The Gender and Racial/Ethnic Composition of Postsecondary Instructional Faculty and Staff: 1992-98 , NCES Fall 2002 Quarterly

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Vol 4, Issue 3, Topic: Postsecondary Education

The Gender and Racial/Ethnic Composition of Postsecondary Instructional Faculty and Staff: 1992–98

By: Denise Glover and Basmat Parsad

This article was originally published as the Summary and Compendium Tables of the E.D. Tabs report of the same name. The sample survey data are from the NCES National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF).

Changes in the Composition of Faculty by Gender
Changes in the Composition of Faculty by Race/Ethnicity
References

The literature examining gender and race/ethnicity issues for faculty in postsecondary education has relied largely on data from two national studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES): the 1988 and 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:88 and NSOPF:93), and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System "Fall Staff Survey" (IPEDS-S). These studies have consistently shown that the vast majority of full- and part-time faculty were White, non-Hispanic males (Kirshstein, Matheson, and Jing 1997; Roey and Rak-Skinner 1998; Nettles, Perna, and Bradburn 2000).

The purpose of this E.D. Tabs report is to describe how the gender and racial/ethnic composition of full- and part-time instructional faculty and staff has changed between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998. The report uses data from NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99. In addition to this more focused report, two new NCES publications use data from NSOPF:99 to explore gender and racial/ethnic differences among faculty by several outcome variables such as salary, tenure status, and academic rank: Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Salary and Other Characteristics of Post-secondary Faculty: Fall 1998 (Bradburn and Sikora 2002) and Tenure Status of Postsecondary Instructional Faculty and Staff: 1992–98 (Parsad and Glover 2002).

The data for this report are analyzed by institution level, type and control, and academic program.¹ The analyses are based on instructional faculty and staff; that is, faculty and staff with some for-credit teaching responsibilities. The first part of this summary focuses on changes in the gender composition of instructional faculty and staff, and the second part discusses changes in the racial/ethnic composition of instructional faculty and staff.²

Changes in the Composition of Faculty by Gender

Data from NSOPF:99 indicate that some changes occurred in the gender composition of both full- and part-time instructional faculty and staff between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998. Among full-time faculty over the 6-year period, the percentage who were female increased by 3 percent (from 33 percent to 36 percent) across all institutions (table 1A). Similar changes in the gender composition of part-time faculty occurred between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 (table 1B). Across all institutions, there was an increase in the percentage of part-time faculty who were female (from 45 to 48 percent).

Gender changes by level of institution

Full-time faculty. Similar to the overall percentage of full-time instructional faculty who were female, the percentage of female full-time instructional faculty in 4-year institutions increased by 3 percent over the 6-year period, and the percentage in 2-year institutions increased by 5 percent (table 1A). In spite of this gain, the gender gap persisted among full-time faculty in 4-year institutions in the fall of 1998 (67 percent male vs. 33 percent female), as it did across all types of postsecondary institutions (64 percent male vs. 36 percent female). In 2-year institutions in the fall of 1998, there was no significant difference between the proportion of male and female full-time instructional faculty (50 percent each); whereas in the fall of 1992, full-time instructional faculty were more likely to be male than female (54 percent male vs. 46 percent female).

Part-time faculty. Several changes occurred in the gender composition of part-time instructional faculty over the 6-year period (table 1B). Across institutions, there was an increase in the percentage who were female (from 45 to 48 percent). The percentage of female part-time faculty who taught in 2-year institutions increased 5 percent (from 44 percent in 1992 to 49 percent in 1998). Mirroring the pattern that existed among male and female full-time faculty in 2-year institutions, the gender gap that existed between male and female part-time faculty in the fall of 1992 (56 percent male vs. 44 percent female) was no longer significant by the fall of 1998 (51 percent male vs. 49 percent female; table 1B).

Gender changes by type and control of institution

Full-time faculty. The analysis of the gender composition of faculty between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 by type and control of institution revealed that most, but not all, of the changes occurred in public institutions. The proportion of females among full-time faculty increased in public institutions (from 34 percent in 1992 to 37 percent in 1998; table 1A). The percentage of female faculty who taught full-time in public research, public comprehensive, public 2-year, and private doctoral institutions increased between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 (table 2A). Over the 6-year period, the increase in the percentage of female faculty was larger for those teaching in private doctoral institutions than for female faculty teaching in either public comprehensive or public 2-year institutions.

