• Differences Between Male and Female Faculty Members
• Differences Among Racial/Ethnic Groups

Generated from the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:1993), the analyses presented in this report are based on U.S. citizens with faculty status at 2- and 4-year (and above) institutions who indicated that their primary activity in the fall of 1992 was teaching. Most analyses were also restricted to full-time faculty members. NSOPF:1993 is the second in a series of surveys on faculty conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

There were several differences between male and female faculty members in the levels of faculty outcomes such as salary, tenure, and rank. Female full-time faculty averaged lower salaries than male faculty by about $10,000 in the fall of 1992 (figure 1). They were also less likely to be tenured (42 vs. 66 percent) or to be full professors (15 vs. 39 percent).

Age, education, and experience also differed by gender among these postsecondary faculty. Female full-time faculty were younger than their male counterparts and had lower educational levels and less experience. For example, about 40 percent of female faculty, compared to 58 percent of male faculty, held a doctorate (figure 2), and female faculty averaged 3 fewer years in their current rank than male faculty did.

Male and female faculty also engaged in different professional activities. Female full-time faculty spent larger shares of their time in teaching or service activities, and smaller proportions in research or administrative activities, than male faculty. For example, about 51 percent of female full-time faculty spent at least three-quarters of their time in teaching activities, compared to 37 percent of men; male faculty averaged 15 percent of their time on research activities, compared to 10 percent for female faculty.

Male and female faculty also worked in different types of institutions and fields. Among full-time faculty, women were more likely than men to work in 2-year institutions (33 vs. 23 percent), while men were more likely than women to work in research universities (20 vs. 14 percent). Among full-time faculty, men were at least twice as likely as women to teach engineering (6 vs. 1 percent), history and philosophy (6 vs. 3 percent), physical sciences (7 vs. 2 percent), and occupational programs (5 vs. 2 percent).

Many of the human capital and structural characteristics, however, may themselves be associated with faculty outcomes such as salary, so the male-female differences in salary may be accounted for by controlling for such factors. This possibility was explored with a multivariate regression analysis of the relationship of salary to a variety of human capital and structural factors; even when comparing male and female faculty with similar characteristics, however, female full-time faculty had lower average base salaries than their male counterparts.

Figure 1.—Average base salary of full-time faculty whose primary responsibility is teaching, by gender and race/ethnicity: Fall 1992

Figure 2.—Percentage distribution of full-time faculty whose primary responsibility is teaching according to highest degree attained, by gender and race/ethnicity: Fall 1992

The report also considered differences among racial/ethnic groups in faculty outcomes and human capital and structural factors. In some cases, these results are easy to summarize. In faculty outcomes, for example, white faculty generally had higher salaries and were more likely to be tenured and to be full professors than black faculty. For other areas, the racial/ethnic differences are more complex and do not demonstrate consistent patterns.

The first area of inquiry was faculty outcomes such as salary, tenure, and rank. Black, non-Hispanic full-time faculty were less likely than white, non-Hispanic faculty members to have higher salaries (figure 1), tenure, and full professorships. For example, 48 percent of black faculty members compared to 58 percent of white faculty members were tenured in the fall of 1992. Asian/Pacific Islander faculty generally had higher salaries and were more likely to be tenured and to be full professors than white, black, or Hispanic faculty. Hispanic faculty did not differ significantly from either whites or blacks on these outcomes.

In terms of human capital characteristics, black full-time faculty differed from white faculty in level of education in the fall of 1992. For example, 41 percent of blacks had earned doctorates, compared with 53 percent of whites (figure 2). White and Asian faculty had more experience than black faculty, and there was some evidence that whites and Asians were also more experienced than their Hispanic counterparts. For example, black and Hispanic full-time faculty were younger, on average, than white and Asian/Pacific Islander full-time faculty. The average age for black and Hispanic faculty was about 47 years old, compared with 49 for white and 50 for Asian/Pacific Islander faculty.

Among work activities, there were more idiosyncratic differences among racial/ethnic groups. There was some evidence that the teaching load for Asian faculty was different from that of Hispanic faculty, while Asian faculty differed from black faculty in the types of research pursued and the time spent in such activities. Asian/Pacific Islander (78 percent) and non-Hispanic white (64 percent) full-time faculty were more likely than black, non-Hispanic faculty members (51 percent) to be engaged in research or similar scholarly activity, although the type of activity pursued did not, in general, vary consistently across racial/ethnic groups. Asian and black faculty were more likely to have no administration time than white faculty, while white and Hispanic faculty averaged more time on service activities than Asian respondents.

In terms of structural factors, there were some differences as well. For example, white faculty (9 percent) were more likely than Asian or Hispanic faculty (5 percent each) to be found in liberal arts colleges, while Hispanic faculty (42 percent) were more likely than white or Asian faculty (26 and 22 percent, respectively) to teach in 2-year colleges. Otherwise, the distribution of faculty across institution types generally did not vary by race/ethnicity.

Asian/Pacific Islander faculty were more likely than white, black, or Hispanic faculty to work in engineering or in math/computer science. For example, 16 percent of Asian faculty were in engineering, compared to no more than 6 percent of each of the other groups. Non-Hispanic black faculty were more likely than white faculty, who in turn were more likely than Asian faculty, to be employed in education (12 percent for blacks vs. 7 percent for whites and 3 percent for Asians).

Black full-time faculty were more likely than those from any other racial/ethnic group to work in the Southeast, and Hispanic faculty were more likely than the other three racial/ethnic groups to work in the Southwest. Hispanic and Asian faculty were at least twice as likely as non-Hispanic blacks and whites to work in the far western region of the United States (27 percent each for Hispanic and Asian faculty compared with 8 percent and 13 percent, respectively, for black and white faculty).

When comparing faculty members with similar human capital and structural characteristics, as well as similar tenure and rank, faculty of different racial/ethnic groups received similar salaries. However, as shown above, many differences do exist among faculty of different racial/ethnic groups in such background and structural characteristics.