Black Faculty at the Nation’s Highest-Ranked Liberal Arts Colleges

According to new data from the U.S. Department of Education, Wellesley College in Massachusetts has the largest number of black faculty among the nation’s 30 highest-ranking liberal arts colleges. There are 20 black faculty members at Wellesley. At Oberlin and Smith colleges there are 19 black faculty members. Mount Holyoke College and Wesleyan University each have 18 black faculty members.

There is only one black faculty member at Harvey Mudd College in California. There are five or fewer black faculty at Davidson College, Colby College, Bowdoin College, Claremont McKenna College, and Scripps College.

On a percentage basis, Haverford College in suburban Philadelphia leads the way. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that the 12 black faculty members at Haverford make up 7.9 percent of the college’s total full-time faculty. In percentage terms, Swarthmore College and Mount Holyoke College also show a strong performance.

The liberal arts colleges where blacks are less than 2 percent of the total faculty are Bowdoin College, Claremont McKenna College, Scripps College, and Harvey Mudd College.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.