Part-time faculty. Among part-time instructional faculty, the only gender changes that occurred over the 6-year period were an increase in the proportion of female faculty overall (from 45 to 48 percent) and an increase in the proportion of female faculty who taught in public 2-year institutions (from 43 to 48 percent; table 2B).

Gender changes by program area in 4-year institutions

Full-time faculty. Between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998, the percentage of female full-time faculty teaching in 4-year institutions across all program areas increased by 3 percent (from 30 to 33 percent; table 3A). For example, over this 6-year period, there was an increase in the percentage of female faculty teaching in the social sciences (from 26 to 30 percent). Although in the fall of 1998, male full-time faculty were more likely than female full-time faculty in 4-year institutions to teach in the natural sciences (79 percent vs. 21 percent), the proportion of female full-time faculty teaching in this area increased over the 6-year period.³ In the fall of 1992, education was the only area in which there were no significant differences between male and female faculty. By the fall of 1998, female faculty outnumbered male faculty in this area.

Part-time faculty. Across all program areas, there were no significant changes in the proportion of male and female part-time faculty teaching at 4-year institutions between 1992 and 1998 (table 3B). In specific program areas, however, some gender changes did occur, with the proportion of female faculty increasing in some areas and decreasing in others. For example, in the fall of 1992, part-time male faculty were more likely than their female counterparts to teach in the fine arts. By the fall of 1998, no differences were detected between male and female faculty teaching in this program area. Conversely, in the fall of 1992, no differences were detected in the proportion of male and female faculty teaching in the social sciences. However, in the fall of 1998, part-time male faculty were more likely than their female counterparts to teach in the social sciences. The differences in the proportions of male and female part-time faculty teaching in the health sciences in both the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 were not significant.

Gender changes by program area in 2-year institutions

Full-time faculty. Consistent with the findings for 4-year institutions, the proportion of female faculty teaching full time in 2-year institutions increased in the natural sciences (from 33 to 42 percent), the social sciences (from 34 to 46 percent), and education (from 68 to 81 percent) between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 (table 4A). While male faculty dominated most remaining areas in both years, female faculty were more likely than their male counterparts to teach in the areas of education and the health sciences in both 1992 and 1998.

Part-time faculty. Among part-time faculty teaching business in 2-year institutions, the percentage of female faculty increased between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 (35 to 49 percent; table 4B). However, the percentage of female part-time faculty who taught engineering in 2-year institutions declined over the 6-year period (from 13 to 2 percent). There were more male than female part-time faculty teaching business and the social sciences in 2-year institutions in the fall of 1992. However, by the fall of 1998, no differences were detected between male and female part-time faculty teaching in these areas. Conversely, there were more female part-time faculty in 2-year institutions than male part-time faculty teaching in the humanities in the fall of 1992, but by the fall of 1998, there were no significant differences between male and female part-time faculty teaching in the humanities.

Table 1A.—Percentage distribution of full-time instructional faculty and staff, by gender and by level and control of institution: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Level and control of institution	Gender
	Male		Female
	1992	1998	1992	1998
All institutions *	66.8	63.7	33.2	36.3
All 4-year institutions	70.2	67	29.8	33
All 2-year institutions	54.4	49.6	45.6	50.4
All public institutions	66.5	62.8	33.5	37.2
All private not-for-profit institutions	67.5	65.9	32.5	34.1

*All public and private not-for-profit Title IV degree-granting institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 1B.—Percentage distribution of part-time instructional faculty and staff, by gender and by level and control of institution: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Level and control of institution	Gender
	Male		Female
	1992	1998	1992	1998
All institutions*	55.4	52.2	44.6	47.9
All 4-year institutions	55	53.1	45	46.9
All 2-year institutions	55.9	50.9	44.2	49.1
All public institutions	55.3	51	44.7	49
All private not-for-profit institutions	55.8	54.7	44.2	45.3

