Emily Bernhardt, Nicolette Cagle, Christine Payne, Gillian Sanders Schmidler and Justin Wright are representing Duke in the inaugural Institute on Inquiry, Equity & Leadership in the Academic Department.
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White professors and their nonwhite counterparts have very different perceptions of what constitutes diversity and inclusion, according to a recent analysis from the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.
White faculty members are much more likely to agree (73 percent) that there is visible leadership support and promotion of diversity on their campus than are Black professors (55 percent). Thirty-one percent of Black professors disagree with the statement entirely, based on data from COACHE s ongoing surveys of faculty job satisfaction across many colleges and universities.
An even bigger perception gap exists as to how department colleagues support and promote diversity and inclusion within programs. While 78 percent of white professors agree that their departments are committed, just 58 percent of Black faculty members feel that way. Twenty-eight percent of Black professors