This paper investigates faculty diversity in seven Virginia community colleges through a mixed-methods approach combining a literature review, qualitative interviews, and quantitative survey analysis. The literature review synthesizes research on recruiting and retaining minority and women faculty, the growing diversity of the American student body, and the role of institutional culture in shaping faculty experiences. The methodology chapter profiles each of the seven colleges by enrollment, demographics, and urbanicity, then presents findings from a 20-respondent survey administered across the colleges. The analysis evaluates four research propositions concerning minority hiring trends, faculty job satisfaction, diversity awareness programs, and institutional policy, concluding that while Virginia community colleges promote inclusive environments, their efforts to increase minority faculty representation remain insufficient in the eyes of faculty members themselves.
Diversity in employment within community colleges appears higher than that of four-year colleges and universities at the national level. Research indicates that community colleges engage more actively in recruiting and retaining women and minorities than four-year institutions do. Recent literature explains some of the steps communities and community colleges have taken to become more inclusive, demonstrating not only that community colleges are willing to hire more minorities and women, but also that there is a climate more accepting of such hiring practices.
Community colleges undertake a variety of tasks for the satisfaction and success of their students, which is why diversity in faculty may help them achieve their goals. In an article by Hughes, the author explains the need for community colleges to develop strategies to not only recruit diverse faculty, but also retain them. He also identifies the inherent challenge in doing so: "The challenges in having a diverse faculty require recruiting diverse applicants and in retaining those applicants once hired. Achieving these twin aims has proven elusive for many community colleges" (Hughes, 2015, p. 659).
One study covers a fifteen-year period at a college within the United States that adopted strategies actively seeking more diverse faculty. "Over a 15-year period, the college became the most diverse in its state while growing from 4.3% full-time faculty of color to 23.3% full-time faculty of color" (Hughes, 2015, p. 659). The college began by recruiting from campuses with higher rates of minority and female students, then sent diversity teams to speak with students about their organization, establishing professional relationships with recruits. Critically, senior management was made to understand the goal of hiring a more diverse staff.
These steps not only led to a more diverse faculty, but also to a better understanding of where to find diverse faculty members. The process begins at the school level and progresses to the employment level. Some organizations begin even at the middle school and high school level in terms of early recruitment, seeking to establish connections early so that when a potential recruit has the age and skill set to join, a sense of trust has already been built — increasing the likelihood of retention.
In a 2014 qualitative study, Fujii examined the diversity rates of faculties in community colleges. "The researcher interviewed 12 participants — administrators and faculty members at three community colleges in a large district in the southwestern United States — who served on faculty search committees from 2006–2009" (Fujii, 2014, p. 903). Drawing on data from three community colleges over three years, the study supports the notion that community colleges have increased their hiring of minorities and women compared to both earlier periods and to four-year colleges and universities.
Furthermore, the research reveals that community colleges are placing greater emphasis on communication around the value of a diverse faculty. "Analysis of the participants' interviews specific to ethnic/racial diversity in the faculty search process revealed themes around the communication of diversity's value and role at the institution and the role of the chair and administration" (Fujii, 2014, p. 903). Much of the push for change within community colleges wishing to increase diversity originates at the administrative level — because although affirmative action laws have largely been abandoned, people have discovered inherent benefits from a more diverse faculty.
As the importance of diverse faculty becomes increasingly clear — especially in community colleges, which have fewer selling points to potential students than four-year institutions — community colleges have been searching for ways to include more minority and women recruits. Similar to other research on diversity recruitment, change appears to require strategies that begin at the administrative level. Senior management ultimately drives policy shifts that foster a more receptive attitude toward, and active implementation of, diversity hiring.
A related 2013 qualitative study interviewed faculty of color at community colleges to assess the climate surrounding them. "We investigate four community colleges in California through interviews with 31 full-time faculty of color. This faculty group expresses identity conflicts between their professional roles and their cultural identities" (Levin, Haberler, Walker, & Jackson-Boothby, 2013, p. 55). Although many of the faculty interviewed reported feeling accepted and respected within their faculty and student communities, they did experience conflicts between their professional conduct and their cultural identities. Because minority faculty remain in the minority at most schools, they often feel the need to acclimate to whatever faculty culture is present, which can generate identity conflicts.
