Race and gender in engineering faculty productivity: What difference do they make

This descriptive study explores differences by race and ethnicity and gender on measures of teaching, research, and service productivity of 665 tenured engineering faculty in 19 Research-I schools. Respondents were men and women faculty from Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino(a), and White population groups who were U.S. citizens or permanent residents.; On a written survey instrument, respondents provided self-reported information regarding their professional faculty positions; teaching-related, research-related, student contact, and external activities; personal experiences associated with a limited number of climate issues; and their views on issues affecting their work life and their status as tenured, practicing faculty.; The study looks at survey item responses by ethnic group and gender, and it compares the reported levels of productivity of White male faculty with the reported productivity levels of Blacks and Hispanics, Asians, and White women. The study examines the data to determine whether there are differences in faculty productivity by race and gender. Traditionally, White men have dominated the full-time, tenured engineering faculty ranks. The aim of the study was to determine whether any differences by race and gender in faculty productivity might inform faculty diversity efforts.; Data from the survey were analyzed using both inferential and descriptive methods. These included simple means and analysis of covariance for the continuous data, and descriptive tables for the categorical data.; Findings showed that, overall, in the comparisons between faculty productivity levels of White men and two of the comparison groups, there was little or no material difference in measures of teaching, research, and service productivity. Blacks and Hispanics and White women performed at levels at or higher than performance levels of White men on most measures. However, between White men and the comparison group of Asian faculty, Asians performed at higher levels than did White men on most measures, and the differences were statistically significant.; The study discusses implications for academic administration, for faculty, and for further research, as well as the limitations and biases of the research design.