About the series
A recording is now available from the 2022 Waterman Award lecture by Daniel Larremore on "Trends in U.S. faculty hiring and retention from ten years of data: a study of prestige, diversity and inequality."
Lecture Abstract
Faculty hiring and retention determine the composition of the U.S. academic workforce and directly shape educational outcomes, careers, research priorities and the development and spread of ideas and innovations. But hiring and retention trends are complex and dynamic, reflecting societal and academic priorities, generational turnover, stresses, incentives and efforts to increase diversity and participation. Dr. Larremore will present his lab’s research using mathematical methods and network analyses to examine the academic employment and doctoral education of all tenure-track faculty (nearly 300,000) at all Ph.D.-granting U.S. universities from 2011 to 2020. The results reveal inequalities in faculty production, prestige, retention and gender, exacerbated by recurring patterns of attrition. By integrating our statistical study of retention with a broad social survey, we also show that work-related stress experienced by researchers is reflected in faculty retention rates, particularly for women. This research quantifies the dynamics of U.S. faculty hiring and retention and will support efforts to improve the organization and scholarship of the U.S. academic workforce.
This lecture is part of a three-part series featuring the laureates of the 2022 Alan T. Waterman award, the nation's highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers.
To learn more about the 2022 Alan T. Waterman award, please visit the Alan T. Waterman award website.
