In the past five years alone, the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) has experienced a notable jump in faculty diversity for each ethnicity category, excluding White.
More specifically, the school has nearly doubled its African American faculty from 58 members in 2015 to 107 members in 2020. It has more than tripled its nonresident faculty from 17 to 51 members; it’s increased its Hispanic faculty by about 50%, from 37 to 56 members; and it’s increased its Asian faculty by about 25%, from 58 to 74 members.
How did it do it?
Perhaps uncoincidentally, five years ago, the university also appointed Dr. Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. as chancellor, making history as having the first Black chancellor of a non-HBCU school within the UNC system.
Under his tenure, UNCG has received national recognition, launched its own website dedicated to racial equity and it has expanded its Campus Climate Fellows program.
But while his and Provost Jim Coleman’s equity-committed leadership have played a critical role in driving the university forward, Dr. Andrea Hunter, one of UNCG’s two fellows for campus climate and a professor of human development and family studies, says the university’s recent success in diversity stretches far beyond leadership alone.
“Along with that unequivocal commitment among university leaders … you have to have clear messaging, and you really need to establish a strong campus narrative regarding how a diverse faculty really advances your mission,” Hunter said. “For us, that’s the idea that [diversity] really fuels creativity, innovation and a community of ideas. It’s the idea that diversity will make us better teachers, better scholars and better artists.”
