EDUCATION

F A C U L T Y S C O R E C A R D

NO CHANGE IN NUMBERS OF WOMEN FACULTY C&EN's annual survey shows that women remain underrepresented in top chemistry departments CORINNE A. MARASCO, C&EN WASHINGTON

THERE HAS BEEN LITTLE CHANGE

in the percentage of women fac­ulty members in the top 50 chemistry departments in the five years that C&EN has ex­

amined this topic, and what little progress there is continues to be unevenly distrib­uted. Women are still underrepresented among the full professor ranks, despite slow and steady headway overall.

C&EN surveyed schools identified by the National Science Foundation as having spent the most on chemical research in 2002, the latest year for which data are available. The schools were contacted by e-mail and telephone and were asked to pro­vide the number of male and female tenured and tenure-track faculty holding full, asso­ciate, and assistant professorships with at least 50% of their salaries paid by the chem­istry department for the 2004-05 aca­demic year. These numbers exclude emeritus profes­sors, instructors, and lec­turers. The response rate was 100%.

In academic year 2004-05, women represent 12% of the total chemistry fac­ulty at the top 50 institu­tions. This is the same per­centage as in 2 0 0 3 - 0 4 (C&EN, Oct. 27, 2003 , page 58) and 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 (C&EN, Sept. 23,2002, page 110) but up from 11% in 2001-02 (C&EN, Oct. 1, 2001, page 98). In absolute terms, the to­tal number of faculty positions increased from 1,592 last year to 1,594.5, and the to­tal number of positions filled by women in­creased from 196.5 to 197.

A COMPARISON of this year's list to last year's shows some differences in the schools included. Schools added to the list in 2004 are the State University of New York, Buffalo; SUNY Stony Brook; the University of Virginia; and Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Both Virginia schools were on the list in

Women continue to be concentrated in the assistant and associate professor ranks.

2002 but not in 2003. Schools that were on the list in 2003 but dropped off in 2004 are Columbia University, the Uni­versity of Chicago, the University of Georgia, and the University of Southern California. Together, those schools had nine female chemistry faculty members, whereas the four schools that replaced them have 12.

Among the schools with the highest pro­portion of women in the total faculty, Rut­gers University maintains its first-place spot: 10 women, or 25% of the faculty The Uni­versity of California, Los Angeles, is next with nine women, or 23% of the faculty Purdue University follows with 10 women who make up 21% of the faculty This year, there is a three-way tie for fourth place be­tween Florida State University, SUNY Stony Brook, and the University of Col­orado, where women make up 19% of the

faculty Tied for fifth place are Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Uni­versity of Arizona, which both have six women who make up 18% of the faculty

At the other end, three schools on the list this year—Emory University, the University of Geor­gia, and the University of Virginia—have just one woman on their faculty.

Eleven schools have two women, and 10 have three.

Women continue to be concentrated in the assistant and associate professor ranks. Women make up 20% of assistant profes­sors, which is down one percentage point from last year but still higher than the 18% share in 2000, the first year of the survey Women's representation among associate professors has hovered around 20% since the beginning of the survey; this year, it's at 19%. By comparison, women currently account for 8% of full professors, the same as last year. The 2000 baseline was a 6% share of full professorships.

These numbers are consistent with a

2004 report from NSF, "Gender Differ­ences in the Careers of Academic Scien­tists & Engineers." The report uses data from the NSF biennial Survey of Doctor­ate Recipients to examine gender differ­ences for four outcomes that reflect suc­cessful progress in an academic career: tenure-track placements, achieving tenure, promotion to associate professor, and pro­motion to full professor.

NSF finds evidence to suggest that among academic scientists and engineers, women are less successful in their academic career paths than men. Some of the dis­parity may be related to family character­istics: Married women and women with children tend to be less successful by those measures than men who are married and have children. NSF determined that the estimates of success rates were insensitive to either primary work activity or the char­acteristics of academic employers.

IN ANALYZING tenure-track positions, NSF found that women with eight or nine years of postdoctoral experience who are employed full time in academia are less like­ly than men to be tenured.

NSF's analysis suggests that women's chances for earning tenure are influenced by family characteristics: Opting to have children later—rather than earlier—in their careers is positively related to women's chances for earning tenure.

Women with 14 or 15 years of experi­ence since earning their Ph.D.s who work full time in academia are more likely than men to be found in the junior ranks and less likely to be full professors. Further­more, women are less likely than men to be promoted to senior ranks.

Although the NSF research focuses on a limited number of outcomes, there are other questions worthy of exploration when considering this topic. For example, do women face greater mobility constraints than men when selecting jobs, especially when they must find new employment af­ter failing to receive tenure? What gender differences exist between full-time and part-time employment?

The assumption that women science and engineering faculty lag behind their male counterparts in achieving academic career milestones is reinforced by five years' worth of data collected by C&EN, com­bined with the NSF analysis. That women's share of full professors and total faculty in­creased just two percentage points in both cases over five years suggests that there are gender-related factors impeding their progress, compared with that of their male counterparts.

32 C&EN / SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 H T T P : / / W W W . C E N - O N L I N E . O R G

WOMEN IN ACADEMIA Only 8% of full chemistry professors at top 50 universities are women

FULL PROFESSOR ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ALL FACULTY

H T T P : / / W W W . C E N - O N L I N E . O R G C&EN / SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 33

Akron, U of Arizona, U of Arizona State Ua

California, U of, Berkeley California, U of, Irvine

FULL PROFESSOR TOTAL

12 22 22 35 21

WOMEN 2 5 2 k 1

% 17% 23 9

11 5

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wmm ilmiÊr-: i i i f c i i m§mm, mmm.

