NEW YORK
Female faculty at public historically Black colleges seem to fare better in terms of ratings, salaries and tenure numbers when the president or chief academic officer is also female, according to a new study released Thursday by the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. This was just one of many findings in the study, which examines the role that gender issues play in the success rates of students and faculty at public HBCUs.
Funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation, “Understanding Gender at Public Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” details how gender impacts faculty ratings, salaries and tenure as well as student recruitment, retention, achievement and graduation. It is the first study of its kind focusing exclusively on public HBCUs.
Dr. Shirley Geiger, the study’s principal investigator and chair of the Department of Political Science, Public Administration and Urban Studies at Savannah State University in Georgia, says the study can be the first of many research collaborations among public HBCUs.
“Certainly, the findings … suggest that gender issues should be high on that list,” she says. “I am equally convinced that the study’s findings demonstrate that there is a strong need for a Joint HBCU Center for Gender Studies.”
The proposed center would help address attitudinal barriers, including the assumption that women’s studies are not critical to students’ studies and the reluctance of female students to be associated with anything related to feminism. The center would also offer scholars the opportunity to engage in research about issues facing women of African heritage throughout the diaspora.
According to the study, the majority of students enrolled at TMSF’s 45 public HBCUs are female (63 percent), but females hold a minority of the faculty positions at those institutions (45 percent). Average salary gaps between male and female faculty exist across all professorship ranks — full, associate and assistant.
