A new report on Purdue’s faculty shows mixed results when it comes to hiring and retaining female professors.
The governance report stresses a robust recruitment effort is key to hiring women, but it shows retaining them is just as critical.
The university hired 68 female faculty members the past two-years. That represents 38% of all hires.
The number of tenure-track female faculty rose by 90 from 2005 to 2010.
But retention rates for women are much lower. After 8 years, fewer than 20% of those hired are still working at Purdue. For all new assistant professors hired, the rate is closer to 50%.
The university has a list of initiatives to improve the situation, including spending more money to retain faculty looking at jobs elsewhere; a promotion and tenure task force; and taking part in the COACHE satisfaction survey.