![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
The representation of faculty of color at research-intensive schools of social work across all ranks continues to be lower than their white counterparts in general, but especially at the rank of full professor. This is particularly true for those faculty members who identify as Black, Indigenous, and LatinX (BIL). To better understand the institutional-level factors that may have contributed to the success of BIL full professors, we focused on institutional-level resources and descriptors of top-ranked Schools of Social Work (SSW). Implications for recruitment, retention, and promotion of BIL faculty along the path to full professor will be discussed.
METHODS
A purposive two-step sampling strategy yielded: 1) SSW ranked in the Top 10, including tied rankings, according to the 2023 U.S. News & World Report; and (2) their full tenured professors, inclusive of endowed and active emeriti, from which we selected a final data analytic sample of BIL full professors with CVs and institutional data verifying faculty rank and status (n=24) by the end of sample selection [March 31, 2023]. Using race/ethnicity for sample selection builds on and extends existing methodology for using publicly available data for selecting African American SW professors for scholarly citation analysis. Content analysis provided both: a) institutional-level data on School/University demographics; and b) faculty-level data via CVs and institutional biographies with photographs. Quality control included a combination of double-entry across coders, random selection of entries, and consensus coding in cases of uncertainty and discrepancy. These data are a part of a larger database, currently under development by this research team, of social work schools/programs (SSW) that have appointed, promoted, and retained BIL faculty currently at the highest professorial ranks in the Academy.
RESULTS
For the Top 10-ranked SSW, 8 are evenly split across the Midwest or West regions, with 6 located within public institutions, 5 with university student populations exceeding 20,000 and 6 with University endowments in FY 2020 ranked within the top 25 of 120 institutions with the largest endowments in FY 2020. Nearly all SSW had a website link for DEI resources but varied in the type of resources offered and the number of clicks required to publicly access this information. BIL full tenured professors with publicly verifiable rank and status information and CVs, were largely clustered within 2 schools: U of Michigan having the most Black faculty, and the University of Washington accounted for all Indigenous faculty, with no observable trend for LatinX faculty representation in this sample.
CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS
Our findings show that the top-ranked schools of social work have a wealth of resources that may result in a culture that is conducive to the recruitment and retention of BIL faculty. As a result of financial and other resources, these institutions have been successful in increasing the representation and retention of BIL faculty. This exploratory study offers data for those selecting a school for doctoral studies, postdoctoral training and employment, while also informing best practices at the institutional level regarding recruitment, retention, and promotion of BIL faculty members.