Table 2A.—Percentage distribution of full-time instructional faculty and staff, by gender and by type and control of institution: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Level and control of institution	Gender
	Male		Female
	1992	1998	1992	1998
All institutions¹	66.8	63.7	33.2	36.3
Public research	76.7	70.5	23.3	29.5
Private not-for-profit research	69.1	73.9	30.9	26.2
Public doctoral²	69.9	66.7	30.1	33.3
Private not-for-profit doctoral²	76.4	63.6	23.6	36.4
Public comprehensive	66.1	61.7	33.9	38.3
Private not-for-profit comprehensive	64.9	63.3	35.1	36.7
Private not-for-profit liberal arts	61.1	62.2	38.9	37.9
Public 2-year	54.7	50.1	45.3	49.9
Other³	70.5	67.9	29.5	32.1

¹All public and private not-for-profit Title IV degree-granting institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

²Includes institutions classified by the Carnegie Foundation as specialized medical schools and medical centers.

³Public liberal arts, private not-for-profit 2-year, and other specialized institutions, except medical schools and medical centers.

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 2B.—Percentage distribution of part-time instructional faculty and staff, by gender and by type and control of institution: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Level and control of institution	Gender
	Male		Female
	1992	1998	1992	1998
All institutions¹	55.4	52.2	44.6	47.9
Public research	56.7	55.2	43.3	44.8
Private not-for-profit research	58.7	60.3	41.3	39.8
Public doctoral²	55.4	49.6	44.6	50.4
Private not-for-profit doctoral²	63.1	58.6	36.9	41.4
Public comprehensive	49.0	46.5	51.0	53.5
Private not-for-profit comprehensive	56.4	59.1	43.6	40.9
Private not-for-profit liberal arts	46.6	44.0	53.4	56.1
Public 2-year	56.6	51.8	43.4	48.2
Other³	56.0	54.3	44.0	45.8

Table 3A.—Percentage distribution of full-time instructional faculty and staff in 4-year institutions, by gender and by program area: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Program area	Gender
	Male		Female
	1992	1998	1992	1998
All program areas in 4-year institutions	70.2	67.0	29.8	33.0
Agriculture/home economics	77.3	81.8	22.7	18.2
Business	76.4	73.2	23.6	26.9
Education	52.7	45.9	47.3	54.1
Engineering	94.2	90.8	5.8	9.2
Fine arts	67.3	68.4	32.7	31.6
Health sciences	58.5	57.5	41.5	42.5
Humanities	62.2	58.8	37.8	41.2
Natural sciences	83.3	79.2	16.7	20.8
Social sciences	73.9	69.7	26.1	30.3
All other fields	68.4	66.6	31.6	33.4

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 3B.—Percentage distribution of part-time instructional faculty and staff in 4-year institutions, by gender and by program area: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Program area	Gender
	Male		Female
	1992	1998	1992	1998
All program areas in 4-year institutions	55.0	53.1	45.0	46.9
Agriculture/home economics	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)
Business	75.0	70.3	25.0	29.7
Education	35.6	33.0	64.4	67.0
Engineering	95.9	94.8	4.1	5.2
Fine arts	55.0	47.5	45.0	52.5
Health sciences	51.3	48.0	48.7	52.0
Humanities	40.8	41.3	59.2	58.7
Natural sciences	68.7	64.4	31.3	35.6
Social sciences	53.7	59.7	46.3	40.3
All other fields	56.8	59.8	43.2	40.3

#Too small to report.

