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SPECTRUM - CSMA newsletter

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Research on the Benefits of Diversity in Higher Education
What is the importance of diversity efforts in higher education? Here we list research that explores and evaluates the impact of diversity efforts with respect to student learning, campus climate, and other issues.

  • How Diversity Affects Teaching and Learning by Sylvia Hurtado illustrates how a climate of inclusion has a positive effect on learning outcomes, citing examples of how key transformations in the teaching and learning activity of institutions are linked with understanding and serving a diverse student body.
  • The Impact of Diversity on College Students: The Latest Research, by Debra Humphreys, discusses how, over the past several decades, colleges and universities have instituted a wide variety of programs and new curricula to better educate all students for a diverse society and interconnected world. This briefing paper provides an overview of the conclusions about the impact of diversity on students.
  • The Dynamics of Race in Higher Education: An Examination of the Evidence
    Findings from this research-based report inform current debates about racial diversity in higher education. The review reports the following conclusions: (1) there is clear evidence of continuing inequities in educational opportunity along racial categories; (2) test-based definitions of merit are incomplete; (3) race is a major social psychological factor in the American consciousness and behaviors; and (4) racially diversified environments, when properly utilized, lead to improvements in educational outcomes for all parties.
  • The Benefits of Diversity in College and Beyond: An Empirical Analysis, by Patricia Gurin, University of Michigan. This study measures the educational benefits of diversity. Data from this in-depth empirical analysis show that students educated in diverse classrooms learn to think in deeper and more complex ways, and are better prepared to become active participants in a pluralistic, democratic society.
  • Diversity Works: The Emerging Picture of How Students Benefit, by Daryl Smith, Claremont Graduate University. This executive summary is from a report that analyzes the emerging research on the effects of campus diversity on students. Locating 300 seperate studies on diversity in higher education, the report Diversity Works makes a strong case for the success and importance of diversity initiatives in suporting educational excellence throughout the campus. This summary includes fifteen statements about "what works" in campus diversity efforts.
  • Who Benefits from Racial Diversity in Higher Education?, by Mitchell J. Chang, Loyola Marymount University, and Alexander W. Astin, University of California, Los Angeles. Citing a series of recent empirical studies, this article details how white students, as well as students of color, benefit from racial diversity. Such findings "suggest that there is a sound educational justification for institutional attempts to create a racially diverse student body."

Minority Faculty Recruitment, Promotion and Tenure
Most institutions of higher learning now have initiatives in place to diversity their faculty. What strategies are proving most effective? What myths prevail that may hinder the recruitment of minorities into the professoriate? Here we list articles that explore these and related questions.

  • Best Practices for Diversity in Faculty Hiring, a handy two-page guide developed at the University of Washington.
  • Advertising Resources for Reaching Minority Faculty Candidates, a list of web-based and other outlets for effectively getting the word out about faculty hiring opportunities at your institution, developed at the University of Washington.
  • How to Diversify the Faculty, by Daryl G. Smith. Get beyond the myths and adopt new hiring practices if you want to add significant numbers of minority group members to the faculty. NOTE: This article was reprinted in the January 2002 issue of the SPECTRUM newsletter.
  • How to Recruit and Promote Minority Faculty: Start by Playing Fair, by Jonathan R. Alger, provides pointed questions about the faculty search process that can assist search committees in examining how they currently evaluate candidates for appointment and promotion and how these criteria may affect their efforts for a more racially diverse faculty.
  • The Impact of Social Interaction and Reward System Norms on Underrepresented Faculty by Annie Gubitosi-White. This case study examines the institution's cultural norms and how these norms affect underrepresented faculty. Study results identify social interaction and reward process norms and indicate that underrepresented faculty experience these norms differently than majority faculty. It also suggests that underrepresented faculty are often disadvantaged by these norms. See Diversity Digest for a study synopsis.
  • Executive Summary from the "Keeping our Faculties" Symposium On October 18-20, 1998, over 300 faculty, administrators, and students from 36 states participated in a national symposium entitled "Keeping Our Faculties: Addressing the Recruitment and Retention of Faculty of Color in Higher Education" sponsored by the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. This meeting provided space for dialogue among scholars, practitioners, and policy makers aimed at generating useful strategies for increasing faculty diversity on college and university campuses. This executive summary distills information from the presentations of several symposium speakers with particular focus on their recommendations.

Affirmative Action
Affirmative action has substantially expanded educational opportunities for white women, people of color, people with disabilities, people who are economically disadvantaged, veterans and other groups. Unfortunately, current controversy over the value of race-based affirmative action for higher education sometimes overlooks the continuing struggles of people seeking equal access to education and employment. Research indicates that affirmative action benefits minority students, colleges and universities, and society at large. Here we list articles describing innovative programs and research related to affirmative action.