Bentley University
PA-7: Support for Future Faculty Diversity

The PhD Project promotes African American, Hispanic and Native American PHD's in business. Bentley has a formal relationship with the project and has recruited several faculty members as a result of this relationship.

Approximately half—46.2%— of our full-time faculty hires since 2011 have been women, a proportion that is 14% higher than the fraction of women who have left or retired from Bentley. Our hiring practices are clearly bringing us top quality female scholars, but even more importantly we are promoting and retaining them at an unusually high percentage. While many colleges and universities report struggling to retain and promote female faculty, 50% of Bentley’s decisions on positive tenure and promotion to associate professor have been women, and 54.2% of our promotions to full professor have been women. In aggregate, over the last five years, Bentley has promoted more women than men.

Bentley is seeing similar success in hiring a diverse faculty. Just over one in four of our hires in the last six years is a person of color; in the last two years that average jumps to 31.7%. Over the same period, 21.5% of our tenure promotions have also been to applicants of color.

Bentley University's Ombudsman and Special Advisor to the President is actively involved with faculty departments and their hiring committees, going to faculty job fairs, academic conferences, and other recruiting events. Dr. Avery attributes Bentley’s success in hiring diverse faculty to “creative leadership that encourages a range of partnerships and pushes the thinking of current faculty,” and observes “having a diverse faculty is so important as we prepare students to succeed in and contribute to an increasingly interdependent world.”

Bentley has made a concerted effort to focus on this area and have developed a road map. For example, the dean and provost approve searches for full-time faculty in consultation with department chairs, based on teaching needs and scholarly agendas, rather than dedicated department lines. Then departmental search committees manage the recruiting process with support from Human Resources, the Deans’ offices, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. From the President, to the ombudsman, to the provost, to the deans, department chairs, and search committees, Bentley is committed to hiring and maintaining a diverse faculty.