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 4A.—Percentage distribution of full-time instructional faculty and staff in 2-year institutions, by gender and by program area: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Program area	Gender
	Male		Female
	1992	1998	1992	1998
All program areas in 2-year institutions	54.4	49.6	45.6	50.4
Agriculture/home economics	63.8	73.9	36.2	26.1
Business	49.1	43.1	50.9	56.9
Education	32.4	19.5	67.6	80.5
Engineering	92.6	90.3	7.4	9.7
Fine arts	65.4	69.1	34.6	30.9
Health sciences	15.0	10.1	85.0	89.9
Humanities	48.8	45.7	51.2	54.3
Natural sciences	67.4	58.3	32.6	41.7
Social sciences	65.7	54.5	34.3	45.5
Vocational training	86.6	84.1	13.4	15.9
All other fields	55.7	51.4	44.3	48.6

Table 4B.—Percentage distribution of part-time instructional faculty and staff in 2-year institutions, by gender and by program area: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Program area	Gender
	Male		Female
	1992	1998	1992	1998
All program areas in 2-year institutions	55.9	50.9	44.2	49.1
Agriculture/home economics	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)
Business	65.3	50.6	34.7	49.4
Education	26.7	16.0	73.3	84.0
Engineering	87.1	97.6	12.9	2.4
Fine arts	46.3	50.6	53.7	49.4
Health sciences	27.5	28.6	72.5	71.4
Humanities	41.2	47.5	58.8	52.5
Natural sciences	67.3	61.6	32.7	38.4
Social sciences	61.8	48.4	38.2	51.6
Vocational training	87.1	85.5	12.9	14.5
All other fields	58.1	48.1	41.9	51.9

Changes in the Composition of Faculty by Race/Ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic faculty continued to hold the vast majority of full-time positions in postsecondary institutions (87 percent in 1992 and 85 percent in 1998; table 5A). The only identifiable change overall was in the percentage of Hispanic full-time faculty across all institutions, which increased between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998.

Race/ethnicity changes by level of institution

Examining changes by institution level shows that there was an increase in the percentage of Hispanic full-time faculty teaching in 4-year institutions between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 (table 5A). The percentage of White, non-Hispanic full-time faculty teaching in 4-year institutions declined between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 (from 87 to 85 percent).

There were no changes in minority and White, non-Hispanic full-time faculty teaching in 2-year institutions between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998.

Race/ethnicity changes by type and control of institution

Examining changes by type and control of institution shows that there was an increase in the percentage of Hispanic full-time faculty teaching in public institutions over the 6-year period. There was a decline in the percentage of White, non-Hispanic full-time faculty teaching at public research institutions over the 6-year period (from 88 to 85 percent; table 6A). There were no significant differences between minority and White, non-Hispanic part-time faculty by type or control of institution (tables 5B and 6B).

Race/ethnicity changes by program area in 4-year institutions

Full-time faculty. In individual program areas, several changes occurred in the racial/ethnic composition of instructional faculty and staff in 4-year institutions. The percentage of Asian/Pacific Islander full-time faculty teaching in the social sciences increased between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 (from 3 to 6 percent; table 7A). The percentage of Hispanic full-time faculty declined from 3 to 1 percent among those teaching in the fine arts, while Hispanic faculty increased from 4 to 6 percent among those teaching in the humanities. Over the 6-year period, there was a decline in the percentage of White, non-Hispanic full-time faculty who taught in the humanities and social sciences.

Part-time faculty. There were also several changes in individual program areas among part-time minority and White, non-Hispanic faculty and staff who taught in 4-year institutions. The percentage of Black, non-Hispanic part-time faculty decreased in two program areas—education and the fine arts—and increased in the social sciences (table 7B). The percentage of Hispanic part-time faculty in 4-year institutions who taught in "all other fields" (i.e., other than agriculture/home economics, business, education, engineering, fine arts, health sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences) increased during the 6-year period (from 2 to 5 percent), as did the percentage of White, non-Hispanic part-time faculty teaching in the fine arts (from 90 to 94 percent).

