Study Finds Widening Racial Diversity Gaps Between STEM and Non-STEM Fields

Over the past decade, universities across the country have invested heavily in initiatives to promote diversity among their faculty, staff, and students. A new study from the University of Missouri has tracked how Black scholars’ representation among both STEM and non-STEM faculty at the country’s top universities has changed throughout the 21st century, with a particular focus on changes since 2016. The authors leveraged data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and prior research studies to examine changes in the share of Black faculty at public R1 universities from the 2001-2002 to the 2021-2022 academic years. Overall, the share of Black faculty members across all disciplines and professorial ranks only rose from 3.3 percent in 2002 to 3.8 percent in 2022. In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the share of Black assistant professors. In 2016, Black faculty represented 4.2 percent of assistant professors. By 2022, that share increased by 40 percent to a rate of 5.9 percent. While the share of Black assistant professors remains lower than all other racial groups, the recent spike since 2016 suggests a positive upward trajectory in the years to come. At the higher professorial ranks, the share of Black...