Investigating the Barriers to Retention and Tenure for Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty at R1 Institutions

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The purpose of this project is to identify factors that facilitate or impede progress toward tenure for Black and Hispanic engineering faculty (BHEF) on the tenure track at four-year Research1 (R1) Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) and how those factors contribute to faculty retention and/or turnover. This project seeks to uncover how departments that do well in retaining BHEF might operate differently from those that do not. The objectives are to (a) empirically explore the link between faculty socialization and BHEF tenure and retention, (b) better understand the “push/pull” (i.e., promote/impede) factors that affect that relationship, and (c) how those factors look in IHEs/engineering departments that retain their BHEF when compared to those that do not. This research will provide greater insight into how to retain underrepresented BHEF in the critical field of engineering. When talented BHEF are tenured, institutions are better positioned to develop a diverse, globally competitive, next generation of engineers. This in turn, contributes to increased economic competitiveness in the United States. Scholars maintain that socialization (i.e., the norms and values transmitted) is largely responsible for the non-inclusive departmental environments that spur higher rates of attrition for underrepresented minority faculty. However, this theory has not been robustly examined. A sequential mixed methods design will be employed to address three research questions. Phase One explores, “What are the factors that facilitate and/or impede progress towards tenure among pre-tenured BHEF at four-year R1 institutions?” and includes a national survey to all professors of engineering at R1 higher education institutions nationally to determine the relationship between diversity climate and faculty turnover intentions. Diversity climate will be measured by the Diversity Climate Perceptions scale (Mor Barak et al., 1998) and the Diversity Promise scale (Chrobot-Mason, 2003), while turnover intentions will be measured by the TI-6 instrument (Shore & Martin, 1989). The initial results will be disaggregated by sub-disciplines, (e.g., civil, electrical) to determine any potential differences in engineering subfields. Phase Two addresses two research questions: “How do the factors that facilitate and/or impede progress towards tenure operate in contributing to faculty retention or turnover?” and “How do IHEs/engineering departments that retain BHEF socialize their faculty differently from those that do not?” The results of the phase one survey will be used to identify the sample of late pre-tenure professors (self-identified as Black or Hispanic) from which to recruit participants for follow-up interviews over a two-year period. The investigators will examine the rationale and factors influencing decisions to remain in or depart from the professoriate; and if they depart, where they have gone and what they plan to do. In addition to identifying supports and barriers to tenure for BHEF, this research is expected to reveal ways to mitigate the exclusionary effect of barriers to better sustain the diversification of engineering faculty, as well as provide insights to create inclusive IHE/departments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.