Connecticut’s public four-year institutions have the second largest faculty-student demographic “mismatch” between the state’s Hispanic faculty and students in New England, surpassed only by Rhode Island.
The review of available data also found that Connecticut’s private not-for-profit four-year institutions have the second highest demographic gap between Black faculty and students, surpassed only by New Hampshire. These colleges and universities have the highest demographic gap between Hispanic faculty and students in New England.
To reach faculty-student racial/ethnic parity by 2026, the rate of growth of Black and Hispanic/Latino faculty populations in New England, according to the analysis, would need to accelerate significantly beyond current modest growth levels. Projections of student and faculty populations suggest that Connecticut’s postsecondary institutions would need to have:
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149% (1,517) more Black faculty
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355% (2,649) more Hispanic or Latino faculty
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23% (332) fewer Asian faculty
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26% (3,819) fewer white faculty
Underscoring the imperative for action, the NEBHE analysis indicates that if hiring patterns remain unchanged, it would take 23.7 years to reach the goal of hiring 149% more Black faculty and 56.9 years to reach the goal of hiring 221% more Hispanic faculty.
The report also indicated that at Connecticut’s colleges and universities, a disproportionately greater share of white faculty hold the most senior title of “full” professor. Black and Hispanic faculty tend to hold the more junior titles of assistant professor and associate professor
