Janee Both Gragg’s Post

Important considerations…

People of color and women - and especially women of color - continue to face harsher scrutiny in promotion and tenure decisions. This Nature article does a great job explaining why this matters - including the impacts to research and to society - and offers solutions. #Academia #HigherEducation #HigherEducationTrends #DEIB

"The authors also looked at how faculty members’ h-index scores, a common measure of the reach of their research and their research productivity, factored into promotion and tenure decisions for underrepresented minority versus white and Asian faculty. They concluded that the underrepresented minority are “held to a higher standard … in terms of scholarly productivity.” They said this is especially the case for underrepresented minorities who are also women." #faculty #academy #tenure #promotion #research #bias https://lnkd.in/eKB9Riv6

My latest in Inside Higher Ed, which discusses the neglected topic of inequity in faculty service. Women identifying faculty and faculty of color are harmed the most by these institutional practices. Here are some ways for us to do better.

Wondering if a women's college is right for you or your students? Our Executive Director, Martha Malinski, and representatives from several of our member institutions spoke with U.S. News & World Report about the unique value of a women's college education. Read more about what they had to say at the link below.

Gender and racial inequality persist in faculty hiring and promotion in higher education. Here's a helpful article that illustrates these continued challenges. While there are more women and people of color in tenure line positions than there were 7 years ago, white men are still promoted in larger numbers. These statistics are based on a report from the the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, that analyzed changes in faculty representation between the 2016–17 academic year and the 2022–23 academic year. See the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eM_szH8V Blacks represent a much smaller amount of full professors than other groups: "As of last academic year, 26 percent of tenure track faculty were people of color, up from 21 percent during the 2016–17 academic year. Most of that growth, however, came from hiring more Asian and Hispanic or Latinx faculty, according to the study. For instance, in 2017, roughly 9.7 percent of full professors were Asian, which increased to 12.8 percent by 2023. In contrast, the percentage of Black full professors has only increased from 3.3 percent to 3.5 percent in the same timeframe." People of color and women continue not to be promoted as much as men: "In 2022–23, 35 percent of assistant professors were people of color, and 53 percent were women. At the associate professor level, only 26 percent of faculty were people of color and only 47 percent are women. And at the highest rank of full professor, people of color represented 22 percent of faculty and women represented 36 percent." And the numbers of women and people of color in non-TT positions increased: "Women also made up the majority (58 percent) of non–tenure track faculty in 2023, a 2.5 percent increase since the 2016–17 academic year. Faculty of color in those positions increased 24 percent from 2016–17 to 2022–23, making up 22 percent of non–tenure track faculty." This report and others like it highlight the continued structural work that higher ed needs to do to create more equitable representation across groups. #highered #discrimination

Moving beyond the traditional perspective presents an opportunity to close education gaps and better adapt to economic changes. Read my latest PhillyVoice.com article below.

Bill Alert! US House Bill HRES 1091 - Recognizing and thanking the Nation's women's colleges and universities and recognizing March 5 as "National Women's Colleges and Universities Day". Policy: Education Status: Bill Introduced Full Details: https://lnkd.in/g4v5TJRJ Bill 118 HRES 1091, also known as the "Recognizing and thanking the Nation's women's colleges and universities and recognizing March 5 as National Women's Colleges and Universities Day," is a resolution introduced in the US Congress. The purpose of this resolution is to acknowledge and show appreciation for the contributions of women's colleges and universities in the United States. The resolution recognizes the important role that women's colle...

Diary of a Wimpy Academic: Entry 3 – The Never-Ending Climb for Women in Academia So, I’ve just come across something that, frankly, made my wimpy academic self sigh deeply. According to a new study, it takes women almost 15 years longer than men to become full professors at top UK universities. Yep, you read that right—15 years. That’s like… an entire teenager’s worth of time just to get the same promotion. Seriously? It turns out that women not only have to wait longer for that shiny associate professor title (8.5 years more than men, on average), but it also takes us an additional 6 years to secure that full professor role. And guess what? We’re also 10% more likely to just get stuck at lower grades forever. Fun, right? Apparently, there’s a lovely mix of discrimination and cultural bias at play. Women’s publications are often undervalued, and we don’t get the same time and resources to invest in our careers as our male colleagues. It’s like we have to prove ourselves twice just to show we’re as good as men. And don’t even get me started on those institutional Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) policies. Instead of fixing the system, they’re busy trying to “fix” women—as if we’re the problem here. It’s not about giving women more confidence or leadership training; it’s about changing the culture that holds us back in the first place. How hard is that to understand? So here’s today’s lesson in Diary of a Wimpy Academic: Being a woman in academia feels like climbing a mountain, but not just any mountain—one that keeps moving the summit every time you get close. And honestly, it’s exhausting. We don’t need more seminars on how to “lean in”—We need a system that doesn’t force us to lean in twice as hard just to keep up. #DiaryOfAWimpyAcademic #GenderBias #AcademicLife #WomenInAcademia #StillClimbing P.S. To be a 'wimpy academic' is to embrace the awkwardness, vulnerability, and imperfections of academic life with humour and self-awareness. It’s about openly admitting the struggles, frustrations, and anxieties that often come with navigating academia.

Here is an article that details some of the persistent racial and gender inequalities in faculty hiring and promotion in higher education.