The Persisting Racial Shortfall in Tenure Rates

Last week JBHE reported that in 2007 blacks made up 5.4 percent of all full-time faculty at degree-granting educational institutions in the United States.

Blacks are less successful when we look at tenured faculty. In 2007 there were 13,388 blacks holding a tenured faculty post at degree-granting educational institutions in the United States. They made up 4.6 percent of all tenured faculty. Thirty-five percent of all black full-time faculty members in 2007 held tenure. For all white full-time faculty members, 44.6 percent had obtained tenure.

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