Compounding this difficulty is a lack of communication from faculty of color to their peers and employers. Most participants assumed that college faculty culture was uniform and that it must be adhered to regardless of individual preference or expression. "Their understandings of their institutions suggest that the culture of the community college is more complex and multi-faceted than that portrayed in the scholarly literature, which often portrays the institution as homogeneous and the faculty body as uniform" (Levin, Haberler, Walker, & Jackson-Boothby, 2013, p. 55). The authors highlighted the significant gap in literature regarding the complexity of community college culture.
Ultimately, research on diversity in community colleges should aim to examine the cultures within these institutions and how minority faculty respond to them. Doing so may improve retention of minority and female faculty and enhance understanding of ways to increase minority involvement within community colleges.
In a 2011 article, Boggs places the recent rise in popularity of community colleges at center stage. As many have observed, students in the United States are increasingly seeking less expensive options for higher education. Community colleges fill that role until students wish to pursue a four-year degree or earn a vocational certificate. "Never before have community colleges received so much attention and recognition. From modest beginnings at the start of the twentieth century, community colleges have become the largest, most affordable, and most responsive sector of American higher education" (Boggs, 2011, p. 3).
With that lower cost come certain pressures. Community colleges must hire quality staff and deliver excellent curriculum. As President Barack Obama noted, community colleges have become an important part of the higher education landscape, finally drawing the attention of policymakers and national foundations:
"Policy makers, media, and the public in general seem to have only now discovered community colleges, which have been put in a spotlight by President Barack Obama and leading national foundations as important to the economic prosperity of the United States. With increased attention comes increased scrutiny, however. What will be expected of community colleges, and how can they best respond, especially given severe financial limitations?" (Boggs, 2011, p. 3).
Although community colleges have yet to reach the level of prestige of four-year schools, many have grown and have adopted practices that four-year schools sometimes fail to offer. As previous research shows, community colleges have made a clear effort to build more diverse faculties. When examining Ivy League schools and four-year colleges, most staff is overwhelmingly white and male, with Asian faculty comprising the leading minority group. In community colleges, although the majority remains white, there are higher proportions of minority faculty than in four-year institutions. As media and government attention has grown, this distinction has come into sharper focus.
In a 2011 case study, Nitecki examined strategies community colleges use to increase student-retention rates. "This case study examines two successful career-focused programs at an urban community college struggling with retention" (Nitecki, 2011, p. 98). Although not explicitly addressed in the article, one mechanism through which community colleges increase retention is by hiring diverse staff. Rather than affirmative action, it may be competition and the desire for students to benefit from a more varied faculty that fuels diversity hiring. As the article notes, students are more likely to stay with — and succeed at — a school when they have an overall positive experience, and faculty play a central role in enabling such experiences.
Many who wish to foster satisfaction and connection within the student body do so by offering faculty who can not only teach but also connect with students on a personal and professional level. "The findings show how these programs create a unique institutional subculture, resulting in relatively higher rates of retention and graduation, and highlight the tremendous potential of the program to mitigate limitations of retention efforts undertaken at the institutional level" (Nitecki, 2011, p. 98). By offering a unique and satisfying experience through diverse faculty, community colleges can improve both student retention and recruitment.
A dissertation by Jackson (2012) underscores the need for diverse faculty as the student body itself grows more diverse. "Students entering into higher education institutions today represent America's growing diversity. Much of the increase seen is due to the large numbers of students from different ethnic backgrounds and the changing demographics of immigrants who have migrated to the United States" (Jackson, 2012, p. 1). A more diverse student body creates a corresponding need for faculty who can relate to students on cultural and personal levels, supplementing the universal human connection with one rooted in shared experience.
This dissertation is included to help explain why community colleges have gained increased attention and popularity. The growing ethnic diversity of the American college-going population means that community colleges, wishing to meet student needs, have intensified their efforts to hire more diverse staff. "Experiences of the faculty and students support the finding that multicultural education should play a significant role in community colleges. The common themes identified included similar statements about a lack of cultural diversity, language and cultural barriers, and challenges with multicultural competencies" (Jackson, 2012, p. 1).
Language barriers are particularly relevant in regions with large Hispanic populations. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, and many are most comfortable communicating in Spanish. When Hispanic students can find faculty members who speak Spanish and share their cultural background, they are more likely to ask questions, engage with the curriculum, and ultimately perform better academically — contributing to improved retention rates.