Race/ethnicity by program area in 2-year institutions

There were no significant differences between minority and White, non-Hispanic faculty who taught part time or full time in 2-year institutions between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 (tables 8A and 8B).⁴

Table 5A.—Percentage distribution of full-time instructional faculty and staff, by race/ethnicity and by level and control of institution: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Level and control of institution and year	Race/ethnicity¹
Level and control of institution and year	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black, non- Hispanic	Hispanic	White, non- Hispanic
1998
All institutions²	0.7	5.8	5.1	3.3	85.1
All 4-year institutions	0.7	6.4	4.9	3.0	85.0
All 2-year institutions	0.7	3.4	5.8	4.5	85.6
All public institutions	0.7	6.2	5.1	3.7	84.4
All private not-for-profit institutions	0.7	4.9	5.0	2.5	86.9
1992
All institutions²	0.5	5.2	5.2	2.6	86.5
All 4-year institutions	0.3	5.8	4.9	2.2	86.8
All 2-year institutions	1.0	3.4	6.2	4.0	85.4
All public institutions	0.6	5.3	5.4	2.9	85.9
All private not-for-profit institutions	0.3	5.2	4.7	2.0	87.8

¹In 1998, respondents were allowed to report more than one racial/ethnic category; however, very few respondents (about 1 percent) reported more than one category. Those persons were placed into the largest minority racial/ethnic category they selected (see the Technical Notes in the complete report for more information).

²All public and private not-for-profit Title IV degree-granting institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 5B.—Percentage distribution of part-time instructional faculty and staff, by race/ethnicity and by level and control of institution: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Level and control of institution and year	Race/ethnicity¹
Level and control of institution and year	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black, non- Hispanic	Hispanic	White, non- Hispanic
1998
All institutions²	1.0	3.2	4.5	3.7	87.6
All 4-year institutions	0.9	3.8	4.0	3.0	88.2
All 2-year institutions	1.0	2.3	5.3	4.7	86.7
All public institutions	1.2	3.1	4.7	4.2	86.7
All private not-for-profit institutions	0.3	3.2	4.2	2.6	89.7
1992
All institutions²	0.6	3.2	4.8	3.0	88.4
All 4-year institutions	0.4	3.7	5.1	2.3	88.6
All 2-year institutions	0.9	2.7	4.5	3.8	88.1
All public institutions	0.6	3.5	4.7	3.5	87.6
All private not-for-profit institutions	0.5	2.6	5.1	1.7	90.1

Table 6A.—Percentage distribution of full-time instructional faculty and staff, by race/ethnicity and by type and control of institution: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Type and control of institution and year	Race/ethnicity¹
Type and control of institution and year	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black, non- Hispanic	Hispanic	White, non- Hispanic
1998
All institutions²	0.7	5.8	5.1	3.3	85.1
Public research	0.5	8.5	3.2	3.4	84.5
Private not-for-profit research	0.2	7.0	3.7	3.5	85.6
Public doctoral³	1.3	6.0	3.9	3.0	85.8
Private not-for-profit doctoral³	0.7	9.2	4.4	3.9	81.8
Public comprehensive	0.5	5.9	7.4	3.6	82.6
Private not-for-profit comprehensive	1.2	3.7	4.5	2.7	87.8
Private not-for-profit liberal arts	1.1	2.9	6.4	1.6	88.1
Public 2-year	0.8	3.4	6.0	4.6	85.3
Other⁴	0.6	4.6	7.1	1.3	86.4
1992
All institutions²	0.5	5.2	5.2	2.6	86.5
Public research	0.1	6.9	2.8	2.2	88.0
Private not-for-profit research	0.2	9.0	5.0	2.1	83.7
Public doctoral³	0.8	6.1	3.1	2.5	87.6
Private not-for-profit doctoral³	0.2	7.1	4.9	3.7	84.1
Public comprehensive	0.5	5.1	9.1	2.6	82.7
Private not-for-profit comprehensive	0.2	3.3	3.5	1.6	91.3
Private not-for-profit liberal arts	0.5	2.8	5.4	1.3	90.0
Public 2-year	1.0	3.3	6.2	4.1	85.5
Other⁴	0.5	5.2	3.7	1.4	89.2

¹In 1998, respondents were allowed to report more than one racial/ethnic category; however, very few respondents (about 1 percent) reported more than one category. Those persons were placed into the largest minority racial/ethnic category they selected (see the Technical Notes in the complete report for more information).

²All public and private not-for-profit Title IV degree-granting institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

³Includes institutions classified by the Carnegie Foundation as specialized medical schools and medical centers.

⁴Public liberal arts, private not-for-profit 2-year, and other specialized institutions, except medical schools and medical centers.

