DOCTORAL ORIGINS AND GENDER AND RACIAL/ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS OF COLLEGE FACULTY

Author: Stephen Wu

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate potential differences in doctoral origins and racial and gender composition across different types of higher education institutions. This paper studies the doctoral origins and demographics of faculty at the top 25 research universities and top 25 liberal arts colleges across six different disciplines: Chemistry, Economics, English, History, Mathematics, and Sociology. Overall, a large proportion of faculty receive their doctorates from a select group of PhD-granting institutions within their field, though these concentration ratios vary significantly across discipline as well between research universities and liberal arts colleges. Top liberal arts colleges generally have higher proportions of female and non-binary faculty than top research universities. Meanwhile, although the proportions of non-white faculty are largely the same across institution type, there are notable differences within specific racial/ethnic groups. The results presented here may be helpful to individuals who are considering where to apply for doctoral programs in various fields.

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