"Film, location, and adjunct hiring as diversity awareness factors"
"Foreign-born faculty as an underexplored diversity dimension"
Much like research on minority faculty recruitment and retention, this area of scholarship calls for identifying successful approaches to recruit and retain foreign-born faculty. Foreign-born faculty represent a new and growing dimension of diversity in community colleges that has been largely overlooked. Addressing this gap in the literature may yield insights into diversity at community colleges that extend beyond women and domestic minority faculty, deepening understanding of the full landscape of multicultural inclusion in higher education.
Seven community colleges in Virginia were used for this study to determine whether affirmative action or diversity implementation strategies have been effective in hiring women and minorities. Each college is described in terms of size, student body, and urbanicity, with supporting census data for the surrounding area. Each community college was asked to provide information on faculty size, minorities hired in relation to new hires, total number of minority faculty, and total female faculty. This data is compared to national data gathered from the IPEDS website. College and student body data comes from AACC.NCHE.EDU and reflects 2010 figures (Aacc.nche.edu, 2015).
Located in Weyers Cave, Virginia, Blue Ridge Community College is a public institution with a Rural Fringe urbanicity, established in 1967. Total enrollment is 4,437, with 63.8% part-time and 36.2% full-time students. The student body is 56.3% female and 43.7% male. The total minority student population is 16.2%, with a white population of 80.6%.
Located in Lynchburg, Virginia, Central Virginia Community College is a public institution with a Small City urbanicity, established in 1967. Total enrollment is 4,730, with 69% part-time and 31% full-time students. The student body is 52.9% female and 47.1% male. The minority student population is 19.8%, with a white population of 75.5%.
Located in Clifton Forge, Virginia, Dabney S. Lancaster Community College is a public institution with a Rural Fringe urbanicity, established in 1964. Total enrollment is 1,312, with 67.1% part-time and 32.9% full-time students. The student body is 55.3% female and 44.7% male. The minority student population is 7.5%, with a white student population of 89%.
Located in Danville, Virginia, Danville Community College is a public institution with a Town, Remote urbanicity, established in 1968. Total enrollment is 4,280, with 64% part-time and 36% full-time students. The student body is 56.4% female and 43.6% male. The minority student population is 38.9%, with a white population of 59.3%.
Located in Melfa, Virginia, Eastern Shore Community College is a public institution with a Rural, Remote urbanicity, established in 1971. Total enrollment is 857, with 69.2% part-time and 30.8% full-time students. The student body is 66.6% female and 33.4% male. The minority student population is 46.9%, with a white population of 50.3%.
Located in Locust Grove, Virginia, Germanna Community College is a public institution with a Rural Fringe urbanicity, established in 1970. Total enrollment is 7,379, with 68.1% part-time and 31.9% full-time students. The student body is 60.7% female and 39.3% male. The minority student population is 26.9%, with a white population of 66.9%.
Located in Richmond, Virginia, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College is a public institution with a Suburb, Large City urbanicity, established in 1972. Total enrollment is 12,454, with 71.5% part-time and 28.5% full-time students. The student body is 60.4% female and 39.6% male. The minority student population is 45.9%, with a white population of 49.4%.
Ranked by total enrollment: J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College is the largest at 12,454 students; Germanna Community College is second at 7,379; Central Virginia Community College is mid-range at 4,730; Blue Ridge Community College follows at 4,437; Danville Community College at 4,280; Dabney S. Lancaster Community College at 1,312; and Eastern Shore Community College is the smallest at 857 students.
The largest school, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, has the highest minority student population relative to white students at 45.9% versus 49.4%. The smallest school, Eastern Shore Community College, has the second-highest minority-to-white student ratio at 46.9% versus 50.3%. Community colleges located in rural remote or large-city areas had substantially larger minority student populations. Colleges with mid-sized enrollments located in town or fringe settings had the lowest minority student populations, with Dabney S. Lancaster Community College recording the lowest.
Community colleges with higher minority student populations, such as J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, generally showed greater numbers of minority faculty hires. However, at Eastern Shore Community College, a meaningful uptick in minority hires appeared only in the 2011–2013 period. All schools showed a strong correlation between higher female faculty numbers and higher proportions of female students. Dabney S. Lancaster and Blue Ridge Community Colleges had zero to one male minority hire; given that these schools also had the lowest minority student populations, some correlation between minority student enrollment and minority faculty hiring is evident. Further analysis of these findings is discussed in Chapter 4.