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 6B.—Percentage distribution of part-time instructional faculty and staff, by race/ethnicity and by type and control of institution: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Type and control of institution and year	Race/ethnicity¹
Type and control of institution and year	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black, non- Hispanic	Hispanic	White, non- Hispanic
1998
All institutions²	1.0	3.2	4.5	3.7	87.6
Public research	1.9	4.6	2.9	3.5	87.1
Private not-for-profit research	(#)	2.5	3.3	4.3	89.9
Public doctoral³	2.3	3.1	3.6	3.1	87.9
Private not-for-profit doctoral³	0.4	7.1	3.4	2.3	86.8
Public comprehensive	1.2	5.5	4.1	3.8	85.5
Private not-for-profit comprehensive	0.5	1.7	2.7	2.0	93.1
Private not-for-profit liberal arts	0.2	3.2	6.9	3.1	86.7
Public 2-year	1.0	2.3	5.3	4.8	86.6
Other⁴	0.2	2.9	4.6	2.0	90.3
1992
All institutions²	0.6	3.2	4.8	3.0	88.4
Public research	(#)	6.6	2.5	3.2	87.8
Private not-for-profit research	0.4	3.0	4.4	2.7	89.5
Public doctoral³	0.4	3.3	3.3	1.6	91.4
Private not-for-profit doctoral³	0.2	3.5	7.2	1.5	87.7
Public comprehensive	0.7	4.1	7.2	3.0	85.0
Private not-for-profit comprehensive	0.5	2.5	5.0	1.1	90.9
Private not-for-profit liberal arts	0.1	1.6	5.8	2.9	89.6
Public 2-year	0.8	2.7	4.6	4.0	88.0
Other⁴	1.1	3.8	3.2	1.1	90.8

#Too small to report.

¹In 1998, respondents were allowed to report more than one racial/ethnic category; however, very few respondents (about 1 percent) reported more than one category. Those persons were placed into the largest minority racial/ethnic category they selected (see the Technical Notes in the complete report for more information).

²All public and private not-for-profit Title IV degree-granting institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

³Includes institutions classified by the Carnegie Foundation as specialized medical schools and medical centers.

⁴Public liberal arts, private not-for-profit 2-year, and other specialized institutions, except medical schools and medical centers.

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 7A.—Percentage distribution of full-time instructional faculty and staff in 4-year institutions, by race/ethnicity and by program area: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Program area and year	Race/ethnicity*
Program area and year	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black, non- Hispanic	Hispanic	White, non- Hispanic
1998
All program areas in 4-year institutions	0.7	6.4	4.9	3.0	85.0
Agriculture/home economics	1.2	3.5	4.1	1.5	89.8
Business	1.6	6.8	5.7	1.1	84.9
Education	1.0	3.1	8.3	3.1	84.6
Engineering	0.5	16.8	2.5	3.5	76.8
Fine arts	0.5	2.3	7.1	1.2	88.9
Health sciences	0.8	6.9	4.1	3.4	84.8
Humanities	0.3	4.8	4.8	6.2	83.8
Natural sciences	0.3	9.2	2.6	2.3	85.5
Social sciences	1.1	5.5	5.7	2.8	84.9
All other fields	0.9	3.1	6.3	2.2	87.6
1992
All program areas in 4-year institutions	0.3	5.8	4.9	2.2	86.8
Agriculture/home economics	0.8	2.7	4.1	1.6	90.8
Business	0.6	5.9	3.7	1.4	88.5
Education	0.5	1.2	9.2	2.1	87.1
Engineering	0.2	18.9	3.0	2.5	75.4
Fine arts	0.5	2.6	6.1	2.7	88.2
Health sciences	0.2	6.6	4.6	2.3	86.4
Humanities	0.3	3.4	4.2	3.9	88.2
Natural sciences	0.3	9.1	3.6	1.7	85.3
Social sciences	0.4	3.2	5.5	2.2	88.6
All other fields	0.3	3.4	6.2	1.7	88.4

*In 1998, respondents were allowed to report more than one racial/ethnic category; however, very few respondents (about 1 percent) reported more than one category. Those persons were placed into the largest minority racial/ethnic category they selected (see the Technical Notes in the complete report for more information).

