UW makes big strides in hiring women, minority faculty

The coming academic year looks like a banner one for hiring minority and women faculty at the UW in both the senior and junior faculty ranks.

The most significant progress was made in hiring African-American and Hispanic faculty members. Seven African-American faculty members were hired for 1998-99, nearly twice the number hired in 1997. Four additional Hispanic scholars will join the faculty. The new faculty members bring important new scholarly expertise to the curriculum and help build the presence of minority and women across professorial ranks, experience and disciplines. In total, there are 22 new minority faculty committed to coming to the UW, with some additional hiring possibilities still pending.

Among the new faculty at the senior level is Larry Dalton, a noted chemist from the University of Southern California. Paul Hopkins, chair of chemistry, described him as “a spectacular scientist.” Dalton is joining the faculty as a full professor.

Paul Taylor, who recently received his doctorate at Rutgers University, brings many dimensions to both the curriculum and research in the Department of Philosophy. He will teach American pragmatism and philosophy in literature, areas where the department has lost talent through retirements. He will also add to the department’s work in aesthetics and, through race theory, connect it with American ethnic studies in ways not previously possible.

Several acting assistant professors were also hired, pending the completion of their doctorates. New minority and women faculty will fill slots in disciplines as diverse as linguistics, American ethnic studies, mathematics, history, anthropology, sociology, communications, economics, drama, business, bioengineering, law, neurology, pharmaceutics and pediatrics.

Among the new faculty is Wen-Fang Liu, a woman who will join the economics department from the University of Chicago, where she is completing her doctorate. Liu, who was a graduate student here before going to the University of Chicago was described by Richard Startz, chair of the department, as “one of the best graduate students we’ve ever had.”

“A significant part of our effort was to bring in senior minority leadership as well as beginning faculty,” said Steve Olswang, vice provost. “Nationally, we (universities) are all competing for the same people, so to be able to bring in senior faculty and several very promising beginning faculty is immensely gratifying.”

Olswang attributed the success of this year’s recruiting to several factors: strong commitment on the part of the Regents and President Richard L. McCormick, new resources made available through the Provost’s retention and recruitment funds, and initiatives by college deans and chairs, particularly in Arts and Sciences.

The Board of Regents, at its February meeting, passed a resolution on faculty and staff diversity that read, in part: “a diverse faculty brings an essential range of viewpoints and ‘role models’ to the classroom, to mentoring relationships with students, to the mutual education and collaboration that goes on among colleagues, to research, and to public service.”

President McCormick has frequently described a diverse faculty as “essential to academic excellence.”

Although for years the University has promoted recruiting and retaining minority and women faculty, the efforts were given a boost this year. Additional resources from Provost Lee Huntsman’s office were made available to help offset departmental costs of inviting minority candidates to campus for interviews in order to encourage departments to consider a larger array of candidates.

These new resources complement existing programs. The Provost’s Office has provided departments with permanent or bridge positions when special employment opportunities occur. Following a University request, the Legislature provided $2.4 million in special funding for UW departments that need special assistance in providing competitive salaries, partner support and summer support, or that do not have a currently open position.

When departments submit job advertisements to the Equal Opportunity Office for review and listing on the UW Web page, they are given names of minority doctoral candidates that are compiled by several consortia in which the University participates. The Equal Opportunity Office also coordinates opportunities for candidates to meet with current minority and women faculty members, UW administrators, students and members of the community.

Additionally, the deans have initiated special efforts at the college and school level. For example, the College of Arts and Sciences, led by Dean John B. Simpson, developed an initiative that may serve as a model for others. The college internally reallocated resources and formed a pool of faculty positions in areas where student demand is high. Social science departments competed for these positions. Preference was given to departments that nominated candidates who would “assist in fostering a positive learning environment for all students by exposing them to a variety of points of view, such as diversifying the curriculum of a department and/or serving as role models for minority students.”

The Arts and Sciences initiative was successful, according to Kenneth Clatterbaugh, chair of philosophy, because there was strong administrative support behind it. “Hiring a critical mass at one time is also very helpful because it creates a cadre on which to build.”

The School of Social Work, under the leadership of Nancy R. Hooyman, is another example. It included a recruitment and retention plan as part of its overall strategic planning.

“The University of Washington must continue to find new ways to attract and maintain a diverse faculty,” President McCormick wrote in a recent letter to the faculty. “Through continuing efforts to diversify our faculty, the UW will improve its ability to provide our students with the education they must have for life and leadership in an increasingly heterogeneous society.”

As part of the 1999­2001 budget process, deans will discuss with the Provost their efforts and needs in recruitment and retention of minority faculty and students. Members of the University community with additional suggestions are encouraged to send them to the Equal Opportunity Office by e-mail at eoo@u.washington.edu. ¶

Nedra Floyd Pautler