The seven community colleges were arranged by size, with descriptions and correlations drawn between student population size and minority hiring over twelve years in Virginia. Additional data on new hires will be discussed in the quantitative analysis in Chapter 4. The qualitative component involved face-to-face interviews at all seven schools using a ten-question multiple-choice survey administered to 20 respondents. The largest schools provided four or five respondents each; mid-sized schools provided three; and smaller schools provided one respondent each.
Respondent distribution by college: J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College — 5 respondents; Germanna Community College — 4; Central Virginia Community College — 3; Blue Ridge Community College — 3; Danville Community College — 3; Dabney S. Lancaster Community College — 1; Eastern Shore Community College — 1. Responses were collected anonymously; only respondent gender was recorded, with no additional identifiers such as race or age. All participants were faculty members of their respective schools. Of the 20 respondents, 6 identified as male and 14 as female.
The ten survey questions addressed the following topics: (1) definition of diversity; (2) whether diversity is included in the college's mission statement; (3) what diversity in employment means to the respondent; (4) whether the campus is diverse by the respondent's definition; (5) the greatest challenges associated with a diverse work environment; (6) whether the executive leadership team is diverse; (7) whether strategic project committees are diverse; (8) whether the respondent's ideas are considered by leadership; (9) whether minority employment has increased or decreased; and (10) whether diversity training has been offered at the college.
A qualitative analysis of responses noted that most answers from male respondents appeared less optimistic and inclusive than those from female respondents. Overall, observations covering inclusion and diversity within the seven colleges were mostly negative, with the exception of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College — the largest institution in the sample. Most respondents felt their college's environment was not inclusive or diverse enough, especially at the leadership level, although the majority reported that their college performed well in hiring female faculty. Most respondents also felt they received equal treatment and respect, though they had not observed significant change in the number of diverse hires.
The cross-tabulation uses the gender of the 20 respondents alongside the responses provided for each statement. All 20 answers to each statement are recorded below, with pie charts providing visual representations of how participants reacted to the general topic of diversity in faculty. Unlike the previous section, respondents are counted cumulatively rather than by college, in order to protect the anonymity of both the schools and the individuals.
Statement 1: We have seen an increase in diverse faculty (within community colleges in Virginia) in the last 12 years when it comes to more minority hires.
Scale: 1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly Agree
Responses: 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 3, 4, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1
Responses leaned toward "neutral" and "disagree." Few respondents selected "agree" or "strongly agree," indicating that faculty do not feel Virginia community colleges are making sufficient effort to hire minority faculty. Those choosing "strongly disagree" felt minorities are particularly underrepresented.
Statement 2: Women have been well represented in faculties of Virginia community colleges within the last 12 years.
Responses: 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 1, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 1
Most answers leaned toward "agree," reflecting the overall increase or sustained high numbers of female faculty. Some neutral responses appeared, but the overall trend was positive regarding women's faculty representation.
Statement 3: Community colleges in Virginia have faculty that represent the student population well.
Responses: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 2
Responses were overwhelmingly "strongly agree," with no respondent selecting "strongly disagree" or "neutral." This aligns with the prior data showing that student population minority and female percentages largely correlate with corresponding faculty percentages.
Statement 4: Community colleges in Virginia have made enough effort to hire foreign-born faculty members.
Responses: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 1
Responses leaned strongly toward "strongly disagree," suggesting that efforts to hire foreign-born faculty remain insufficient in Virginia, even though national research indicates some community colleges have begun making this shift.
"Response data across four diversity-related research propositions"
Jackson, D. (2012). Perception of minority students and faculty regarding multicultural education and support services at a community college (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://gradworks.umi.com/35/17/3517158.html
Levin, J., Haberler, Z., Walker, L., & Jackson-Boothby, A. (2013). Community college culture and faculty of color. Community College Review, 42(1), 55. doi:10.1177/0091552113512864
Mamiseishvili, K. (2010). Characteristics, job satisfaction, and workplace perceptions of foreign-born faculty at public 2-year institutions. Community College Review, 39(1), 26–45. doi:10.1177/0091552110394650
Nitecki, E. (2011). The power of the program: How the academic program can improve community college student success. Community College Review, 39(2), 98–120. doi:10.1177/0091552111404926
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