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 7B.—Percentage distribution of part-time instructional faculty and staff in 4-year institutions, by race/ethnicity and by program area: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Program area and year	Race/ethnicity*
Program area and year	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black, non- Hispanic	Hispanic	White, non- Hispanic
1998
All program areas in 4-year institutions	0.9	3.8	4.0	3.0	88.2
Agriculture/home economics	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)
Business	(#)	2.9	3.3	0.6	93.2
Education	2.3	0.3	3.6	2.3	91.5
Engineering	(#)	10.5	7.0	7.9	74.6
Fine arts	0.7	1.0	2.2	1.7	94.4
Health sciences	1.9	5.0	2.1	1.8	89.3
Humanities	1.2	4.4	2.3	4.5	87.7
Natural sciences	(#)	5.5	7.7	1.8	85.0
Social sciences	0.9	1.7	8.6	3.9	84.9
All other fields	0.5	5.6	3.1	4.7	86.1
1992
All program areas in 4-year institutions	0.4	3.7	5.1	2.3	88.6
Agriculture/home economics	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)
Business	0.3	1.9	4.5	2.4	90.9
Education	1.0	1.0	7.0	1.2	89.9
Engineering	(#)	12.2	1.5	2.6	83.6
Fine arts	0.6	2.6	5.3	1.7	89.8
Health sciences	0.2	5.1	6.1	1.5	87.1
Humanities	0.1	2.6	4.1	4.7	88.5
Natural sciences	0.6	7.1	4.0	2.3	86.0
Social sciences	0.5	3.4	6.1	2.4	87.7
All other fields	0.2	2.4	5.7	1.6	90.2

#Too small to report.

*In 1998, respondents were allowed to report more than one racial/ethnic category; however, very few respondents (about 1 percent) reported more than one category. Those persons were placed into the largest minority racial/ethnic category they selected (see the Technical Notes in the complete report for more information).

NOTE: This table includes only faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities for credit (e.g., teaching one or more classes for credit, or advising or supervising students' academic activities). Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

Table 8A.—Percentage distribution of full-time instructional faculty and staff in 2-year institutions, by race/ethnicity and by program area: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Program area and year	Race/ethnicity*
Program area and year	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black, non- Hispanic	Hispanic	White, non- Hispanic
1998
All program areas in 2-year institutions	0.7	3.4	5.8	4.5	85.6
Agriculture/home economics	(#)	(#)	4.0	0.8	95.3
Business	0.5	0.7	4.3	3.1	91.5
Education	(#)	6.9	10.6	4.4	78.1
Engineering	1.7	10.9	1.4	7.1	78.9
Fine arts	0.8	2.5	4.9	0.9	91.0
Health sciences	0.5	2.3	5.7	2.8	88.8
Humanities	0.5	4.3	3.7	7.5	84.0
Natural sciences	0.2	3.9	5.1	5.3	85.5
Social sciences	2.4	2.4	12.6	4.1	78.4
Vocational training	2.6	0.6	5.8	4.8	86.3
All other fields	0.1	4.6	5.8	2.8	86.6
1992
All program areas in 2-year institutions	1.0	3.4	6.2	4.0	85.4
Agriculture/home economics	(#)	3.7	2.6	3.3	90.4
Business	2.0	2.0	5.2	2.2	88.6
Education	3.3	3.4	10.2	8.8	74.3
Engineering	2.8	6.1	2.2	5.9	83.0
Fine arts	0.6	3.2	4.1	1.2	90.9
Health sciences	0.3	3.7	9.9	2.3	83.9
Humanities	0.9	2.7	4.2	4.7	87.6
Natural sciences	0.7	5.4	3.6	2.7	87.7
Social sciences	0.6	3.5	9.4	5.4	81.1
Vocational training	0.7	2.0	3.4	4.4	89.6
All other fields	0.5	1.7	8.1	5.3	84.5

Table 8B.—Percentage distribution of part-time instructional faculty and staff in 2-year institutions, by race/ethnicity and by program area: Fall 1992 and fall 1998

