Minority faculty rate at 5 percent

By Kari Chrisenberry

Special to The Johnsonian

Graphic by Courtney Niskala - niskalac@mytjnow.comAlthough Winthrop University’s student population is racially diverse, the percentage of minority teaching faculty on campus is not as high, according to data supplied by Winthrop Human Resources and the Commission on Higher Education (CHE) in South Carolina.  

Of the undergraduate student population, 26 percent of Winthrop students are African-American, according to 2008-2009 enrollment figures. Of Winthrop’s faculty, 5 percent of professors (full, associate, assistant, instructors and lecturers) are African-American.              

Winthrop is aware of this percentage difference but remains an institution welcoming for students of any race or ethnicity, said Tom Moore, vice president for academic affairs.  

“We have been very aware of the difference in the percent of African-American students and the percent of African-American faculty,” Moore said. “We have a sense that we need to close that gap. I think [students, current faculty and administration] are aware of this difference in percent. All three would like for that difference to be smaller, but I think all three recognize we have a very welcoming and supportive campus for all students and faculty.”

Cruz Wood, sophomore English major, is aware of the large percentage gap and thinks the disparity occurs because of a problem in targeting of minorities.

“Universities are not giving opportunities to minorities. We are still lacking an understanding of what it means to not be white; we have a hard time targeting. I don’t think it’s contradictory - I just think we don’t know how to target toward different ethnicities,” Wood said

Winthrop, however, does everything it can to recruit minorities, Moore said.

“Since I became vice president in 2003,” Moore said, “we’ve had two looks at what we do to recruit minorities. We have a workshop for all people involved in recruiting faculty. We advertise in the appropriate places. I am convinced we are employing the best practices for recruiting minority applicants given the looks we have taken.”     

LaShera Hayward, senior psychology major, thinks this gap is both contradictory and understandable in relation to Winthrop’s message of cultural diversity.

“It’s not equal, but at the same time, if the people who are applying are Caucasian professors, what can you do?” she said.

Lack of open professor positions is also a factor in the ability to diversify Winthrop’s faculty.  Gail O’Steen of Human Resources said Winthrop has not recruited any more full-time professors during the last reporting year, which spanned from Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30, 2010. Winthrop is strong in maintaining the existing diversity among faculty currently employed, Moore said.

“In recent years, we have retained minority faculty who we have hired. Over the years, we have hired some [minority faculty] who have then been bought away by other larger institutions,” he said.

Moore also said Winthrop’s hiring and recruiting practices are in line with other similar South Carolina institutions.

“Given our location and the type of institution we are, I think we do well,” he said. “This is born out of our comparison to other South Carolina institutions; the percentages are not significantly different from our peer institutions.”

African-American faculty representation at other four-year South Carolina institutions is largely similar to Winthrop’s African-American faculty representation, according to data on CHE’s website. 

The University of South Carolina’s faculty is 5 percent African-American, Clemson University is 3 percent, The Citadel is 4 percent and Coastal Carolina is 3.5 percent. South Carolina State University has the highest percentage of African-American teaching faculty with 68 percent.  

Technical schools, on average, have a higher percentage of African-American faculty members than four-year schools in the state. Aiken Tech’s faculty is 21 percent African-American, Central Carolina Tech is 13 percent and Orangeburg-Calhoun Tech is 22 percent.  

At Winthrop, the 5 percent of teaching faculty who are African-American equals five men and 10 women. Only two of the African-American faculty members are “full professors,” the others fall into  the category of associate, assistant, instructor or lecturer, according to Winthrop’s human resource data.

“Yes, I do wish we had more African-American faculty, however, we do have a very high graduation rate for African-American students [despite the lack of African-American professors],” Moore said. “The six-year graduation rate for African-Americans is higher than for Caucasian students [at Winthrop].”

Other minorities represented in Winthrop’s faculty are 1 percent Hispanic, less than 1 percent American Indian or Alaska Native and 2 percent Asian faculty members, according to CHE data.

Women faculty members outnumber men, with 152 women and 126 men, according to Winthrop’s human resource data.

Wood said he thinks incorporating more diversity within faculty and staff is an attainable goal.

 “We have to leave all preconceived notions at the door,” the student said. “It’s the university’s responsibility to teach us that the world is not just black and white; the purpose of higher education is to learn to think differently.  You have to analyze things more and realize color does not matter.”