This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

UB making strides on diversity

  • “We’ve had increases in both female and minority categories in the last four years.”

    Barbara Burke
    Interim Director, Office of Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Administration
By KEVIN FRYLING
Published: February 12, 2009

UB ranks 20th among institutions in the prestigious Association of American Universities in the number of full-time female faculty members and eighth in minority faculty members, the interim director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Administration (EDAAA) reported at the Feb. 11 meeting of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.

Barbara Burke told senators that these statistics suggest that UB remains on course in establishing an increasingly diverse faculty, staff and student body.

“We’ve had increases in both [female and minority] categories in the last four years,” she said, noting that females make up 35.8 percent and minorities 19.4 percent of the total number of faculty based on numbers from the end of 2007.

Those statistics are up from 33.1 percent for female faculty and 18.5 percent for minority faculty in 2004, she added. The percentages of these groups holding tenure-track positions also are on the rise, she said, pointing out that 27.1 percent of female faculty members are tenure track, compared to 23.5 percent in 2004, and that 23.7 percent of minority faculty members are tenure track, compared to 21.2 percent in 2004.

“We’re seeing steady growth in both sets of numbers,” she said. “They’re not extraordinary, but they are growing.”

UB’s rate of minority employment exceeds U.S. Census workforce availability percentages for individuals holding at least a bachelor’s degree in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region in all categories except Native Americans, for whom regional employment numbers remain one tenth of a percent higher than UB’s, she said.

In regard to age distribution, Burke noted that 24 percent of UB’s professional staff are under the age 35 and 13 percent of the faculty are over age 65.

In terms of students, UB’s student population is 48 percent female, 17 percent minority and 15 percent international, with the latter group representing 110 countries.

“Our student body definitely adds to the diversity of this campus,” Burke said.

Also addressing the FSEC was Sharon Nolan-Weiss, associate director for EDAAA, who outlined the many services offered by her office, including training and education, policy development and handling discrimination complains.

In 2007, Nolan-Weiss said the top three complaints handled by EDAAA were related to hostile work environment (21 percent), sexual harassment (19 percent) and disability (13 percent). Fewer than 10 percent of complaints were related to such topics as workplace retaliation or race, sex and age discrimination.

In other business, Tim Tryjankowski, director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (CURCA), outlined the efforts of his office to facilitate the participation of undergraduates in the sort of creative and research opportunities that are unique to major research universities such as UB.

Since its founding in 2006, Tryjankowski said CURCA has been working to connect students with faculty members whose projects involve tasks suitable for undergraduates. While many of projects involve research in the natural or social sciences, he pointed out that researchers in the humanities also are looking for talented undergraduates.

“I feel that the new students who’ve come to UB in the last two or three years are pretty aware of the opportunities available through our office," he said, noting his participation in open houses and orientations for new students. "The bigger challenge really is getting more and more faculty to post opportunities, or be willing to take on undergraduates.”

While other major research institutions, such as the University of Michigan, currently offer more research opportunities for undergraduates, Tryjankowski said UB’s system for getting the word out to students is much simpler, since faculty can easily solicit undergraduate research assistants by posting to the CURCA Web site.