Snail-Like Progress of Black Faculty in Higher Education

New data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that in 2005 there were 35,458 full-time black faculty members in degree-granting institutions of higher education. They made up 5.2 percent of all full-time faculty at these institutions.

More than a quarter-century ago in 1981, at the beginning of the Reagan administration, blacks made up 4.2 percent of all full-time faculty in higher education.

At this rate of progress, it will be nearly two centuries before the percentage of black faculty reaches parity with the black percentage of the U.S. population.

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.