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ASSISTANT PROFESSOR TOTAL

k 8

10 10 k

WOMEN 0 1 3 1 1

% 0%

13 30 10 25

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California, U of, Los Angeles8

California, U of, San Diego3

California tnst. of Technology Colorado, U of6

Cornell U*

25 18 21 21 23

k 5 2 k 2

16 28 10 19 9

-mm. 1 1 1 1 1 1

m^m. •mmm mmw&

mmi ι mmmm: m-,m:mx. mmmm-: mmmm::::

ι»ιΐ :msm mm l l i l l i l i i l

5 18 6 9 6

2 0 2 0 0

40 0

33 0 0

mmm-mmm. '.. ;mm mm:m: mmm

mmm :mamm. mïÊHm Ι ϊ β β Ι lifiiiïi

mm· mm, mm> sel» WÊÊ^m

Emory Uc

Florida, U of Ftorida State Ua

Georgia Inst, of Technology3

Harvard UB

17 21 15 20 18

0 1 2 1 1

0 5

13 5 6

i l ^ l l

mmm. m$m -mm::. m$M

mmm, m, I M i l l l

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k 1 1 6 3

1 2 2 0 2

25 29 29 0

67

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mmmst mMÊum rnimm ;:1III1I

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Illinois, U of, Urbana-Champaign Indiana U Johns Hopkins U Louisiana State U system Maryland, U of, College Park8

32 18 13 17 25

3 0 0 0 5

9 0 0 0

20

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6 8 3 6 7

1 0 2 3 1

17 0

67 50 14

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mm Massachusetts, U of, Amherst Massachusetts Inst, of Technology Michigan, U of Michigan State U Minnesota, U of

10 24 24 20 25

0 3 1 2 2

0 13 k

10 8

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m*m$ mmmm:,:: mm-Ά mmmmm. wmm:

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5 6

11 k 9

0 2 3 0 1

0 33 27 0

11

mmmm: mmm,m-mmm:

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mmm l É i i i l i

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North Carolina, U of, Chapel Hill North Carolina State U Northwestern U Notre Dame, U of3

Ohio State U

23 15 22 11 21

2 0 1 0 2

9 0 5 0

10

:ΜΦΜ mrnxm :mmm mmmm: mmm

WgWë:n mmmÊ- % mmtmm « i s i i i i i i i i i i

i i s i s i l l » 'Hill i l Ë Ë mil

7 7 3 8 5

1 3 1 2 1

14 43 33 25 20

mmmm. mmmm. mmm-m um&Êk "tmmmi

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vmm: mm-. ï i l i l wmm "WÊËÈm

Oklahoma, U of8

Pennsylvania, U of Pennsylvania State U Pittsburgh, U of Princeton U

14 20 20 12 20

0 2 2 0 0

0 10 10 0 0

r.--mM: •:;J$M

^ mm .mmmm: 11* 2 S

mmmm mmBA mmmm::!. :il;3111 mmmmm:

wmm i i i S i i i l I Ï I 1 mm.

6 3 3 6 3.5

1 0 0 0 0

17 0 0 0 0

nmm* mmmsm mmmm: mmmy mm&.

i a ' l i l i l

m:::mm& -mmm» mmm •"-mmm.

mm. 'mm:,m wmB mmmm lÊÊmm,

Purdue U RiceU Rutgers Ub

South Carolina, U of3

Stanford U

32 17 30 18 16

3 1 6 1 1

9 6

20 6 6

,.mm:& mmm::. ':mm.:m m.mlm:': ^ • Y 3 £ ; > ·

111111^ mmmi mmmsmi mimâm. mmmmm:-

liiiif Ι ϋ β Ι mmm mmm, i * i i l

8 k 2 1 k

k 1 0 1 1

50 25 0

14 25

mmmmi mmm/: mmmmi mmm,. mmm::.

mmm mmmm •mmmm :mmim :m.mm

mmm WÈÊmm llii:,:': iMimm: mmx

State U of New York, Buffalo State U of New York, Stony Brook Texas, U of, Austin8

Texas A&M U Utah,U of

22 18 30 37 21

1 3 1 3 2

5 17 3 8

10

•^um% mm? : - lc&% .:)rm^ \:m:m.:::

mmm mmm-c mmmmm.: wëmm :mmém

i S i l i SEES! l i i i l u l l I l l s !

k 3

11 3 6

2 1 2 1 2

50 33 18 33 33

:m::::M::% mmm:m--mm/rn m:mm. m:mm:

Î M i i i i i

mmm mmmm. mmmm. ..mmm

l u l l Heii ; B»« l 1111:1 mm*.

Virginia, U of Virginia Polytechnic Inst. & State U Washington, U of Wayne State U Wisconsin, U of, Madison

19 16 31 14 30

0 1 2 1 2

0 6 6 7 7

wm'm mmmm mmmm mmm i i i i i i i

msmM mmm i i t l l l l 11111111 'itsmmm

Ι ί ΐ ϊ ί flUSil S u ï 11111 WSÊËÈ

0 3 6 6 9

0 0 1 2 2

nm 0

17 33 22

mmmm: mmmm. ^:mm mmm mm?

mmmmi^ mmmm mmitÈi: m:§mm. mmm§m:

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TOTAL

NOTE: Appointments as of 2004-05 academic but UC San Francisco, which ranks first, has

1,048 89 8% wmm mmmm: IIÏÉlt 299.5

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