Notre Dame Takes Steps to Increase Black Faculty

The University of Notre Dame has announced an initiative to increase the diversity of its faculty. The latest JBHE survey shows that blacks make up 2.3 percent of the full-time faculty at Notre Dame. This is among the lowest levels at any of the nation’s 25 highest-ranked universities.

The new initiative will include a postdoctoral program to attract women and minority scholars to the university with the hope that some will stay on in faculty positions. The university will also increase the resources of the Dual Career Assistance Program to help find employment for spouses of potential faculty hires.

Don B. Pope-Davis, vice president, associate provost, and professor of psychology, will direct the initiative in relation to faculty of color. He will work with deans and department chairs to coordinate minority faculty hiring. A graduate of Benedictine University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Dr. Pope-Davis earned his doctorate in counseling psychology from Stanford University.

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