Becerra to head new UC task force on faculty diversity
by ajay singh
today staff writer
University of California President Robert C. Dynes launched a task force on faculty diversity Sept. 16 in an effort to boost racial, ethnic and gender diversity among UC faculty. The 11-member task force, headed by UCLA Associate Vice Chancellor Rosina Becerra, will review efforts to hire and retain tenured and tenure-track faculty across the 10 UC campuses, except in the schools of medicine, dentistry and nursing.
The task force is in response to a 2004 report by the California Research Bureau, an arm of the California Legislature that analyzed staffing patterns in UC from 1996 to 2002. One finding was that the percentage of Latino and African American professors had not increased, and that ethnic and female professors were particularly underrepresented.
“Faculty diversity is a concern of every major institution of higher education,” Becerra said. With UC’s surging student population and faculty retirements, it’s an important time to be reviewing diversity. “It speaks well of the university that we have undertaken an examination of those things we need to do to change the fact that we have not increased our faculty diversity in a couple of decades,” said Becerra. “On the good side, we do somewhat better than most other universities, but we now have the opportunity to do much better and take the leadership in this area.”
The diversity task force will conduct a comprehensive program review at each UC campus. The review will include an in-depth analysis of faculty demographic data; existing efforts to promote diversity; reports and studies on the subject at UC and its peer institutions; and campus site visits by task force teams of faculty.
Besides disseminating information about diversity during campus visits, task force members will ask faculty and staff about their role in ensuring diversity and their contribution to it. Members will also look at obstacles to hiring, promoting and retaining faculty; salary equity; leadership strategies; and the campus climate for women and minority faculty.
During a UCLA site visit Oct. 10-11, faculty will be invited to share their perspectives on advancing diversity. The task force will present its findings and recommendations at the UC president’s summit on faculty diversity spring 2006.
“It’s the kind of challenge that will require multiple approaches,” said Becerra, who is a professor of social welfare and public policy. “It’s not a top-down thing — leadership can’t do it alone, and faculty can’t do it alone. It has to be seen by everyone as a goal worth achieving.” For more details on the task force, visit www.universityofcalifornia.edu/facultydiversity. |
