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Photo by Reed Hutchinson UCLA Photographic Services
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A Builder of campus partnerships
Making strides toward faculty diversity
Since 2002, Associate Vice Chancellor Rosina Becerra has headed
the Office of Faculty Diversity, which was created by Chancellor
Albert Carnesale as part of his commitment to diversity as a cornerstone
on which to build academic excellence. Becerra, who has been at
UCLA for 30 years as a professor of social welfare, department chair
and dean, leads the campus’ diversity efforts, which include
disseminating information and advice on enhancing faculty diversity
via the Web, faculty workshops and meetings with faculty, chairs
and deans. Her office is involved in not only educating faculty,
but also building a network of resources to support faculty retention.
Since Becerra began leading this effort, there have been two
campuswide gender equity summits to focus on strategies for addressing
recruitment, retention, promotion, leadership and other issues.
Recently, her office published a monograph that gives each department
statistics that show whether women and minorities are being underutilized
in their representation on the faculty, compared to their availability
in the job market.
Most recently, Chancellor Carnesale reaffirmed his commitment
to diversity by taking an important step. He has decided to allocate
additional faculty FTEs for 2005 and 2006 to assist Becerra’s
efforts. “The diversity of UCLA’s faculty, students
and staff remains one of my highest priorities,” the chancellor
wrote in a letter to Becerra announcing his decision. “I am
confident that, with your guidance, these FTEs will be utilized
to the fullest extent possible in support of our shared goal of
enhancing faculty diversity on the UCLA campus.”
UCLA Today Editor Cynthia Lee sat down with Becerra to talk
about her mission and these latest developments.
Q: Why is faculty diversity a top priority for this campus?
A: We teach in one of the most heterogeneous regions
of the country, perhaps the world. To create a rich academic experience
for our students and a cultural environment where all feel welcome,
it’s essential that we have both the strongest faculty academically,
and one that also represents all sectors of our society.
A diverse faculty is needed to attract and support a diverse student
body. Students see faculty members as role models. Whether they
are women or members of underrepresented groups, students can envision
their own potential through these faculty, many of whom had to overcome
the same obstacles and barriers these students may encounter. It’s
our responsibility to help students find a way to get through, over
or around those barriers.
Q: How far have we as a campus come to achieving faculty
diversity?
A: If you look across the campus, including the
medical school, the numbers among ladder-rank faculty have remained
steady over the last five years — at 8% for African Americans,
Native Americans and Latinos combined, for example. The percentage
of Asians has increased from 12% to 13%. The percentage of women
on the faculty has risen slightly, from 23% to 24%. So we’re
in an upward trajectory, but certainly not at any rapid pace. We
have work ahead. Social change takes time
to achieve.
Q: How will this change come about?
A: I have to make sure we search for new faculty
hires as broadly and inclusively as we can. When you look at all
the doctorates that are being awarded, approximately 50% are going
to women. Racial and ethnic minorities make up a much smaller percentage
of new Ph.D.s. Also, the greatest number of women and racial and
ethnic minorities tend to be in the humanities and social sciences,
as opposed to science, engineering, mathematics and the more technical
fields. So the challenge for us is to increase the applicant pool
in those areas where the supply is larger and pay even greater attention
to what’s happening in fields where women and minorities
are underrepresented.
Q: How are you working with departments to widen the scope
of
their searches?
A: It’s very easy for departmental faculty
to say, “I know the best person for this position. Let’s
grab him.” Doing a broader search is hard work. To give the
departments and divisions some idea of the availability of women
and minorities in their fields, we’ve sent a monograph to
every ladder-rank faculty member that includes underutilization
data for the first time. For each department and division, the report
lists the number of women, African Americans, Chicanos/Latinos,
Asian/Pacific Islanders and Native Amer-icans on the faculty. We
compare that number with the estimated number of faculty available
in that particular discipline nationwide. The difference between
those two percentages is what we call the underutilization estimate
for that academic unit. In addition, there are charts that show
how many women and minorities are assistant, associate or full professors
in each department and division as well as campuswide.
Q: Are you giving this number or percentage as a goal for
departments to strive for?
A: No, the data is made available as information
to guide our recruitment efforts. Faculty want information, and
that’s what I am trying to provide. This report gives departments
information about where they need to put more effort in generating
their applicant pools. The argument that the applicant pool doesn’t
include women or minorities because they’re not graduating
in a field isn’t based on reality in some cases. I’m
trying to let everyone know where we stand. We’re not the
best; we are not the worst. But I believe that, with some more effort,
we can be the best.
Q: Can you penalize departments that show large shortfalls?
A: I am not the diversity police. I am a partner
in a joint effort. Nothing gets done unless there is buy-in. My
personal philosophy is one of building partnerships. I believe the
number of relationships I’ve built with the deans and chairs
will further our goals of excellence in all areas. They know they
can come to me for help and information.
Rather than a stick, I offer them assistance. If they’re
having problems recruiting someone because a spouse or partner needs
a job, I can help. UCLA is one of the founding members of the Southern
California Higher Education Resource Consortium, a group of community
colleges and universities that pool their Web-based job listings
to both broaden our faculty searches and assist spouses and partners
of faculty and staff in finding area employment. My office also
works closely with the UCLA Alumni Association to help find an alumnus
who might advise a spouse on a job search in a particular field.
This is really where being a social worker helps. I’m used
to linking individuals with resources and advocating for underrepresented
groups. For example, I try to connect faculty families with available
resources on the campus, such as housing, child care or schooling.
I also have some financial resources that I use to assist in attracting
faculty here. If a department doesn’t have all the resources
it needs to offer a faculty member, I can partner with it financially
and often meet with the candidate to answer questions about our
campus community.
Q: What can you tell us about the chancellor’s recent
decision to enhance faculty diversity?
A: The chancellor has allocated additional FTEs
that will be a great help as I work with the deans, chairs and directors
to meet the campus’ diversity goals. As associate vice chancellor,
I consider the diversity needs of the entire campus. I have an annual
budget that I leverage to enable hires and retentions.
Lately, I have been focusing on how to increase diversity in areas
with few women and minorities — in particular, the sciences.
We have African-American and Latino graduate students in the sciences
who have received STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathe-
matics) grants from the National Science Foundation. We are interested
in attracting science faculty members to UCLA who have a commitment
to and history of mentoring a diverse pool of graduate students,
so that we can increase that pool of students in these fields. I
am now working with Dean Tony Chan (Division of Physical Sciences)
and Dean Emil Reisler (Division of Life Sciences) in the College
to put together an initiative that focuses on recruiting faculty
in science fields who will support and mentor STEM recipients. We
hope to have some faculty hires for fall 2005 and for fall 2006.
These FTEs will not in any way solve the problem, but they are —
in these budget times — a significant commitment in the right
direction.
Q: Do you have any other strategies?
A: We are facing a very critical time — many
of our faculty will soon be in the age range of 65 to 70 when many
of our ladder faculty will choose to retire. We could lose as many
as 30% of our ladder faculty to retirement in the next five years.
That poses both a challenge and an opportunity. By bringing in junior
faculty, where women and underrepresented groups are more likely
to be available for recruitment, we could increase their representation
on the faculty. But we also need to pay attention to retention,
particularly with our mid-level faculty as well as our outstanding
senior faculty. It’s a tricky balance. I will be working to
put together a strategic plan on hiring and how we might think about
this.
Q: What else can be done to enhance faculty diversity?
A: Mentoring. Mentorship is not the same for everyone.
You may not need a mentor to hold your hand as you move along. But
it may be helpful if a senior faculty says, “Hey, I’d
like to recommend you to present at our annual professional conference.”
Sometimes mentoring is just being a sounding board for someone who
wants to talk with another faculty member who is not in the same
department.
Mentorship is not something we all know how to do, nor want to
do. There are those faculty who feel very strongly that since they
made it on their own, so can you. But some feel an obligation to
help others along the pathway to tenure and promotion.
I’m now putting together a committee to look at mentorship.
We need to get a sense of the extent to which departments are involved
in mentorship and whether it is limited to assistant professors.
In response to the Gender Equity Summit and Academic Climate Report,
we are now organizing a workshop on mentorship. Additionally, we’re
arranging with an outside consultant to offer a workshop on the
art of negotiation. How should we negotiate on salaries, promotions
or retention? Another effort is to build a consortium with my colleagues
at other UC campuses, Stanford, Claremont and other universities
to begin tracking the number of women and minority graduate students
who are earning Ph.D.s in California in every field so we can assist
in the recruitment of applicants. We are meeting at Stanford this
month to begin to put this effort in place.
Q: You seem to be involved in many different
areas.
A: Supporting diversity isn’t just about
hiring faculty. It’s about building a
welcoming environment in this institution where all faculty want
to come and want to stay. We have difficulty competing with salaries
that the elite private universities can offer. UCLA has to be a
place that supports your interests, recognizes your contributions
and welcomes you into its community of scholars. Accomplishing all
this is a large task. And we obviously cannot move as quickly as
I and others may want us to. We are making progress. One day we
won’t need my position any longer, because enhancing diversity
in all aspects of the campus community will be occurring spontaneously.
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