions are on a national level, Valles said. He added that the committee's first steps will involve reviewing national numbers and working on recruitment efforts.
The SDH does not have any specific targets or numerical goals in mind, Valles said. "The goal is to keep the dialogue open and keep people looking at the data," he added.
"All we can do is keep awareness there, so we can keep attention there," Valles said.
Valles said the SDH wants to help the departments without interfering in their hiring practices, so the committee must proceed with some caution. "There's a fine line between intruding in a department and destroying it," he said.
Students interviewed by The Herald who are involved with the Division of Biology and Medicine were not aware of the lower number of women and minority faculty but expressed approval about efforts to increase their numbers in the division's faculty.
"I have never noticed a difference (in the distribution of faculty)," said Nicole Fuerst '08, who is a biology concentrator. Fuerst did note, however, that most of her professors in the division have been men.
The mission of the committee and its view that diversity is of the utmost importance to the University remains strong, Valles said.
"Somehow we believe that a diverse campus makes a difference for Brown," he said.