Program area and year	Race/ethnicity*
Program area and year	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black, non- Hispanic	Hispanic	White, non- Hispanic
1998
All program areas in 2-year institutions	1.0	2.3	5.3	4.7	86.7
Agriculture/home economics	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)
Business	(#)	1.3	8.2	2.3	88.2
Education	0.8	0.8	8.7	6.3	83.4
Engineering	2.5	3.6	1.0	17.3	75.7
Fine arts	0.6	1.1	4.2	5.9	88.2
Health sciences	0.5	1.4	4.0	2.1	92.1
Humanities	1.5	2.9	3.1	7.2	85.4
Natural sciences	0.9	3.5	4.7	2.9	88.1
Social sciences	0.9	(#)	7.4	6.1	85.6
Vocational training	3.8	1.3	6.2	3.4	85.3
All other fields	(#)	3.1	6.1	3.0	87.8
1992
All program areas in 2-year institutions	0.9	2.7	4.5	3.8	88.0
Agriculture/home economics	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)
Business	0.8	2.3	5.7	2.9	88.3
Education	0.8	2.4	10.1	3.6	83.3
Engineering	4.3	2.0	2.5	1.2	90.1
Fine arts	0.6	1.9	4.8	4.2	88.4
Health sciences	1.2	1.8	4.8	1.8	90.3
Humanities	1.4	2.9	2.6	6.8	86.3
Natural sciences	0.8	4.0	4.2	2.6	88.4
Social sciences	0.6	2.6	7.4	3.0	86.4
Vocational training	0.1	1.3	3.5	6.3	88.8
All other fields	(#)	2.7	3.3	2.7	91.3

Footnotes

¹Institution types are based on the Carnegie classification and whether the institution is public or private not-for-profit. To improve readability, the phrase "not-for-profit" may be excluded when referring to "private not-for-profit" institutions. Private for-profit institutions are not part of the population for NSOPF.

²American Indian/Alaska Native respondents made up only 0.8 percent of the overall sample. Because the group is so small, analyses involving the comparison of this group to others, particularly if subdivided further, are inadvisable because the resulting standard errors are very large and very few apparent differences would achieve statistical significance. For this reason, this report excludes the American Indian/Alaska Native category from analysis, though estimates for this group are shown in the tables.

³The apparent change in the proportion of female faculty teaching in the field of engineering between the fall of 1992 and the fall of 1998 is not statistically significant.

⁴Compared to 4-year institutions, estimates for 2-year institutions were based on small sample sizes and generally had larger standard errors. Thus, some differences that appear large for 2-year institutions were less likely to be statistically significant.

References

Bradburn, E.M., and Sikora, A.C. (2002). Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Salary and Other Characteristics of Postsecondary Faculty: Fall 1998 (NCES 2002–170). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Kirshstein, R.J., Matheson, N., and Jing, Z. (1997). Instructional Faculty and Staff in Higher Education Institutions: Fall 1987 and Fall 1992 (NCES 97–470). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Nettles, M., Perna, L., and Bradburn, E.M. (2000). Salary, Promotion, and Tenure Status of Minority and Women Faculty in U.S. Colleges and Universities (NCES 2000–173). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Parsad, B., and Glover, D. (2002). Tenure Status of Postsecondary Instructional Faculty and Staff: 1992–98 (NCES 2002–210). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Roey, S., and Rak-Skinner, R. (1998). Fall Staff in Postsecondary Institutions: 1995 (NCES 98–228). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Data source: The NCES 1993 and 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:93 and NSOPF:99).

For technical information, see the complete report:

Glover, D., and Parsad, B. (2002). The Gender and Racial/Ethnic Composition of Postsecondary Instructional Faculty and Staff: 1992–98 (NCES 2002–160).

Author affiliations: D. Glover and B. Parsad, Westat, Inc.

For questions about content, contact Linda J. Zimbler (linda.zimbler@ed.gov).

To obtain the complete report (NCES 2002–160), call the toll-free ED Pubs number (877–433–7827) or visit the NCES Electronic Catalog (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch).