Ernest Gomez | A second look at minority faculty recruitment

In a paper released on Oct. 31st, Donna Nelson of the University of Oklahoma highlights the lack of tenured and tenure-track underrepresented minority faculty in the top 100 departments of science and engineering disciplines.

Nelson states that having fewer underrepresented minority (URM) faculty members creates a shortage of mentors for minority students that can decrease the appeal of academia. She also notes that the exclusion of the values, culture and interests of URM faculty can adversely affect the quality of a science or engineering education in an increasingly diverse scientific community in the U.S.

Nothing can fully replace a faculty mentor who matches one's intersection of ethnicity and academic discipline, but the lack of URM faculty members within a department does not leave minority students high and dry.

While I agree that underrepresented minority Ph.D. students may benefit greatly from dissertation advisors from their own ethnic group, the study may underestimate the availability of mentoring resources outside of one's own academic department.

Additionally, socioeconomic factors and undergraduate environment should also be considered as factors in the decision to pursue a Ph.D. and eventual faculty status.

To a Ph.D. student, a dissertation advisor serves as more than a research mentor - he or she teaches the student all of the non-academic aspects of being a faculty member at a university including departmental politics. In institutions where URM faculty members are treated unfairly, the attractiveness of faculty status is understandably diminished.

If I were considering a Ph.D. in a field that had no Filipino professors at Penn, I could approach a Filipino professor in another department, or at another school. Experiences differ across disciplines, but I would have some idea of what to expect in academia.

Similarly, Ph.D. students and faculty members are not isolated to their own department. If an engineering school has one black professor in chemical engineering but had ten in mechanical engineering, one would expect interaction to take place between all of these faculty members.

Cultural groups on campus also have faculty members who can be valuable sources of guidance. The quality of such mentoring programs at undergraduate institutions should be taken into consideration when evaluating the attractiveness of academia for underrepresented minorities.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) have been directing students to Ph.D. programs throughout their history. Their success may suggest that culturally sensitive mentoring programs at the undergraduate level can help counter the effects of faculty composition on undergraduate enrollment as cited by Nelson.

Ph.D. programs and academic departments can also implement diversity training and provide opportunities for social interaction between faculty members of URM's within an entire institution. Such programs are utilized often in the business world.

Another factor in a student's consideration to pursue academia is family income. A 2007 Policy Brief in Education Finance and Policy notes that students from lower and middle income families may be less likely to pursue Ph.D.'s.

Underrepresented minorities have lower average incomes than non-minorities and may be less willing to forego the working world for a Ph.D. If financial need can explain some of the URM faculty shortage, minority representation among science and engineering faculties may increase in future generations assuming family incomes increase.

The study's focus on faculty demographic also brings attention to the quality of student education. A professor's ethnic background would undoubtedly have an effect on an education in political science, economics, sociology or psychology.

In the physical, chemical, biological and engineering sciences, however, a professor's ethnic background would have little to no effect on educational quality. Fluid mechanics and electrical circuits wouldn't change whether my professor is black, white or otherwise.

Nonetheless, issues of discrimination must be solved when they exist among faculty ranks. Increasing demand for faculty positions must be complemented by increased supply - an end to preferential treatment when it exists.

Ernest Gomez is an Engineering and Wharton senior from Beverly Hills, Calif. His e-mail address is gomez@dailypennsylvanian.com. Please, Call Me Ted usually appears on Mondays.

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