Blacks Make Up About 4 Percent of Political Science Faculties

New research by Donna Nelson, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Oklahoma, shows that blacks have a larger presence in faculty positions in political science than in many other academic disciplines. Professor Nelson’s data finds 98 black scholars teaching political science at 96 universities with the largest research budgets in the field. All told there are 2,323 faculty members in these 96 political science departments. Therefore, blacks make up 4.2 percent of the faculty in the field.

There are six black political scientists at the University of Texas and four at the University of Maryland College Park.  There are three blacks teaching political science at Yale, Columbia, Syracuse, Michigan State, the University of South Carolina, UCLA, and George Mason University.

According to Dr. Nelson’s research, 33 of the 98 black political scientists hold the rank of full professor. Michigan State University and the University of Maryland each have three black full professors of political science.

Copyright © 2008. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.