New Perspectives in Science Education

As the American (U.S.) professoriate grows older colleges and universities should look to the opportunity that awaits them, that is to move to replace the almost completely "all white and male" faculty that will be retiring from their positions as faculty in the "hard" sciences.  As colleges and universities have realized for many decades it is increasingly important to recruit and retain more diverse candidates for faculty openings.  We know that the number of female and minority faculty numbers have risen, but they still remain significantly underrepresended at most institutions and most greatly in the sciences.  The other issue of great concern is that most institutions of higher education are attempting to or certainly beginning to shift to reduce their numbers of tenured (or tenure track) full-time faculty.  This has had and will continue to potentially have its greatest impact on women and minority Ph.D holders.

One issue for women scientists is that there aren't as many as there are male scientists.  Most Ph.D graduates in the hard sciences are men, meaning that the culture of the pipeline must become more welcoming and open to women students. Women are also still experiencing the discrimination of being considered the parent that would be responsible for child rearing vs. their male counterparts. Minority candidates have a bit of a different issue in that there are just fewer numbers of minority men and women pursuing Ph.D's and of those doing so, very few are in the hard sciences. There is also the issue of experiencing good mentorship arrangements.  Many minority candidates express difficulty in attaining a professional mentor beyond the granting of the Ph.D.

This paper will not only explore the contributing issues for underrepresentation of women and minorities, but more importantly, it will present strategies for colleges and universities to employ to better recruit and retain women and minority faculty in the sciences. Some of the strategies include developing Family-Friendly institiutional policies, create programs for undergraduates (specifically minorities and women) to support and encourage the studying of the sciences, use diverse search committees, provide strong faculty development, mentorship, research support and guidance in juggling all that faculty are engaged in within their colleges and universities.  The ideas presented will be recommendations that colleges and universities can "take away" and put into practice immediately.

The opportunity is being presented to us as large numbers of faculty hired in the 1960's and 1970's are moving to retire...the time to act is now.