Plan restructures fellowship programs to increase minority faculty

Universities across Illinois have sought to increase faculty diversity in higher education for years, but it has been a goal that has seen little success.

According to a statewide study received last April by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, blacks and Hispanics represent 5 percent and 2 percent of Illinois professors, respectively. However, these two groups total 27 percent of the state’s population.

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As a result, the board has spent four months constructing recommendations for the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty. The outcome was “Opportunities for Leadership:Strategies for Improving Faculty Diversity in Illinois Higher Education,” which was approved at the board’s Aug. 12 meeting.

The recommendations are divided into the areas of preparation and development, search and hiring processes, campus climate and accountability.

But Seymour Bryson, associate chancellor for Diversity, said the material in the report is nothing new.

“All of the recommendations in the report really support the recommendations we’ve been making for the past 10 years in the state of Illinois,” Bryson said.

The minority faculty averages at SIUC are slightly lower than the state average. With 16.2 percent full-time minority faculty, only 5 percent are black and fewer than 2 percent are Hispanic.

Bryson said he hopes this statement will encourage policy-makers to initiate programs to increase the potential to employ minority faculty and improve the campus climate, which will in turn benefit students.

“This is the first time the Illinois Board of Higher Education has issued a public statement, and that puts colleges and universities on notice that the IBHE leadership considers work force diversity as a critical and compelling issue,” Bryson said. “Every year some proclamation is made about diversifying the work force, but this signals to all institutions that this is a serious issue.”

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According to the resolution, the board plans to sponsor a statewide initiative to support institutional efforts to inform students and encourage opportunities for minority employment by establishing a council to provide advice on effective practices, policies and programs.

It also outlined several changes to be made to the Illinois Consortium for Educational Opportunities Program and Illinois Minority Graduate Incentive Program. It plans to restructure the programs’ governances, award criteria and application processes.

The ICEOP fellowship program provides incentives to minority students seeking their master’s and doctorate degrees. IMGIP is restricted to doctorate students in the fields of science.

Both fellowships require students to teach higher education in Illinois for a period equal to the time for which they received the grant.

Associate Dean and Director of the Graduate School David Wilson said ICEOP has been a successful program since its inception in 1985, with more than 60 percent of the fellows proceeding to fulfill their teaching obligations in Illinois.

“Of course, there are definitely concerns of placement and retention for the programs, particularly in the sciences,” Wilson said. “The system is going to be restructured over the following year; it will be an ongoing process.”

IBHE intends to combine the boards at the head of each program and restrict the members to 15 who have been “successful in increasing faculty diversity on their own campuses and in Illinois higher education.”

The goal is to increase efficiency in recruiting fellows who will continue in the programs and fulfill their obligations teaching in Illinois, further promoting increases in diverse faculty on college campuses.

Reporter Valerie N. Donnals can be reached at [email protected]