Trends in Faculty Diversity at Selective Public Universities in the 21st Century

We document trends in racial-ethnic and gender diversity among faculty at selective public universities in the U.S. since the turn of the 21st century, overall and separately in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Racial-ethnic and gender diversity have broadly increased during the 21st century, and racial-ethnic diversity has increased at an accelerated rate since racial protests swept across college campuses during the 2015-16 academic year. When we analyze STEM and non-STEM fields separately, we find the share of female faculty is increasing faster in STEM fields, which is decreasing the cross-field gender diversity gap. In contrast, the share of Black faculty in STEM fields is increasing at a much lower rate than in non-STEM fields, exacerbating the cross-field gap in the Black faculty share. A similar pattern is present among Hispanic assistant professors.