Johns Hopkins University Is Making Progress in Hiring Women Faculty

The Office of the Provost at Johns Hopkins University has recently revealed the results of its second Report on Faculty Composition, which provides detailed data from November 2017 on the status of women and minority faculty throughout the university. The new report shows improvement in diversity since a preliminary report was published in September 2016.

The report found that the university-wide proportion of women faculty is 44 percent, up from 42 percent in 2015. Additionally, the overall faculty growth rate, at 5 percent, was surpassed by the growth rate of women faculty, at 13 percent. When broken down by specific schools, the report found that three divisions, the School of Education, the School of Nursing, and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, have more women faculty than men. The school with the largest growth in women faculty members was the Whiting School of Engineering, which jumped from 19 percent women faculty in 2015 to 26 percent in 2017.

Johns Hopkins University is in the midst of a five-year, $25 million “Faculty Diversity Initiative.” According to the new report, the initiative has been enhanced by a new platform for posting faculty search, diversity action plans created by each university division, and the creation of a position focused on supporting dual-career faculty couples. Additionally, university administrators have been developing new plans that emphasize providing group mentors to support and guide junior faculty.

“Johns Hopkins is at its best when we bring together a diversity of backgrounds, ideas, and experiences,” says Sunil Kumar, provost and senior vice president. “We are pleased that this new report demonstrates progress toward a more diverse faculty, but there is still room for improvement. We must continue and even increase our current momentum so that we can recruit and retain the very best faculty and foster a culture of free and open exchange at Johns Hopkins.”