CU Boulder looks to improve minority STEM faculty retention
The University of Colorado Boulder joined an initiative to improve retention among underrepresented faculty in STEM — a move that Michele Moses hopes will lead to a better experience for minority faculty.
“We work really, really hard to recruit and hire some of the best researchers, the best teachers,” Moses, vice provost and associate vice chancellor for faculty affairs, said. “We put a lot of work and investment into that and so we really want our faculty to have good experiences and stay at CU Boulder.”
The initiative is a national effort to attract, retain and support underrepresented faculty in science, technology, engineering and math led by the Association of Public and Landgrant Universities.
“We are honored to be a part of APLU’S Aspire Institutional Change Network,” Provost Russell Moore said in a release. “Our goal is, within the next decade, to be known as the place where underrepresented STEM faculty want to build their careers because of our affirming, supportive environment.”
CU Boulder is in an information-gathering stage during this first year of the initiative, Moses said. The university is auditing its policies and conducting self-assessments to understand how it is contributing positively or negatively to faculty retention.
In 2022, the retention rate was the same, 80%, for minority faculty and all faculty that were hired in 2015, according to CU Boulder’s Office of Data Analytics. That rate is a 30% increase compared to the minority faculty hired in 2005 who were still employed in 2012. The rate of retention for all faculty from 2005 to 2012 did not change in 2022.
CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch said that while the retention rate among minority faculty and all faculty was the same in 2022 for the 2015 cohort, CU Boulder understands there is room for improvement in retention among minoritized faculty and, more broadly, all faculty.
“The work being done through the I-change Network will help CU Boulder better understand the reasons why faculty — especially faculty from under
represented groups — leave the university so that we can improve upon or employ new efforts to foster an affirming, supportive environment where faculty feel they can grow in their careers and be successful,” she said.
Tenure and tenure-track faculty include professors, associate professors and assistant professors. Nontenure track faculty includes instructors, clinical faculty, artists-in-residence and scholars-in-residence.
Non-tenure track faculty do not have the mandatory research components of their position that tenure and tenure-track faculty do, and they are fixedterm hires for a single term or academic year that results in turnover based on the nature of the contract, Mueksch said. Retention rates for non-tenure track faculty from the 2015 cohort in 2022 range from about 50% to 61%.
The framework and tools provided by the initiative focus on improving retention for underrepresented tenure and tenuretrack faculty in STEM. But, Mueksch said, CU Boulder hopes it can use what it learns from the initiative to benefit all tenure and tenure-track faculty, as well as faculty who specialize in teaching.
Resources provided by the initiative include research-based tools, information and documents. Moses said those resources can help identify trends across time and structural barriers for faculty.
“It’s really a tremendous opportunity to be part of a national network of universities that are working on issues of faculty recruitment, hiring, retention and engagement and community,” Moses said. “By being a part of this network, we get access not only to this peer learning network but all of the resources that the APLU has developed over the past five to eight years.”
Moses said improving underrepresented faculty retention is the best thing for students and to meet the university’s mission.
“For underrepresented minority STEM faculty, it’s part of our mission that our faculty need to be able to serve our diverse student body,” Moses said. “They need to be able to bring really interesting and diverse disciplinary, scientific perspectives that can help contribute to innovative, creative team science and discovery.”
One obstacle to improving faculty retention, Moses said, is the university doesn’t have data on the specific challenges it faces. Faculty leave for many reasons and some are expected, Moses said, like personal reasons including relocating to be closer to family. Some faculty leave CU Boulder to go to a higher prestige institution, and others are recruited away by higher pay or more research support.
Other times, Moses said, faculty leave because they’re not having a good experience at CU Boulder and do not feel valued or successful.
The next goal is to collect percentages of how many faculty leave and for what reasons, Moses said. The university is exploring how to obtain that data, including creating a system for conducting exit and stay interviews. Moses also wants to know what makes people stay even if they have a good offer elsewhere.
Ultimately, Moses said, she wants to help create an environment where underrepresented STEM faculty want to build their careers at CU Boulder.
“If they feel valued, if they feel supported, if they feel seen, my ultimate hope is that the work that we’re doing helps them want to stay here,” Moses said.