Twenty-two percent of the 77 new faculty members hired over the past year at the University of Colorado at Boulder are ethnic minorities, which is expected to raise total numbers of minority faculty on the Boulder campus after faculty numbers are tallied in late October.
Tenure-track and instructor-level minority faculty in fall 2005 totaled 194 out of 1,417, or 14 percent.
Of the 77 new hires, 60 are tenure-track faculty and of that group, 25 percent are Asian, Hispanic, American Indian, African American or multiracial.
The remaining 17 new faculty members, most of whom began their teaching positions along with tenure-track faculty at the start of the fall semester in August, were hired as instructors. Among the instructor ranks, two of the new faculty members are ethnic minorities.
Nine of the vacant faculty positions for which faculty were sought were not filled.
Numbers of women faculty among the 77 new hires totaled 33, or 43 percent, of new faculty hires. Male faculty members totaled 44, or 57 percent.
Provost Phil DiStefano said he is pleased that minority faculty members are well represented among the new faculty hires but said he will continue to work with search committees and deans to increase the numbers, as vacant faculty positions occur.
Chancellor B.P. "Bud" Peterson also announced in his address to the faculty Sept. 8 the creation of 25 new faculty positions at the Boulder campus for the coming year. These positions will focus on core needs, new initiatives and "opportunity hires," including a concerted effort to diversity the faculty.
"Increasing diversity of both students and faculty and creating a welcoming environment are two very important goals for the coming year," Peterson said. "I am committed to making the Boulder campus a welcoming environment for people of color and one of the important ways we can accomplish this is by expanding the diversity of our faculty and ensuring that they are faced with an environment that they find welcoming, exciting and intellectually stimulating."
The increase in minority faculty hires mirrors the increased minority enrollment on the Boulder campus this fall. Campus minority enrollment is up 98 over fall 2005 for undergraduates and is up 118 overall. Minority students constitute 15 percent of undergraduates and 14.4 percent of all students.
The number of ethnic minority freshmen is up this fall by 20 percent over last year, from 737 to 884. Minority freshman enrollment among Colorado residents increased by 11 percent and is up among out-of-state freshmen by 55 percent.
Of the 15 new minority tenure-track faculty, eight are Asian, four are Hispanic, two are American Indian and one is multiracial. Of the 17 new instructors, two are Asian.
Faculty statistics are updated annually in late October. For more information on faculty diversity, go to the Web at .